CNN
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Elon Musk’s vast and opaque power only grow as new objectives are proposed for its federal government crushing machine.
The head of the Department of Government Efficiency of President Donald Trump is approaching his last victim: an independent government agency created to protect Americans from the excess of Wall Street that caused the great recession.
The employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Office were abruptly informed this Sunday that the headquarters of the control agency in the city of Washington will be closed this week and that they should work remotely, a day after the Budget Chief Trump, Russell Vought, assumed as an interim director and told staff to stop fighting financial abuse.
“CFPB RIP,” Musk wrote on X on Friday.
The agency, which has been in the sights of the Republican party for a long time, seems to follow a path similar to that of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has saved millions of lives worldwide and promoted democracy For decades, but what Musk has destroyed. On Sunday, Trump described Usaid as “crazy” and “a great scam.”
The unbridled use of the Executive Power by Trump to restrict the agencies enshrined in the law, say goodbye to personnel and stop the expense already approved by the Congress is to sound the alarms that the Constitution is openly challenging, taking power that the presidency does not have .
But Musk’s power, who is not an elected official, is not preceded. The richest man in the world is saying or suspending public employees, destroying the global soft power of the United States and accessing private data and information about millions of Americans, all without accountability.
Several courts have intervened to temporarily stop Trump and Musk’s plans, but everything indicates that there will be one of the most important clashes about the reach of presidential power in modern history, which is intended for a Supreme Court whose conservative majority has a Expansive vision of the Executive Authority.
Many people predicted that Musk and Trump are about to separate, given their volatile personalities and their need to be the leader in all rooms. But Trump has not shown public signs to be tired of the pioneer of Tesla, who is acting as the main agent on the president’s revenge and disruption agenda. The president even shrugged at a cover of Time magazine that showed Musk behind the Oval office desk.
“Elon Musk has helped me a lot, it has been fantastic,” Trump said in an interview during the Super Bowl that was broadcast on Sunday in Fox. As for whether I trusted Musk, Trump replied: “To trust Elon? He is not winning anything. In fact, I wonder how you can spend time. He is so involved in that. ”
His alliance could be more durable than many expect.
In many ways, Trump and Musk have complementary objectives. Both demonstrated in their business careers that hate the norms and regulations that limit their actions. The political activity of the president and the technological visionary also shows disdain for controls and counterweights. Musk was recently campaigning in favor of the extreme right parties in Europe, for example, reflecting Trump’s contempt for the will of voters in 2020.
And in the face of the mid -period elections of 2026, the Republicans have all the incentives to stay on the good side of the owner X, which invested many millions of dollars to choose Trump and his republican companions last year.
Washington may be staggering, but many voters approve Trump’s rapid beginning
Until now, Trump’s political offensive (with endless television appearances, a series of decrees and an appearance on the big day of the NFL on Sunday) seems to be working.
A new Sunday News Survey on Sunday showed that 53% of adults approve their presidency management, a higher figure than their typical indices during their first mandate. About 70% of respondents say that what the president has done so far are “the same things he promised in the campaign.” Following what he calls a “common sense” agenda, Trump has launched a hard -line immigration purge, has forbidden transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports and has sought in federal bureaucrats. Many of these issues resonated at Trump’s loyal base and in a broader cohort of undecided voters in last year’s elections.
But there are several warning signs for Trump. The CBS survey found that two thirds of Americans do not believe that the new administration is focusing enough to lower prices, perhaps the most important issue in the elections. And only 28% believe that their policies will reduce costs. The president’s tariff policy, consolidated for its promise to announce on Monday tariffs of 25% to imports of steel and aluminum, runs the risk of rekindling inflation and increasing the costs of goods and services.
And while attacking the federal government is an increasingly popular position among external politicians, Trump could end up paying a price if their dismantling of agencies begins to affect the services and benefits that many Americans get from Washington.
The newly opened presidents almost always exceed. And the federal government spray by Trump runs the risk of alienating many more moderate voters, although the Democrats are still struggling to find a message that challenges it.
They have tried to provoke Trump referring to the “President Musk”, but many of their attempts to counteract the White House attack on Washington institutions have placed them in the position of defending the federal government, from which many voters distrust.
Musk’s solid public support explains why Trump’s main officials, cabinet secretaries and high -ranking Republicans in Congress were deployed in Sunday’s news programs to defend Musk, although his domain He is eclipsing his power.
The Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, told Dana Bash of CNN that she would support Trump and Musk closing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is under her authority, despite the fact that her function is determined by law. “I would say yes, that they get rid of the FEMA as it exists today,” said Noem in “State of the Union,” and added that the funds that are normally used for the FEMA should be sent to the state and local authorities after Disasters
This would represent an important political risk for Trump, who suggested “getting rid of Fema” when he visited North Carolina to visit the damage caused by floods last month. In many previous disasters, including hurricanes or forest fires, local officials have sometimes had difficulties without the experience or the FEMA scale. And natural disasters have the potential to become against the presidents politically if they are badly managed.
Noem also insisted that he had no problem that Musk gets into DHS affairs, which she needed to be reduced. His interview included a notable exchange, which stressed the immense power of the Spacex chief.
Noem was asked if I agreed that Musk, a private citizen who is not confirmed by Congress, accessed private data on disaster victims, the Washington Post reported. “The president has authorized him to have access to that,” said Noem. “And you feel comfortable with that?” Bash asked. Noem replied: “Absolutely … we can no longer trust our government.”
“But now you are the government,” said Bash.
“Yes, that is what I am saying, that the American people are now saying that our personal information has been shared and is available to the public,” said Noem.
Bash added: “Elon Musk has access to him. You just said he has it. ” To which Noem replied: “Yes, but Elon Musk is part of the administration that is helping us identify where we can find savings and what we can do.”
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, former member of the Congress that supported USAID in the past, justified Musk’s decision to close many of the agency’s programs, which according to critics will offer US adversaries, such as Russia and Russia and China, the opportunity to fill the void in the developing world.
Speaking to the Meet The Press program of the NBC, he said that the USAID mission was worthy when “it was aligned with the objectives of the United States, and the United States objectives coincided with the president’s objectives as commander in chief.” And he added: “But that is not the case. Many of these senior help officials have their own agenda and have followed their own address. ”
Waltz said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had issued an exemption for USAID programs that focus on nutrition and medications that save lives. But many humanitarian workers around the world have told CNN that there is great confusion about what is included, and the programs and projects are closing everywhere.
Another agency that could soon feel the presence of Musk is the Pentagon. The question of the billions of dollars in federal contracts of the Spacex chief lifts warning signs in this regard, although the second Trump administration seems completely carefree due to ethical issues and conflicts of interest that involve Musk or any other high -ranking official .
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegesh, insisted on the Sunday Morning Fox Business program that “we welcome Elon Musk and Doge in our department to help us identify additional forms in which we can optimize processes, accelerate acquisitions, reduce the waste, reduce tail, to put it into practice. ”
Meanwhile, the president of the Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives, Jim Jordan, told Manu Raju in the “Inside Politics” program of the CNN that Trump was doing exactly what he was chosen to do. “Nobody wants to defend waste, fraud and abuse, so they attack the guy who is exposing all waste, fraud and ridiculous things in which we spend money,” Ohio’s Republican on Musk said. And referring to Trump, Jordan added: “Frankly, 77 million people knew that he was going to do this, and voted for him on the day of the elections for that.”
However, not even the presidents have the power to ignore the laws approved by Congress and the constitutional reality that legislators have power over money. So, while Trump is at the top now that Musk points his demolition ball against new objectives in Washington, he may wait for a massive and historical constitutional battle.
(Tagstotranslate) Musk
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