Well, the electorate has spoken — a mandate according to the MAGAts, putting the man from Mar-a-Lago back into the Oval Office! But wait! It turns out The Man at Mar-a-Lago is none other than Elon Musk hibernating in one of the cottages onsite! Is he president, co-president, vice president or VP-in-waiting? It’s all very suspicious in light of all the shenanigans being pulled by this “high status male” peering over Mr. Trump’s shoulder and whispering in his good ear. During the recent presidential campaign, Musk used his X social media platform to promote the theory that a free-thinking ‘Republic’ can only exist under the decision-making of “high status males,” excluding women or “low T men,” of course. The theory was derived from 4chan, first seen in 2021 on that social media site, posted by an anonymous user who suggested that the only people able to think freely are “high testosterone alpha males” who would be qualified to a run a “Republic” designated “only for those who are free to think.” “People who can’t defend themselves physically (women and low T men) parse information through a consensus filter as a safety mechanism,” says the anonymous poster. “Only high T alpha males and aneurotypical people are actually free to parse new information with an objecive ‘is this true?’ filter,” they add. “This is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making. Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.” “Aneurotypical” is not a word but it is assumed the writer meant neurodivergent individuals.

This theory, and others similar, promote hegemonic masculinity, being criticized for being sexist, exclusionary, not realistic and “toxic,” all popular in alt-right communities. “Interesting observation,” said Musk of this post. Mr. Tesla views such controversial or offensive positions as ‘free speech’ and should be allowed on his own platform even if it holds false or misleading information. The 4chan site itself is a hub of internet subculture, influenced by hacktivist and political movements, such as Anonymous and the alt-right. Posting can be done anonymously, a mainstay of the site, which has resulted in harmful content from a toxic community, which is emboldened to post hateful and abusive messages without fear of reprisal, with burgeoning of cyberbullying, harassment, and illegal activities; indeed, incidents of violence and harm must be taken into account. But now, talk about “interesting observations,” president-elect Trump has chosen to put Musk in charge of a ‘government efficiency commission‘ to audit the entire federal government, implementing “drastic reforms,” bringing with him his track record of bristling against regulation and government intervention. His efficiency in running a business and his abysmal stewardship of X should raise a few red flags, as we examine his repeated employee pay cuts and mass layoffs which resulted in a sputtering and barely functional social media site. Millions of previous users have abandoned the platform which is now a cesspool of hate speech, disinformation, and propaganda…the main proponent being Musk himself. His confounding missteps and micromanagement style may eventually eat away at the successes of SpaceX and Tesla, which may suggest that his real motivation in accepting Trump’s invitation is to deconstruct government from the very center rather than saving it money to continue operating. But, what the heck…with a former reality TV star president with an erratic business record, what could go wrong?

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, on his Countdown podcast, is afraid there’s nothing to stop Musk from buying his former, troubled cable news network, though it is not technically up for grabs. Olbermann asks, “Is there anybody to stop someone, Musk or not, from buying MSNBC and turning it into pro-Trump propaganda? Well, who stopped Musk from doing that to Twitter?” Musk suggested the idea after Donald Trump, Jr. joked that making that purchase would be “the funniest idea ever!!!” Olbermann’s comments about a degraded Twitter note that it is now basically a place for Musk to talk to bots and “fellow brain-dead tech bros.” Fidelity Investments estimates that X is now worth 80% less than when Elon got his mitts on it. Comcast has plans to spin off most of its struggling cable networks into standalone entities owned solely by existing shareholders, and may ultimately divest from cable completely. However, Musk is already spread incredibly thin with all his enterprises, so MSNBC is in no danger…yet…only our government should fear his clutches.

And the clutches of his designated partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, in the new non-agency called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)…not legally recognized as yet. The two co-leaders are making a list and checking it twice of government employees they intend to fire when Trump is sworn in to the presidency, actually two lists obtained from former administration workers. The first lists people who they served with who would make possible political appointees; the other list grades people they worked with, with an ‘A’ for those who should stay, and a ‘B’ for those who should be ‘blacklisted or fired.’ Typically, civil servants or career officials are protected from political raids at agencies, but Trump has claimed he can use Schedule F, an executive order that would make them fireable, and most certain to end up before the court. Many applicants are seeking work in the DOGE inquisition agency, but few who are willing to work for free, as are Musk and Ramaswamy. M & R are eager to start their new assignments as they goad their adherents to start cyberbullying government employees, calling their positions “fake.” Some may remember that in 2022, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, was targeted by Musk who charged Roth was endangering children, which led to a multitude of haters accusing him of being a pedophile and calling for his death. Roth was chased away from Twitter after the Musk takeover, and had to relocate for his safety after the billionaire’s cyber campaign, a sign of what may lie ahead with M & R’s ‘efficiency’ moves.

The two claim to have a mandate from the American people and the Supreme Court as they try to reshape the federal government. They are advancing legally questionable arguments on tactics, but as ‘outside volunteers,’ they have no authority to actually cut anything or fire anyone. Those powers lie with Trump, Congress, federal agency heads, or anyone with actual power to do so; yet, the two imply that they will take a much more direct roles to personally achieve their desired result. It is estimated that Musk spent in excess of $200M to buy Trump’s presidency, so in return Trump is giving Musk free rein to reshape federal agencies that regulate Musk’s companies by purging the civil service that awards him lucrative government contracts. According to odactionnews, DOGE is not aiming to eliminate a wasteful, lawless, and antidemocratic bureaucracy in Washington — it is hoping to become one. Conservative critic George Conway joked, “It’s weird to think that Elon Musk will end up having paid far less for the United States government than he did for Twitter.”

Musk has proven his power by killing a bipartisan government funding bill that was set to be voted on, avoiding a government shutdown. His over-the-top social media posting spree encouraging Republican members of Congress to vote against the proposed plan succeeded, and it took several days to get it back on track in the nick of time. Stephen Colbert wasn’t surprised by his action, saying that the billionaire has a history of blowing things up…“particularly on the launch pad,” he joked by showing a SpaceX rocket failure in Cape Canaveral. Colbert continued, “I’m sure the founders are spinning in their graves with joy at the way all of this is playing out. After all, the Constitution does start with ‘We the people do whatever rich boy tells us. Rich boy makes the big square truck! And we obey! We the people, obey rich boy.” He then pointed out that Trump weighed in on the bill’s failure, echoing Musk’s posts, which then spurred comments of “President Musk, and Vice President Trump.” “Woof, well, if he’s gonna be the guy running everything, I’m gonna have to work on my Elon Musk impression. Here goes,” as he jumped into the air in mockery of Musk’s jumping on stage during a Trump rally. Senator Bernie Sanders posted, “Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. President Elon Musk doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring?”

Elon is facing accusations of political meddling not only in this country, but across Europe, including the German Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Britains’s Reform UK parties. “Only AfD can save Germany,” Musk has written on X, leading one senior German politician to remark, “Stay out, Elon.” It is reported that Musk is considering a donation of $100M to the anti-immigration Reform UK after meeting that party’s leader at his new digs in Mar-a-Lago. Wary politicians in Italy, Ireland, and France have told him “hands off” our domestic politics. Back in the USA, many are saying it’s Musk’s House now, with many Republicans proposing a Speaker of the House Musk, though he is backpedaling with Trump to make his actions on the funding bill appear to be Democrats‘ fault. Tiny cracks are beginning to appear in the GOP, stimulating calls for a Civil War within the party, which will make Trump a lamer duck than he desired to be. Trump wanted the world’s richest man as his sidekick, for the glamor and the fat wallet, and now it’s about to blow up on the launch pad. With Musk’s perceived clout, who owns the MAGA brand? Former MSNBC anchor and political analyst Chris Matthews called out Musk for tanking the funding bill by saying, “You’ve heard of a bull in a china ship — this guy is an elephant in a china shop.” Steve Schmidt on The Warning blog, speculates that, “Maybe we should call Elon ‘Daddy.’ I bet that’s what Trump calls him in private. Barron too.”

Satirist Andy Borowitz writes, “Elon Musk’s strenuous efforts to obtain power have dismally failed to make him an interesting person, a leading expert revealed. Professor Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, a scholar who has written the definitive study about tedious graspers, said that Musk has made ‘the classic misjudgment that many boring people make: believing that access to power would make them less boring. He is still the reason all his employees want to work remotely.’ In more upbeat news for the Tesla CEO, Donald J. Trump has tapped Musk to mastermind mass deportations, arguing, ‘Elon already got millions of people to leave Twitter.'”