Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP Photo
Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023.
As economist Nathan Tankus recently explained to my colleague David Dayen, Elon Musk and his personal DOGE lackeys are attempting to take direct control of several government agencies, most worryingly the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which operates the financial pipelines that disburse more than $5 trillion in government payments every year. The potential consequences should a bunch of arrogant Silicon Valley “move fast and break things” types start rooting around in that system are unimaginably bad.
Several outlets, most notably Wired, have published the identities of some of Musk’s henchmen. Many are men in their early twenties who work for Musk or Peter Thiel; one, Gavin Kriger, has an apparent social media history filled with neo-Nazi posts. Such information is of extreme public relevance: What these people are doing is not just illegal, it is an attempted coup in progress. Federal agencies are set up and funded by Congress, not the president, and Musk has not been elected to anything. Americans would easily understand the implications of an unelected billionaire sending goons in to take control of government ministries if it were happening in, say, Venezuela.
Naturally, the acting U.S. attorney for D.C., Ed Martin, quickly issued a vague threat against anyone interfering with DOGE members, through a bootlicking letter addressed to Musk himself. “Dear Elon,” it said, “Let me assure you of this: we will pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people. We will not act like the previous administration who looked the other way as the Antifa and BLM rioters as well as thugs with guns trashed our capital city.” Musk personally thanked him on Twitter/X.
Aside from the oddly common implication that Joe Biden was president in 2020 during the BLM protests, this is classic right-wing authoritarianism. A bunch of wet-behind-the-ears neo-Nazis get to stomp into federal agencies and do whatever they want, in flagrant violation of dozens of laws and the Constitution, and if anyone challenges them, they are threatened with legal sanction by the regime.
