Legislators and grassroots groups are showing new muscle in the wake of Musk’s weekend usurpation of power. It needs to ramp up, and quickly. And the media needs to cover it.
Employees and supporters gather to protest outside of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters on February 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
Iwoke up Monday morning expecting news of Democratic senators storming the Treasury building, demanding to know what President Elon Musk’s minions are doing with their unlawful access to payment information for US agencies, contractors, and taxpayers. Allegedly six post-teens close to Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” managed to take control from acting Treasury Secretary David Lebryk, who had resisted Musk’s requests for access to the system. Unelected, unappointed nobodies called US marshals, and Lebryk was placed on leave, then retired. Maybe he could have chained himself to his computer instead?
Or maybe I’d learn that senators had raided the US Agency for International Development, which Musk announced Sunday he was “feeding to the woodchipper,” to prevent the theft of private data that would inevitably transpire. Trump had given Musk the go-ahead, the tech billionaire claimed, and the president declared that the agency, which focuses on disaster relief and economic development in poorer nations, “has been run by a bunch of RADICAL LUNATICS and we’re getting them out.” Workers were told not to come to the building Monday; those working on the weekend testified to a bizarre crusade to take down photos and art inside the offices and strip the agency’s name from its walls and doors. Secretary of State Marco Rubio—the supposedly reasonable cabinet member—declared himself the acting AID head and said the agency had been folded into the State Department, with significant cuts in funding and staff.
At about 1 pm, a medium-size group of senators and representatives gathered outside AID headquarters to defend the agency. “There is no fourth branch of government called Elon Musk,” Representative Jamie Raskin declared. “This is a constitutional crisis,” Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy told the crowd. “Let’s call it what it is.” Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz promised not to vote on a single State Department nominee until the agency is restored to its former status. The congresspeople tried to enter the AID building but were turned away by security officers citing orders from Musk and DOGE.
MSNBC never cut away from a blathering press availability with Trump while he signed executive orders. (The cable network showed a snippet of Raskin’s remarks an hour later.) Trump answered one interesting question about why Musk should have access to the payments systems at Treasury: “Well, he’s got access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good, and it’s only if we agree with him.”
What does that even mean? He’s using the payroll system to terminate individual government employees? Just in case you like to worry, two government workers claim that Musk also has access to Americans’ tax records, Social Security numbers, and banking information.
Senator Elizabeth Warren wants answers. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—who was confirmed with 15 Democrats’ votes—Warren questioned why Musk was allowed to access those payment systems. “It is extraordinarily dangerous to meddle with the critical systems that process trillions of dollars of transactions each year, are essential to preventing a default on federal debt, and ensure that tens of millions of Americans receive their Social Security checks, tax refunds and Medicare benefits,” she said.
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Bessent hasn’t deigned to answer. But he did take the opportunity to take over the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau, which Warren created to give consumers opportunity to fight unfair practices in the banking and credit industry, and essentially shut it down. Musk also claimed he had “deleted” another Warren project, the Direct File system of filing federal taxes easily and without tax preparers, but journalists reported that it’s still active.
This is crazy town.
It was slightly encouraging to see some new life among Democrats who’ve seemed out to lunch as this constitutional crisis loomed. Maybe most encouraging, a coalition of grassroots organizing groups, organized by Indivisible and featuring MoveOn, the Working Families Party, the American Federation of Teachers, and others drew 40,000 curious registrants for a Zoom call Sunday night; they could only accommodate 20,000, but a recording of the call is here. Indivisible announced that it would protest at the Treasury building on Tuesday at 5 pm, and the group also announced planned actions in all 50 state capitals on Wednesday.
But Senator Chuck Schumer was basically MIA after a weekend of utter crisis. (Schumer unfortunately told Semafor that his party can wait, because “Trump will screw up,” in a piece posted alongside all the Trump carnage Monday.) House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement summarizing 10 moves the House is taking to thwart Trump, including many lawsuits. But neither Jeffries nor Schumer joined the Congress members who attempted to enter AID.
Our Democratic leaders mostly aren’t meeting this moment. It’s going to be up to the rest of us.
