Alexander Vindman was a highly decorated member of the military who was invited to join the staff of the National Security Council where he was Director of European Affairs. In 2019, he testified before Congress about the Trump-Ukraine scandal. The scandal culminated in Trump’s first impeachment.
He writes a blog called “Why It Matters”about public affairs.
He wrote recently about Elon Musk’s brash intrusion into the functioning of the federal government, at Trump’s invitation. With the pretext of finding “efficiencies,” Musk has scooped up vast amounts of private infornation about almost every American and caused the ouster of effective career civil servants. He also instigated a buyout offer to 2 million career civil servants, although no money has been appropriated to pay for mass retirements. The offer was modeled on Musk’s strategy at Twitter, where he dramatically reduced the workforce by almost 80%.
He wrote:
Members of the newly created “Department of Government Efficiency” under Elon Musk have engaged in an ongoing campaign designed to cripple the basic functions of government and decimate the federal civil service. Members of the Department of Government Efficiency are reportedly pushing for full access to payment systems and intend to scrape data from within the Department of Treasury. Cloud Software Group CEO Tom Krause has been designated liaison between the Treasury and the Department of Government Efficiency, with Musk reportedly wanting to add the Treasury to the blockchain. Agents from the Department of Government Efficiency have demanded access to classified info with USAID, with Elon later calling the agency a criminal organization and declaring “Time for [USAID] to die”. Civil servants across the federal government have been offered buy-outs to leave their positions early. Not only have no funds been appropriated for these offers (nor has the full legality been determined), but these buy-outs are being made by an administration lead by someone who has notoriously scammed contractors and avoided paying invoices whenever possible. These actions are taking place in the midst of an ongoing purge of high-ranking officials within the FBI by the Trump administration.
Make no mistake, what’s happening right now is a hostile takeover of the federal government by a private agency operating with a broad mandate and no concerns for the stability of the United States or the interests of the average American. It’s easier to break than it is to build, and Elon Musk’s agenda is focused on unraveling America’s governing institutions. When – not if – a preventable disaster is enabled by the Department of Government Efficiency’s decision to destroy a function of government in the name of “fighting wokeness”, there will be a reckoning for the damage Elon Musk has done.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Trump does not control the DC Police Department. Agencies in DC should call in local enforcement agencies to report intruders robbing their agencies. Musk has no legal authority to have his people in these buildings. Start playing hardball.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We can expect the worst for anyone in this country who is not a rich, white Xtian (straight) male (presumably with no physical shortcomings), now that billionaire pro-Discrimination-Oafs-Getting-Even (DOGE) are in charge of everything.
Since they did get some votes from people who aren’t in that group, such as Hispanics, I highly doubt everyone in the cult fully understood that they were voting for this. Sign the petition to impeach again here: https://www.impeachtrumpagain.org/?nvep=&hmac=&emci=b7ec0ad0-49d7-ef11-88d0-0022482a9d92&emdi=ea000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&ceid=#action
LikeLike
It’s usually about this point when the Dictator just up and dissolves the Parliament …
Check your email CongressPeople …
I was gonna say they could all sleep in today …
but I realized that was kinda redundant …
LikeLike
/ Class action against Musk for theft of personal information.
LikeLike
I’m hoping that state Attorneys General will sue Musk for theft of personal data.
LikeLike
What public schools have faced since A Nation at Risk and NCLB is what federal civil servants are facing around the country. It is a similar process, but at a faster pace. First, the right wing extremists sow seeds of doubt, broadcast negative propaganda, bash employees and lie about the institution’s goals and results. For public education and teachers it has been a slow moving bulldozer based on the lies of failure and indoctrination. For the federal civil servants it has been propaganda about the “deep state” and so-called secretive activities. Musk is trying to blow up the federal administration with a stick of dynamite. Putin is delighted with the chaos and disruption.
LikeLike
Stick of dynamite?
No! It’s a nuclear weapon.
LikeLike
What we have is the Rush Limbaughfication, Sean Hannitistupefaction, Tucker Carlsonitis of the federal government. Will we survive 4 years of this far right wing manure storm? I sincerely hope so; at some point one hopes that the Democrats will start screaming, holding sit-ins and blocking all GOP efforts at destroying our democracy. Oh wait, the GOP says the US is not a democracy, it’s a republic. The GOP hates democracy and does not seem to realize that a republic is in fact a representative democracy.
LikeLike
Musk is basically Trump’s Rasputin in that he is weird and has far too much influence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Today I did something Heather Cox Richardson suggested. I asked some of my MAGA friends about their feelings regarding Musk getting access to the treasury computers. She suggested we reach out to republicans in a nonjudgemental way in the hopes that we can work together to stop this. She says it’s our only hope of stopping Musk from taking over the Govt.
LikeLike
Good point, David.
Just catching up on this post. I was in substitute teaching today and didn’t have much of a chance to look at the news.
How did your MAGA friends react to your questions? I’m curious.
Love Heather Cox Richardson. Imagine having a President like her or Diane….someone with intelligence, heart and integrity…… if only…
LikeLike
One person said they didn’t want to be cornered when I asked their feelings. Silence from the others. They probably went into shock that a democrat asked for their opinion on something.
LikeLike
As I mentioned above, the “look under the hood” comment is incredible.
We CAN look under our government’s “hood”. At least at this moment, freedom of information laws are still in effect, I think? (Give Musk a few more days taking control of our country’s data.)
It’s the workings of corporations that are hidden with billionaire puppet masters behind their huge, continent-spanning curtain pulling the strings on our so-called leaders.
I saw a great documentary years ago about Malcolm X. There was footage of him just casually walking up to white customers on a sidewalk at a suburban shopping plaza and saying something to the effect, “You are racist…you hate me” And the white shoppers recoiling in fear.
Some of you regulars on here probably have a better recollection of this specific film footage. What I’m writing is from my memory decades ago. I can’t find that clip online this morning.
But, David, that’s the kind of thing you’ve tried to do. Confront the MAGA people you know with the reality of what’s happening.
I’ve sought out some comfort and inspiration these past couple weeks looking back at the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. (And to think that in 2025 we are as far away from that era now as Dr. King and his contemporaries were from the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision that cemented racism.)
My wife and I have been watching the 1978 miniseries “King” with Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson. It’s available here and there on the internet. I have the actual DVDs.
What was absolutely striking in the film last night was the similarity between the images of the white males who attacked peaceful civil rights protestors in Birmingham in 1963 and the white males who were part of the MAGA horde attacking the Capitol on January 6. That raw anger and spitting hatred and brutal violence is the same. Just compare the actual, documentary photos now to then.
Make no mistake that the clock right now is spinning wildly backwards, and the foundation of our country is being washed away beneath our very feet.
Keep doing what you can, everyone. Take care!
LikeLike
One person said that Musk needs to “look under the hood and find out where all the money is going.”
LikeLike
“Look under the hood”! Wow.
That’s amazing since public institutions are much more transparent than the typical corporation. I mean the public can “FOIL” government and there are elections. But good luck getting “under the hood” of Musk’s business.
That’s how successful the oligarchs and the alleged “leaders” they control have been. They’ve got the citizenry convinced that business is better… better than the public, better the people themselves. It’s absolutely Orwellian.
The reality is completely, 180 degrees the opposite.
Take, for example, your typical public school. Call your local school and within a few minutes you’ll get a human being on the phone. Heck, if you’re a parent you’ll get a teacher, a guidance counselor, the principal. If not at that moment, well, soon!
On the other hand, try calling any corporation. If they want to sell you something, sure. But have a problem and try to talk to a human being! Banks, health insurers etc… Good luck with that. Endless phones trees and contorted bureaucracies constructed like the proverbial House of Mirrors.
I know I’m “preaching to the choir” here. But thanks for getting me thinking, David. Because I’m surrounded by people who voted pro-MAGA. Many very decent, hardworking people.
The comment about not wanting to be “cornered” when asked about their feelings is astounding, too. Cornered? The MAGA candidate won. Their party is in power. If anything, it’s us, who have been called “the enemy within” who are “cornered.”
To trick the victimizers into believing that they are the victims, or turning victims against fellow citizens who are also victims….My God…that is one more dangerous step down the nightmare path towards violence, murder and even genocide.
I like your idea of putting the question right to the source….the source of our nation’s now spiraling disaster. Because they own it. Or, maybe the better way to phrase it, they are owned.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How can musk or anyone “look under the hood” of the federal government in a day or two and decide who needs to be fired and which programs should be terminated?
They are sticking a giant thumb drive into the computers and sucking up everyone’s personal data. It will be monetized.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What did your maga friends say about Musk? On Twitter, the MAGAts adore him. He can do no wrong.
LikeLike
Most didn’t respond. One person said “He Trusted Trump’s judgment” and the other said “we need to look under the hood son. That’s a good start to erase our 37 trillion deficit that both parties hoodwinked from us”. I know that Steve Bannon hates Musk as do many of his followers, but I would think that the vast majority of Trump supporters will follow him wherever he leads them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What I consider a possibility. . . what the probability is I don’t know. I worry about Musk and his minions planted a “hacking bomb” to go off at some later point in time when the CONVICTED FELON becomes incapacitated and Vance takes over. That is when the xtian theofascists will seriously come into play.
Am I that paranoid?
LikeLike