Elon Musk is shredding America’s government as he did Twitter
Some of his operatives are barely out of their teens
JUST PAST midnight on February 3rd Elon Musk appeared on X to explain what he is doing to the federal government. He had to speak over the patter of his four-year-old son, also called X. The bureaucracy, Mr Musk argued, constitutes an illegitimate “fourth branch of government”. He then came to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which he denounced as little more than a device to funnel taxpayers’ money to Marxists and criminals. He had, he claimed, the full support of Donald Trump and is “shutting it down”, notwithstanding that the agency’s existence is mandated by Congress. Later he posted that he had spent the weekend “feeding USAID into the woodchipper”.
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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The woodchipper”
United States February 8th 2025
- Elon Musk is shredding America’s government as he did Twitter
- Florida comes to Washington, DC
- RFK junior and Tulsi Gabbard, set to sail through a cowed Senate
- New York City commits to involuntary commitment
- The clean-up after the LA fires is already revealing tensions
- Donald Trump is turning payback into policy
From the February 8th 2025 edition
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New York City commits to involuntary commitment
Compulsory treatment of the severely mentally ill was once taboo. No longer
Donald Trump is turning payback into policy
And setting new, dangerous precedents for the American presidency
Florida comes to Washington, DC
Using the Sunshine State’s politics as a guide to the Trump administration
The clean-up after the LA fires is already revealing tensions
When a city burns, how does recovery even begin?
RFK junior and Tulsi Gabbard, set to sail through a cowed Senate
But Congress will bargain harder on taxes and spending