If we had a real press in this country this would be being shouted from the rooftops. Holy conflict of interests, Batman. Elon Musk got into Trump’s pocket for a lot of reasons, first and foremost to line his own pockets and co-opt this country, the way he has taken over the businesses he has purchased. Musk is not an original thinker. He sees other companies with potential and buys them. That doesn’t always end well, as you’ve noticed from his rockets doing “unscheduled disassemblies” his launch of Twitter, with an interview with Ron DeSantis that kept crashing, and his inventory of unsold Teslas which is visible from outer space. And now his latest business is your country and mine, woe is us.
THE SHELL GAME IN ACTION: Elon Musk’s companies have billions upon billions of dollars in federal contracts. And now that he’s become the emperor of which federal contracts stay and which ones vanish, DOGE keeps hacking away at oversight offices that had been investigating his companies.
But lately, Musk has been taking the brazen conflict-of-interest game even further. The world’s richest man has been rabble-rousing online against his competitors with their own government contracts in an apparent attempt to build GOP support for giving that business to Elon instead. The strategy appears to be bearing fruit, per the Washington Post:
The Federal Aviation Administration is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract to overhaul a communications system that serves as the backbone of the nation’s air traffic control system and awarding the work to Elon Musk’s Starlink, according to two people briefed on the plans.
The Post notes drily that tearing up the contract currently held by Verizon “would represent a significant test of protections against conflicts of interest in government projects.” Musk insists he is just updating a rapidly, dangerously decaying system (amazing how that happened in the span of a month) and will be offering Starlink’s services for free.
But here’s what’s even more remarkable: He isn’t the only one slagging on Verizon this week. Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr sent a letter to the telecom giant yesterday accusing it of failing to halt its DEI initiatives quickly enough. “I am concerned by Verizon’s continued focus on promoting DEI,” Carr warned. “I expect all regulated businesses to end invidious forms of discrimination.”
Coincidence? Perhaps. But with Musk wielding remarkably unchecked power across the federal government and Trump continuing to back him to the hilt, there’s undeniable pressure on other agency heads to remain in his good books.
And again, this is another lawsuit waiting to happen. Verizon isn’t going to lose a $2.4 billion government contract without a squabble, are you kidding? Government contracts don’t just shut off one day like a spigot. There has to be a winding down of the contract and then if the government seeks a new vendor for the same service, there is competitive bidding, all of that. There is protocol for these things.
But Elon doesn’t want to do any of that, that’s probably why he’s dangling this “free” notion in the air. But see it for what it is, which is an insane power grab. Musk wants to be in charge of our air transportation, domestic and global. You don’t give that kind of power to one person. In fact, he’s already complaining about that very thing.
OK, so what is the date that Trump and senior officials in his Admin are responsible for what they are doing? How long are they always going to blame the Deep State for their own screw ups and incompetence? Another month? Six? When do they accept accountability? Ever? pic.twitter.com/GBvGjO3iNB
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 28, 2025
Power isn’t instant and absolute? The hell you say. Whudda thot? Musk is used to a my way or the highway form of doing business and that is the absolute antithesis of government and politics. You follow protocol in those areas. Musk is not suited for the job he’s got, not that that’s an original observation, but I believe that that is why he’s not suited.
He really does believe that you just go in and start destroying the work of two and a half centuries and people will sit there and allow it. And in a company that you buy, yes, a new owner can do that. A new broom can sweep clean. The fly in the ointment is that the United States is not a company and Musk did not buy it. He bought the elected leader of it, granted, but that’s not quite the same thing. Trump may be perfectly willing to let Musk do whatever he wants, the other 330 million of us may not be.
Meanwhile, the actual president of the United States is out either playing golf, or he’s dragging himself through Oval Office meetings with foreign leaders over issues he does not understand and does not bother to prepare for, because he doesn’t care about them. These are just forced photo ops for Trump. He hates the job of actual governing. It’s a pain in the ass, always was.
This is what the 2024 electorate bought. The buyers’ remorse is already getting going, just ask the Republicans who hide from their constituents because town halls are so brutal. It’s hard to explain soaring prices and equally soaring unemployment numbers. And Trump’s soon to come tariffs are only going to make things worse.
[Artwork Daily Beast]
*******
Friends, if you have donated, thank you a dozen times. We need help in this time of Democratic depression. If you are able to donate or buy a subscription, that would be great. I have faith our traffic will return but when I know not. Thank you. Ursula
Anyone else remember when the GOP was the “Party of Big Business” and that “business worked better when the government was hands-off?”
Seems to me like the Drumpf people have decided that “Business works better when it obeys OUR regulations.” If a company feels that ITS operations work best when there’s a “diverse” workforce that embodies “equity” and “inclusiveness,” then you’d think the government (which had, after all, been promoting that idea for the past 60 years) would butt the eff out.