DCUM Weblog

Today I am going to give my impression of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress last night. Let me fully caveat this by saying that if you have absolutely anything else to do, no matter how unproductive it may seem, it is probably a better use of your time than reading my thoughts about Trump's speech. Frankly, watching paint dry would probably be more useful and maybe even more interesting. For those of you choosing to continue reading, I can summarize my opinion succinctly. The speech sucked.

There was a time that regardless of whatever you thought of Trump, you had to concede that he could give an entertaining, if largely false and not particularly interesting, speech. But this one strained my capacity to stay awake. It was interminably long and, not to put too fine of a point on it, boring. It was the longest such speech in U.S. history. In hindsight, I should have followed Representative Al Green's example and gotten myself ejected from my living room. But having neither the foresight nor a Sergeant of Arms at hand, I was stuck watching for the entire ordeal.

Anyone with even a vague familiarity with cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump knows that he loves a scam, particularly one from which he can benefit financially. Therefore, Trump and cryptocurrency are a match made in heaven. During the presidential campaign, Trump became a strong backer of cryptocurrencies, leading to large donations from the cryptocurrency industry. Moreover, both Trump and his wife Melania launched their own meme coins. Both seem to take undue pleasure in fleecing their fans and supporters. Among the first executive orders that Trump signed was one promoting "digital financial technology" or cryptocurrency. Among other things, this EO created a working group on digital asset markets. This group was, in turn, charged with evaluating the potential creation of a digital asset stockpile. This weekend, thanks to a "truth" from Trump on his Truth Social social media network, this cryptocurrency stockpile gained additional attention.

Recently, Shadow President Elon Musk posted a tweet that began, "All government spending is taxation." That's the sort of statement that, if you didn't spend at least a few seconds thinking about it, you might believe to be intelligent. But if you do think about it, you really have to wonder what he means. Lucky for us, Musk went on to explain further. "Whatever is not directly taxed is taxed in the form of inflation, as the government prints more money," he wrote. The revelation here is that Musk apparently considers government spending to be inflationary, almost by definition. Musk's thinking can be disputed from a number of different angles, but I am not going to do that. Instead, I am going to explain why I think this bit of thinking on Musk's part explains his desperate moves to chainsaw the U.S. government.

I had planned to write more about the U.S. DOGE Service and Elon Musk today, but changed my mind. It's Friday. Let's do something fun. Instead of another description of how Musk and DOGE are destroying our government, I am going to provide a synopsis of one of the biggest letdowns since Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's vault and found it empty (to be fair, there were a couple of rusted cans inside). This was the release of "The Epstein Files" that has been promised for months. MAGAs have been drooling over the prospect of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein being made public. Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump promised during the campaign to release the files, though perhaps because he remembered that he himself is mentioned in the documents, he backtracked somewhat and suggested that some might not be released. Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this week that the files were on her desk and that she was preparing to release them. This much-anticipated event happened yesterday and, well, didn't go as planned.

Over the past few days, I have described how the U.S. Digital Service was renamed the U.S. DOGE Service and turned into a tool for Shadow President Elon Musk to take control of essential parts of the U.S. government. I described how, through DOGE, Musk attempted to gain direct control of the entire federal workforce and authority over the government's payment systems. Yesterday, I explained Musk's efforts to harness vast amounts of government data. While the White House insists that Musk has no decision-making authority and is not formally connected to DOGE, it is clear that he has established control of some of the most important operational components of the U.S. government: its employees, payments, and data. This has made Musk the most important individual within the government with the possible exception of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. Indeed, at a cabinet meeting held yesterday, Musk — who is not a member of the cabinet — spent more time talking than any other attendee other than Trump.

In previous blog posts, I have described how the U.S. DOGE Service, generally referred to simply as "DOGE", and Shadow President Elon Musk have sought to gain direct control of the entire federal workforce and federal payment systems. In addition to control of the workforce and payments, DOGE has had another target: the government's data.

The takeover of much of the government by Musk and DOGE has been described by some as a "blitzkrieg". DOGE teams move in, take over offices, and demand access to key systems. As one federal employee was quoted as saying, "They have a playbook, which is to get access to the data".

Yesterday I discussed how the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — which I guess I should start referring to by its official name, the U.S. DOGE Service (USDS) — has been trying to take direct control of the federal workforce. Today I will look at Shadow President Elon Musk's use of DOGE to take control of another part of the government: its money.

As DOGE teams have swept into government departments, one of their first targets has been systems that control payments. When DOGE staffers entered the Treasury Department, they immediately sought access to the biggest target of them all: the U.S. Treasury's payment system that is responsible for 1 billion payments per year. This is a tightly controlled system due to the sensitive information contained within it. None of the DOGE personnel have undergone background checks, and at least one DOGE employee is known to have been fired by a previous employer due to leaking company secrets. Nevertheless, Musk's team forced Treasury employees to give them access. When David Lebryk, a 35-year veteran of the department who had briefly served as Acting Secretary, resisted DOGE's attempts to gain access to the payment system, he was placed on administrative leave. He later announced his retirement.

I was really gratified by the positive response to my blog post on Friday discussing the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency which, it should be noted, is not actually a department and not officially named the Department of Government Efficiency. It is also not officially led by Shadow President Elon Musk. But DOGE exists in a world that requires the suspension of disbelief. Today I will look at one aspect of DOGE's attempt to establish a shadow government.

Beginning almost immediately after the inauguration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, cadres of young people — one less than a year out of high school — who are loyal to Shadow President Elon Musk moved quickly to seize control of much of the U.S. government. Working under the auspices of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), their first targets were the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA). It soon became clear that one of the first steps of Musk's plan was to establish direct control over the government's workforce.

Today I am going to do something different with this blog, which may or may not become a trend. I've decided that as important as threads about soccer, Blake Lively, and college admissions might be, we are living in a time that demands something more. I may not have much of a voice, but what little voice I do have, I want to use for something more important. While I still have the freedom to write whatever I want, I am going to exercise it. Instead of writing about DCUM threads, I am going to discuss the current political situation in the United States, particularly where it involves the autocratic tendencies of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump and Shadow President Elon Musk. Today, I am going to discuss the Department of Government Efficiency.

The idea of Musk leading an effort to cut costs in government and improve government efficiency first came up during an August conversation between Musk and Trump that was live-streamed on Musk's social media network X. Then, on August 19, 2024, Musk posted an AI-generated picture of himself standing behind a lectern labeled "The Department of Government Efficiency" and "D.O.G.E.". Musk captioned the graphic, "I am willing to serve". Those familiar with Musk immediately recognized that the name fit Musk's style of addressing serious topics in a juvenile and trolling manner. "Doge" began as an Internet meme, and a cryptocurrency named Dogecoin was later created as a joke making fun of speculative cryptocurrencies. Musk became a champion of both the Doge meme and Dogecoin, which, despite its origin as a joke, became a serious player in the crypto market. Dogecoin owed almost all of its success — if you can call it that — to Musk's promotion of it on Twitter and later X. In typical Musk fashion, "Doge" is not something that he came up with himself but rather something that he has essentially snatched control of from its creators. Regardless of all of that, three weeks after their conversation, Trump said that he would create a government efficiency commission and place Musk in charge. Then, on January 20, the day of his inauguration, Trump signed an Executive Order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency.

Yesterday's most active thread was titled, "The (official) White House account posted an ‘ASMR illegal aliens flight’ video" and was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. The original poster linked to a video posted on the White House's official X account, describing it as disgusting, disrespectful, and "Horrifyingly cruel". First, because many posters in the thread seemed unsure, the White House labeled the video as "ASMR" which stands for "autonomous sensory meridian response" and is something that is "commonly associated with feelings of relaxation and calmness". The video showed preparations for a migrant deportation flight with a migrant being shackled and additional chains being laid out on the ground. The implication is that shackles and their use are soothing. Many of those responding share the original poster's revulsion of the video. This includes posters who are generally supportive of migrant deportations. There are several layers that must be addressed on a topic such as this. First, it is important to understand that deportations flights from the U.S. have been common for years and have almost entirely been uneventful. However, since the beginning of the second administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, these flights have become controversial for two reasons: 1) the use of military aircraft, and; 2) the well-publicized shackling of the deportees. By highlighting the use of shackles, the White House is not only directly stoking that provocation, but going further to suggest that it takes pleasure from the action. Many posters favor deportation. Many consider shackling potentially dangerous individuals to be a necessary safety measure. But very few understand the compulsion to actually celebrate the shackles and their use. Traditionally in America there is considerable understanding of the need to take actions that can, at least to some, be harmful. This is often described as "making a hard decision" or "doing what is necessary". However, leaders are expected to be reluctant about such things. One of the biggest differences between MAGAs and those of other political tendencies is that MAGAs seem to relish inflicting pain and humiliation on others. It really is a sadistic political movement. As one MAGA poster in the thread writes, "It’s been wonderful watching illegal aliens treated like the criminals and invaders that they are." The Trump administration has claimed that it is prioritizing the deportation of dangerous criminals. However, their record in this regard is actually worse than that of former President Joe Biden. Many, if not most, of those being deported are guilty of nothing more than illegal entry and have not committed subsequent crimes. It is understandable that some might still support their deportation, but to find it — along with their shackling — to be "wonderful"? That suggests a distinct lack of humanity.