'ZERO EMPATHY, ZERO SHAME'

How Trump’s ideologues and profiteers are wrecking the US government

Elon Musk, joined by his son X Musk, stands next to President Donald Trump as he speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office on February 11. / Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.

Consider three premises about the current American leadership crisis.

One: there are many reasonable ways to trim the federal budget, and the most logical way to cut the budget is to start where it is most bloated—the Pentagon. Why not begin with the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which went into use in 2015 after two decades of cost overruns that totaled more than two trillion dollars. Shutting up Washington’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will give solace to the nation’s banking and finance world, but not much else. (Its annual budget is $823 million.)

Two: President Donald Trump believes or wants to believe—not sure there is a difference—that Article 2 of the Constitution, which says that executive power is vested in the presidency, gives him what he has called “the right to do whatever I want.” Hence his constant talk now of running for yet another term in office.

Three: I have been told by those who know the US hacking community that the young members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency computing team now running amok inside the Treasury Department, where America’s checks are drawn up, would not have been granted a clearance had they sought computer jobs with the federal government. But there is little doubt about the skills of Musk’s young Turks and their ability to get proprietary information that would enrich their boss. Musk does billions of dollars in business with the federal government, and analyzing and evaluating the way various bureaucrats evaluate his firms’ contract proposals—and those of their competitors—would be of prime interest.

The other key players along with Musk are Russell Vought, recently confirmed as a director of the White House’s Office and Management and Budget, which is as important as it sounds, especially to the Musk operatives, and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff. Both are political extremists. Vought was one of the principal drafters of Project 2025, a radical proposal for the current reshaping of the government that emerged from the conservative Heritage Foundation. The proposals terrified Democrats—though not enough—during last year’s presidential race. The more outspoken and pugnacious Miller, once a close ally of Steve Bannon, worked on immigrant issues during Trump’s first term in office from 2017 to 2021. He was known for his harsh views on immigration that included the separation of migrant children from their parents when they crossed the US border. Such action, Miller said, would deter parents from attempting to cross the border illegally. Miller, too, was on the advisory board for Project 2025.