Musk Is Positioned to Profit Off Billions in New Government Contracts

[Anonymous]

Musk is going to make billions of dollars off of the backs of American taxpayer. DOGE has never been about govt efficiency-it’s about enriching Elon Musk and getting rid of agencies that could stand in the way of his business interests or which didn’t enrich the pockets of the GOP elite.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/us/politics/spacex-contracts-musk-doge-trump.html

Within the Trump administration’s Defense Department, Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocketry is being trumpeted as the nifty new way the Pentagon could move military cargo rapidly around the globe.

In the Commerce Department, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service will now be fully eligible for the federal government’s $42 billion rural broadband push, after being largely shut out during the Biden era.

At NASA, after repeated nudges by Mr. Musk, the agency is being squeezed to turn its focus to Mars, allowing SpaceX to pursue federal contracts to deliver the first humans to the distant planet.

And at the Federal Aviation Administration and the White House itself, Starlink satellite dishes have recently been installed, to expand federal government internet access.

Mr. Musk, as the architect of a group he called the Department of Government Efficiency, has taken a chain saw to the apparatus of governing, spurring chaos and dread by pushing out some 100,000 federal workers and shutting down various agencies, though the government has not been consistent in explaining the expanse of his power.

But in selected spots across the government, SpaceX is positioning itself to see billions of dollars in new federal contracts or other support, a dozen current and former federal officials said in interviews with The New York Times.

[Anonymous]

Gee I thought he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart.

[Anonymous]

He's getting quite a ROI on his 250 mn donation. He'll have embedded his companies in the federal govt for life.

[Anonymous]

He'll have quite the sales pitch. Give me billions in contracts from your agency, or I'll send DOGE after you...extortion in plain sight!

[Anonymous]

This is how oligarchy works. Entrench power and money and fleece the public coffers to maintain it.

[Anonymous]

We were fine with Musk profiting billions off government contracts before. Democrats made him the richest man alive. Like on so many issues, Dems aren’t in a good position to claim th moral high ground on this one. What Republicans are doing is gross. But since Dems did it first, with the very same guy (!)…. no-one considers us the right party to clean things up.

[Anonymous]

But, you know...eggs and trans athletes.

Suckers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were fine with Musk profiting billions off government contracts before. Democrats made him the richest man alive. Like on so many issues, Dems aren’t in a good position to claim th moral high ground on this one. What Republicans are doing is gross. But since Dems did it first, with the very same guy (!)…. no-one considers us the right party to clean things up.

Oh look, the Yeah But you..... excuse. So typical of Republicans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is how oligarchy works. Entrench power and money and fleece the public coffers to maintain it.

I never understood when friends in authoritarian countries said they would be "voting" for whichever candidate stole less in govt contracts. Now I get it. Votes won't be very free, and public procurement will be embedded in whomever gives the most $ to Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were fine with Musk profiting billions off government contracts before. Democrats made him the richest man alive. Like on so many issues, Dems aren’t in a good position to claim th moral high ground on this one. What Republicans are doing is gross. But since Dems did it first, with the very same guy (!)…. no-one considers us the right party to clean things up.

Oh look, the Yeah But you..... excuse. So typical of Republicans.

They're too brainwashed to see facts. Obama and Biden didn't have a non-government official taking a chainsaw to Congressionally approved parts of the budget. They respected all three branches of government. They also weren't giving ginormous no-bid contracts to their biggest donor who has the power to recommend the firing of people in federal agencies who don't give him contracts in the name of "government efficiency".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were fine with Musk profiting billions off government contracts before. Democrats made him the richest man alive. Like on so many issues, Dems aren’t in a good position to claim th moral high ground on this one. What Republicans are doing is gross. But since Dems did it first, with the very same guy (!)…. no-one considers us the right party to clean things up.

It's called a conflict of interest. There's a reason Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison don't have government jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were fine with Musk profiting billions off government contracts before. Democrats made him the richest man alive. Like on so many issues, Dems aren’t in a good position to claim th moral high ground on this one. What Republicans are doing is gross. But since Dems did it first, with the very same guy (!)…. no-one considers us the right party to clean things up.

Oh look, the Yeah But you..... excuse. So typical of Republicans.

It’s not an excuse, it’s a lament. Republicans are criminals, but Dems are considered criminals too. Or corrupt cops at best. Now is a time when a better reputation for Democrats would really come in handy. But we don’t have the reputation we need right now. Because of enriching Musk, bringing in so many illegals, Biden’s recird-setting number of pardons, etc.

[Anonymous]

WE think we’re paragons of morality, but the electorate doesn’t agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were fine with Musk profiting billions off government contracts before. Democrats made him the richest man alive. Like on so many issues, Dems aren’t in a good position to claim th moral high ground on this one. What Republicans are doing is gross. But since Dems did it first, with the very same guy (!)…. no-one considers us the right party to clean things up.

It's called a conflict of interest. There's a reason Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison don't have government jobs.

+1 Republicans would have lost their mind and had their brownshirts destroy the Capitol if Biden had George Soros come in and "take a sledgehammer" to Government and then proceed to provide himself with billions in govt contracts. So much grifting becoming normal in this administration.

[Anonymous]

Elon Musk has so much exposure to China. You get into bed with him, and see how America starts to embrace China and how American innovation declines...the cancellation of so many science and research grants aren't an accident.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-companies-billions-federal-042800926.html
Elon Musk’s Friday visit to the Pentagon drew criticism and highlighted his companies’ links to both the federal government and China. The billionaire’s rocket company SpaceX has $22 billion in contracts with the federal government. In China, Musk’s Tesla operates its biggest factory, Gigafactory Shanghai, which as of last year produced about half of all Tesla vehicles.