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This is an adapted excerpt from the Feb. 4 episode of "All In with Chris Hayes."
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has seemingly anointed himself king of America. The billionaire is acting like he can do whatever he wants — like we don’t have a Constitution or laws in this country, just him.
Most recently, his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has helped spearhead the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, which, among other responsibilities, is tasked with delivering billions of dollars of humanitarian aid to more than a hundred countries across the globe. Musk even bragged about "feeding USAID into the wood chipper."
The billionaire is acting like he can do whatever he wants — like we don’t have a Constitution or laws, just him.
After the USAID director of security tried to stop Musk’s hand-picked engineers from accessing its servers, he was put on leave, five sources familiar with the events tell NBC News. What’s left of the agency is now under the control of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who, in turn, tapped the director of foreign assistance at the State Department, Pete Marocco, to run it. As NBC News reports, Marocco was identified by online sleuths as one of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Marocco was never charged by authorities.)
Now, Musk has no more legal authority to shut down USAID than I do to show up at Tesla’s headquarters and close the company. USAID is funded by congressional appropriation and any large-scale changes have to go through Congress. Despite what Musk says, you can’t just feed an agency to the wood chipper by fiat.
But, I think, the unconstitutionality is the point. On Tuesday, two sources familiar told NBC News that Donald Trump is planning an executive order to eliminate the Education Department, which he also lacks the legal authority to do. The Washington Post reported, citing three people familiar with the situation and records it obtained, that Musk’s lackeys are already working to slash staffing and funding within the department.
Now, there is a way to get rid of the Education Department or USAID: Pass a law. Trump won the presidency, Republicans control the House and the Senate and they have a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court. Musk and Trump could absolutely go through the lawful democratic channels to do this. But they are deliberately choosing not to.
This is part of a larger, seemingly lawless spree through our core institutions carried out by Musk and his small group of volunteers — volunteers with dubious legal employment status and authority. Musk calls them his "unknown soldiers." As if he's saluting them for doing the work of tearing down the government.
In addition to the Education Department and USAID, they have already been unleashed elsewhere, including the Office of Personnel Management and the Treasury Department. But, despite Musk’s nickname, they are not unknown.
According to a Wired investigation, they are a group of half-dozen men ages 19 to 24 with practically no experience in government. Musk doesn’t think you should know that, though. He is baselessly calling reporting that identifies the young men illegal. And the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., a former "Stop the Steal" lawyer who represented Jan. 6 defendants, is now effectively threatening prosecution against reporters who identify Musk’s unknown soldiers.
It’s a clear violation of the First Amendment from Musk, the self-proclaimed free speech absolutist. But again, I think that is intentional. Musk and Trump are daring the opposition to try and stop them.
It appears, so far, that many Democrats have been caught flat-footed by all of this. But we are finally starting to see people getting up off the mat and pushing back. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii says he will now put a blanket hold on all of Trump’s State Department nominees until USAID is restored. He cannot block them forever, but he can play hardball and slow the process down considerably.
On Monday, Schatz’s Democratic colleagues held a protest against Musk at USAID headquarters. We also saw a demonstration outside the headquarters of the Office of Personnel Management, which has similarly been targeted by Musk. In New York, protesters gathered outside NYU Langone Health to protest against the hospital reportedly stopping treatment for trans kids after Trump’s executive order attempting to halt gender-affirming care for anyone under the age of 19.
The momentum is keeping up. On Tuesday, progressive groups led by congressional Democrats held a protest called "Nobody Elected Elon" in front of the Treasury Department headquarters.
Even if Musk thinks he bought the U.S. government, he does not own it.
"We are wide awake to the fraud that’s being perpetuated on this country inside this building and we’re not going to stand for it," Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told the crowd. "And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the United States Senate should vote for a single nominee that’s going to participate in this fraud."
"When we open up the Senate every single morning, we don’t pledge allegiance to the billionaires," He added. "We don’t pledge allegiance to Elon Musk. We don’t pledge allegiance to the creepy 22-year-olds working for Elon Musk. We pledge allegiance to the United States of America."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also spoke to the crowd, declaring "We are here to fight back. A few months ago, Elon Musk spent $280 million to buy an election for Donald Trump. Now Elon Musk is here to collect on his investment. He is here to seize power for himself. We are here to fight back."
What is clear is that Musk is going to go as far as he can until something or someone stops him. When he bought Twitter for $44 billion, he tried the same thing. He purged employees, he tanked its value, and the platform has become a safe space for the far right. He is attempting the same hostile takeover of the United States government.
But even if Musk thinks he bought the U.S. government, he does not own it. And if the American people want to fire Musk, they are going to need to push back by every democratic means available.
Allison Detzel contributed.