Summary
Elon Musk warned federal employees against leaking information, stating, “if in doubt, they are out,” as he helps Trump implement sweeping government changes.
A Reddit post alleged Musk’s team is using “fingerprinting” tactics to track leakers. Musk, who spent heavily on Trump’s re-election, now leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has controversially seized control of federal payment and personnel systems.
The administration is also encouraging civil servants to resign, prompting lawsuits.
Whistleblower protections may challenge Musk’s crackdown on leaks.
He has an entire department that was created specifically for him to do shit like this.
It was created off the books. He technically has no authority, so I dont k ow why anybody is listening to anything he says. This is plainly illegal, and congress should be taking action right now. Instead we are sitting on our thumbs watching from the side lines.
He technically does have authority, because he’s got his team into the IT systems via Trump’s orders.
Since the federal government basically runs on Microsoft, that means his goons can go into Active Directory and start locking other people out of key government systems. Then he has payroll mark you as “Terminated” in the accounting system, because his people are in that system, too. If you can’t badge into your office, you can’t log on to your computer, you can’t use your phone, and you won’t receive a paycheck, what are you except “fired”?
In Europe we declare ourselves ready to work and are considered to be on paid leave until called upon.
That works so long as the paychecks keep coming. But also, it works because of the large well-structured unions that populate the European bureaucracy.
The US has made a point to dismantle public sector unions precisely because bosses don’t like when this happens. We’ve also turned a great deal of the government over to contractors, both to keep public labor divided and to guarantee the rolls as a means of patronage (landing a contractor job means being in good standing politically) and efficient avenue for kickbacks (contractors and their staff financially support the candidates that send them billable work).
So it’s less a question of “will we show up to work for this administration?” and more a question of "will we get included in this administration’s patronage scheme?
Thanks for this writeup, fascinating read!
You can blame the “victory fund” bankrupting state parties and Dems losing ground in down ballot races over and over again so that the presidential campaign could have a dinner with Clooney.
Hopefully Ken Martin puts an end to that griff
I was not aware of it being a temporary organization. But it was created by executive order, which likely grants musk power to fire.
Oh, no. Executive orders, at least according to “the rules”, do not supercede the law. This is all blatantly illegal in many ways.
Fat lot of good that does, though, considering the other two branches are run by corrupt yes men.
Also, I don’t think there’s anything saying it’s temporary…?
It was, but it cannot surrept congress’ constitutional authority in holding the governments coin purse. But, then again, if nobody does anything, I guess all bets are off at this point.
He has four people that dont have college degrees, the oldest is 24 and at least one is a teenager
Their actual names and contact info are floating around. But mainstream news isn’t reporting it
I mean that would suggest he has a federal appointment then. I mean he was given authority as head of this department??? Because I have not heard his title or anything for a government position.
Dunno.
But I did some digging into the EO, and the USDS (United States DOGE Service) was a hack by renaming from United States Digital Service. It is under the USDS that they created the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization. The EO also states that there is to be an administrator appointed by the White House that reports to the chief of staff. It sounds like to me that they are utilizing loopholes in the constitution/law to sidestep Congress.
Im not sure if the goal is to clog the courts or what but hiring and firing is not an at will with the federal government and it sounds like none of this will really fly. I feel like the way companies try to just see who they can drop and won’t fight it but with unions its unlikely anyone would just give up without a fight since they have support.