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What is a good way of reducing plane crashes? Obviously do not fire air safety experts and instil paranoia in those who remain. Yet that is what Elon Musk is doing to the Federal Aviation Administration three weeks after America’s deadliest air collision in years. His team is moving fast to break things, as though Washington were an app. Other than China’s cultural revolution, history offers few parallels to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s assault on the state.
Musk’s declared aim is to slash US deficits by rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. His model is the 80 per cent of Twitter’s staff that he fired after buying the site — starting with its trust and safety group. If someone essential is let go in error, he says, they can be rehired. That was indeed the case for hundreds of nuclear safety officials who Musk fired earlier this month. It took a while to reinstate the staff monitoring America’s nuclear stockpile because Doge had misplaced their contact details.
The gulf between the jobs most federal employees do and how Musk depicts them is Orwellian. He has described US civil servants as radicals who use their bureaucratic powers for personal kickbacks. The now shuttered US aid agency was a “criminal organisation”. Some of its staff were worth tens of millions of dollars, Musk said. The US Treasury, meanwhile, was sending out millions of Social Security checks to dead people, terrorists and fraudsters.
Musk has yet to show evidence for the fraud he is alleging. His small team of mostly young men are chiefly software engineers. They have scant anti-fraud accounting expertise. They are cowing Washington with the six most ominous words in its new lexicon, “Do I need to call Elon?” Musk has used financial threats to change the votes of Republican senators. He is happy to use his ominous power — including 218mn followers on his X platform — to accuse lesser figures of hideous crimes. What chance does an unknown epidemiologist, or food safety inspector, have against the unfiltered enmity of the world’s richest man?
Musk’s apparent political goal is to convert the US state into Donald Trump’s personal instrument. That can only be accomplished through fear and strict loyalty tests. Doge has said it will hire back one employee for every four who are removed. Support for Trump’s goals is an implicit qualification. Musk’s outfit has given civil servants an outlet to denounce colleagues still adhering to the now abolished DEI rules. Soliciting anonymous tip-offs — turning people against each other — is a tool of autocrats.
Musk also has a business goal. In his mind he is ridding Washington of regulators who stifle US entrepreneurialism. That would be a worthy cause. In practice, he is removing those whose expertise is to monitor fraud and abuse. This started with Trump’s firing of 18 inspectors general. He then moved on to the government’s chief ethics officer. Musk’s toll began on day one with the resignation of Mike Whitaker, the FAA chief, who had announced fines on Musk’s SpaceX rocket company for safety breaches.
Last week, Musk trumpeted his closure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a post stating “CFPB RIP” followed by a gravestone emoji. The agency, which was created after the 2008 financial meltdown, protects consumers against bank fraud and small print rip off by corporate America. It also regulated fintech platforms. A few days earlier, Musk’s X had struck a deal with Visa to launch X Money Account — a key step towards its goal of being an “everything app”. Consumers will soon be able to get all their social media, bank transfers, AI support and neo-Nazi propaganda from one platform.
Trump says that Musk is policing his own conflicts. That might come as a surprise to Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, who last week was treated to a head of state-style meeting with Musk on US government property. On one side were Modi’s officials. Facing them were three of Musk’s infants and one of their mothers. Trump saw no problem with the fact that Musk was “possibly” there to talk business. Musk wants India to lift its blocks on Tesla and SpaceX.
Take nothing at face value. Plans to fire thousands of Internal Revenue Service officers ahead of this year’s tax deadline casts doubt on Musk’s sincerity in wanting to cut the US deficit. Government cannot function without the means to collect taxes. Last week Trump said: “He who saves his country does not violate the law.” Musk believes he is saving America. With a cause this noble, he has no time for the law.
edward.luce@ft.com
