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Muskrats threaten to call Elon whenever federal workers resist their demands

Muskrats threaten to call Elon whenever federal workers resist their demands

Rolling Stone reports: Every regime’s enforcement mechanisms rely on threats and politicized intimidation. In the case of Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s ongoing power grab, it’s involved young staffers with Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) barging into different federal agencies, departments, and institutes, demanding that security officials and other senior staff give them access to whatever they want. When security officials, for instance, at several departments and agencies have responded that they need to check to ensure these…

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Musk’s uncontainable toxicity could spell disaster for Tesla

Musk’s uncontainable toxicity could spell disaster for Tesla

Wired reports: Elon Musk’s toxicity among many Europeans is such that even owners of Tesla news websites have ditched Muskmobiles for other EV brands. Jon Gibbs of Birmingham, England, runs what he calls the “world’s biggest Tesla inventory site.” Tesla-info, Gibbs says, stores the “largest database of new and used Tesla motors in the world.” He used to own one himself—but he now drives a BMW iX electric SUV. Likewise, Tim Kraaijvanger of the Netherlands, founder of Tesla360.nl, a Dutch…

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The opposition is growing: Trump is getting substantial pushback, both from the courts and elsewhere

The opposition is growing: Trump is getting substantial pushback, both from the courts and elsewhere

Quinta Jurecic writes: During his first term in office, Donald Trump loved to complain about judges on social media. Reliably, whenever his agenda was held up in court or his allies faced legal consequences, he would snipe online about “so-called judges” and a “broken and unfair” legal system. Now, in Trump’s second term, this genre of cranky presidential post has returned. A judge who blocked the administration’s mass freeze of federal-grant funding is “highly political” and an “activist,” according to…

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The Associated Press provides a model of effective press resistance

The Associated Press provides a model of effective press resistance

Noah Berlatsky writes: The White House is punishing the Associated Press for defying President Donald Trump’s petty and Orwellian censorship. Trump insists that journalistic outlets refer to the Gulf of Mexico solely as the “Gulf of America.” The AP has continued to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico. In retaliation, Trump barred the AP’s reporters from attending presidential press availabilities. But the AP refused to knuckle under. The organization’s stand provides a model for resistance…

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Elated Kremlin insiders say Trump has given Putin greenlight to expand the war in Ukraine

Elated Kremlin insiders say Trump has given Putin greenlight to expand the war in Ukraine

Julia Davis reports: U.S. President Donald J. Trump stunned the world by offering unprecedented concessions to Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday—seemingly without getting anything in return. Before the formal peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin even started, Trump and members of his administration dismissed the idea that Ukraine could reclaim its territories that Russia currently occupies, slammed the door shut for Kyiv’s hope of NATO membership, and refused to acknowledge Ukraine as an equal member…

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How regime change happens in America

How regime change happens in America

Anne Applebaum writes: Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is not, so far, primarily interested in efficiency. DOGE and its boss, Elon Musk, have instead focused their activity on the eradication of the federal civil service, along with its culture and values, and its replacement with something different. In other words: regime change. No one should be surprised or insulted by this phrase, because this is exactly what Trump and many who support him have long desired. During…

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Ambitious and ‘rigorously honest’ prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, quits rather than do Trump’s bidding

Ambitious and ‘rigorously honest’ prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, quits rather than do Trump’s bidding

The New York Times reports: Danielle R. Sassoon shot like a laser through the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, with stints fighting violent crime and securities fraud as well as handling appeals before she was elevated, at age 38, to be its interim head. There, just weeks into her tenure running the country’s most prestigious federal prosecutor’s office, she encountered an obstacle that threatened to stall her rapid rise: the desire of President Trump’s administration to drop corruption charges against New…

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How DOGE could spark a financial crash

How DOGE could spark a financial crash

David Dayen writes: It hasn’t gotten much attention, but one of Elon Musk’s major DOGE initiatives is a massive fire sale of federal office space. Despite forcing federal employees back to the office by abolishing telework programs, Musk and company want to unload a large number of unused properties and recoup that money for the budget, a process that could expand if worker purges continue. That theoretical win-win, however, will soon come into contact with the realities of commercial real…

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Already exposed as an online gaming fraud, Musk’s whole genius persona is facing rapid unintentional disassembly

Already exposed as an online gaming fraud, Musk’s whole genius persona is facing rapid unintentional disassembly

Kareem Shaheen and Alec D’Angelo write: Musk’s ability to reach the worldwide top 20 leaderboards in the run-up to Trump’s inauguration raised eyebrows, since he essentially would have needed to play the game [Path of Exile] nonstop for two weeks to achieve the rank. Then he began streaming the game, and it was abundantly clear that he wasn’t familiar with its interface or his own equipment — or even with the game’s basic mechanics. The kicker was that, at one…

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‘Tesla Takeover’: Protests planned at Tesla stores globally this weekend

‘Tesla Takeover’: Protests planned at Tesla stores globally this weekend

Electrek reports: Tesla is being targeted by protests organized at its stores around the globe. The demonstrations planned for this Saturday appear to be a grassroots movement without a clear goal or leadership. The protestors are calling it the “Tesla Takeover”. The movement appears to have started on Bluesky, a social media platform that spun off of Twitter before Elon Musk bought it and turned it into X. Several bigger accounts on Bluesky, including Anonymous, the infamous hacker group, have…

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Trump is ignoring the Impoundment Control Act, welcoming a fight in the courts

Trump is ignoring the Impoundment Control Act, welcoming a fight in the courts

Sarah Harrison writes: At the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, he and his administration have issued unprecedented directives to halt domestic and foreign spending in order to align that spending with his “America First” agenda. The orders have had immediate and sweeping impacts, including widespread confusion over exactly what funding must be paused, ensnaring billions of dollars in the freeze and ending the employment of federal workers and contractors necessary to execute on those funds. Although the White House Office of Management…

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At least five IGs investigating Elon Musk’s companies were fired by the Trump-Musk administration

At least five IGs investigating Elon Musk’s companies were fired by the Trump-Musk administration

  The New Republic: “Five inspector generals that were looking into Elon Musk’s companies were fired by the Trump-Musk administration,” said Texas Representative Greg Casar. “These inspector generals, who are independent, protected by law; they are the people that find the waste, fraud, and abuse … fired because they were looking into Elon Musk.” “You know what Elon Musk doesn’t seem to be looking into?” Casar continued. “His own contracts.” “Just last year, Elon Musk was promised $3 billion from…

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Noah Feldman specifies the tipping point for a constitutional crisis

Noah Feldman specifies the tipping point for a constitutional crisis

  The Trump administration has seen several of its executive orders frozen — from its campaign to end birthright citizenship to the destruction of USAID. Now a judge in Rhode Island has become the first to declare that the White House has disobeyed a court order. Could this signal the start of a constitutional crisis? Harvard law professor and Bloomberg columnist Noah Feldman joins Walter Isaacson to discuss.

Never before has a corporate executive been handed so much power over government operations

Never before has a corporate executive been handed so much power over government operations

The New York Times reports: President Trump has been in office less than a month, and Elon Musk’s vast business empire is already benefiting — or is now in a decidedly better position to benefit. Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man who has been given enormous power by the president, have been dismantling federal agencies across the government. Mr. Trump has fired top officials and pushed out career employees. Many of them were leading investigations, enforcement matters…

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