Billionaire Elon Musk is using his sway within Donald Trump’s administration to try to destroy the United States Agency for International Development. USAID handles U.S. aid to foreign projects around public health, education, disaster relief, and promoting democracy abroad.
On Monday, congressional Democrats condemned Musk’s actions, calling them illegal during a press conference outside of the closed USAID headquarters.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut singled out Musk’s business interests in China, which many people believe encouraged Musk to torpedo the House GOP’s spending bill in December.
“China is cheering at this action today,” Murphy said.
Murphy: “Let’s not pull any punches about why this is happening. Elon Musk makes billions off of his business with China. And China is cheering at this action today. There is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our govt right now is doing it based on self-interest.”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-03T18:26:04.635Z
“Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the United States Department of Treasury,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said. “But you don’t control the money of the American people. The United States Congress does that under Article 1 of the Constitution.”
Raskin called the billionaire’s actions an “outrageous, scandalous, illegal maneuver.” The congressman questioned the target of Musk’s attempted budget cuts, noting the Pentagon, whose budget is more than 20 times the size of the USAID, does not seem to be on Musk’s list.
“The Pentagon budget is where the defense contractor, Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world off of our money, he collects his payments from,” Raskin said. “And now he’s trying to shut down USAID. We’re not going to allow this to happen. It will not stand.”
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Musk responded on his hate-filled social media site, X, with a bit of doublespeak that George Orwell would have probably found egregious.
Trump seems content with the perception that he is running the show, but it is clear that he is out of his depth when it comes to billionaire predators like Musk pulling the strings behind—and now in front—of the scenes.
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