Earlier this year, Donald J Trump provided a metaphor for how he would govern the United States.
In response to the California wildfires, he ordered the US Army Corps of Engineers to release billions of gallons of irrigation water from the Schafer Dam at Success Lake and the Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah. The Army Corps did not answer questions about how the water would reach Los Angeles, almost 200 miles away. It was a stupid and wasteful decision that exposed downstream residents to possible flooding and reduced the amount of irrigation water available to farmers during the driest months of the year. It had no impact on the wildfires which were contained by then.
Nobody elected Elon Musk or his team of adolescent hackers known as DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency).
Musk donated 285 million to Trump's campaign and bought himself a seat at the table. Some think he bought the whole table and Trump is a figurehead blathering about plastic versus paper straws and low-flow toilets while attending the Superbowl and Daytona 500 on the taxpayer's dime.
At a recent Oval Office press conference, Musk towered over the seated and relatively silent president and took questions from reporters. Musk wore a MAGA baseball cap and a jacket over a tee shirt while Trump and the others followed the dress code with suits and ties.
Musk’s four-year-old son served as a prop, astride his father's shoulders amusing himself as best he could. I wonder how MAGA would react if a female official brought her toddler to such a meeting.
Throughout his campaign, Trump disavowed Project 2025 but is now hellbent on implementing its platform.
During his campaign, Trump said nothing about acquiring Mexico, Canada or Greenland. He said nothing about turning the Gaza Strip into the Riviera of the Middle East. If he had, I doubt he would have won the election. Most Americans want peace. It's us and our kids who fight and die in wars, not the Musk kids.
At the press conference, reporters questioned Musk about his statement that USAID sent $50 million worth of condoms to Hamas in Gaza.
Fifty million people read Musk’s post where he made the bogus claim. Thousands more consumed the lie when Trump's press secretary spread it on television. Fox pundit Jesse Watters and Trump gleefully amplified the allegation.
As Winston Churchill said, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
It turns out there is more than one Gaza in the world. Minimal fact-checking showed that funds went to a Gaza in Mozambique to decrease exposure to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
And even that turned out to be an exaggeration. This is not an isolated incident.
DOGE also ran into trouble with Social Security's COBOL-based software system. It led them to conclude and spread the falsity that millions of dead people are receiving social security benefits. They're not.
Then there was the time the DOGE fired 300 probationary employees at the National Nuclear Security Agency. (NNSA).
When DOGE realized they had axed workers who maintain the U.S. arsenal of 5,000 nuclear weapons they scrambled to hire them back. They had already locked the employees out of their federal email accounts so it was difficult to reach them. Some chose not to return.
Now those hackers have access to your private information. What could go wrong?
The press also has questions about Musk's conflicts of interest.
For example, USAID was investigating Starlink's operations in Ukraine before he dismantled the agency.
Tesla faces federal investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into its autopilot system.
Musk is under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration over Neuralink's animal testing practices.
Musk's companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, have multi-billion-dollar contracts with the federal government. And he dares to call struggling Americans parasites.
The Trump administration is now saying in court filings that Musk is not the head of DOGE, an obvious lie. It's an effort to dodge lawsuits filed by 14 states.
By seizing funds already voted on by the legislative branch, Musk is rendering Congress obsolete. By threatening to impeach or ignore the federal judges who rule against his actions he's undermining the judiciary. It's time to see his actions for what they are, a power grab by the richest person on the planet from a president happy to hand over his job and our country. It's up to us to stop the coup.
Peggy can be reached at P.jones@winnemuccapublishing.net