Walking through Parker’s halls last month, I overheard multiple seniors talking about what’s happening in Washington. Since January, Elon Musk has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – which almost sounds like a joke because it’s named after the meme coin he used to post non-stop about. But he’s essentially taken over parts of the federal government. According to federal regulations, he can only work 130 days per year as a “special government employee,” but given his constant input and influence, he seems to be going way beyond that.
I’m honestly worried about what’s going on. Musk is completely changing how our government works. And it looks like he’s doing it partly to help himself and his businesses. DOGE claims they’ve saved taxpayers $37.69 billion, but should we just take their word for it? The richest person on the planet spent around $290 million to help elect Trump and Republicans last year, and somehow now he’s the one deciding which agencies to keep or cut, including those that regulate his companies. Something doesn’t smell right.
The conflict of interest is obvious. Musk’s companies have received nearly $40 billion (!!!) in government money through contracts, subsidies, and tax breaks. But he hasn’t been required to file any financial disclosures in his government role. It’s unclear if he ever will. He’s basically checking himself for conflicts. Meanwhile, others can’t even have someone buy them lunch because it might appear to be a “conflict of interest.” Senator Elizabeth Warren called it the “Mount Everest of conflicts,” which just might be a perfect description.
Let’s look at what’s happening – it’s actually not random.
After Musk posted “CFPB RIP” on X with a gravestone emoji, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) essentially shut down. They fired employees and said they wouldn’t fund it anymore. This is the same agency that would regulate X if Musk turns X into a payment platform (like he’s publicly claimed).
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was shut down shortly after they started investigating Starlink terminals that Musk’s company provided to Ukraine.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was hit with major staff cuts after continued questioning Musk about his self-driving Teslas.
And the agencies that help Musk’s businesses? They’re completely fine. NASA, which has a nearly $3 billion contract with SpaceX, which hasn’t been touched. Interesting that’s how things work, right? And Starlink is even about to get a new contract to upgrade FAA’s systems. How many of us truly feel comfortable flying in airplanes with Musk in charge of America’s air safety?
One of the most frustrating parts is that Musk isn’t giving straight answers about what DOGE does behind the scenes. In his recent interview with Joe Rogan, he talked for three hours but didn’t really explain anything. He couldn’t even say how many people work for DOGE, just “around 40 to 100 people.” Currently DOGE is facing almost a dozen lawsuits about how they’re accessing government data.
Musk keeps making huge claims about waste and fraud without actual proof – like when he told Rogan, “We found just with a basic search of the Social Security database that there were 20 million dead people marked as alive.” But when Rogan asked if these people were actually getting money, Musk couldn’t answer. The Social Security commissioner already explained that these are just people without a recorded death date–not zombie benefit collectors.
And Musk gets more powerful in the government every day. At Trump’s first Cabinet meeting last week, Musk was the only person, other than Trump, who openly spoke for a big chunk of the time. Trump has said Musk is leading the effort to cut down the federal government, but Musk claims DOGE’s cuts are only “suggestions” that departments can choose to follow or not. That doesn’t match what we’re actually seeing happen, though.
Looking at everything that’s happening, it’s clear we’re in a major moment in American history. Some people might think these changes are good by making the government smaller. While some of that may be true, I’m personally worried about what these events mean for our democracy. We should be asking if we really want someone like Musk — who makes big claims without evidence, calls criticism “coordinated propaganda,” and tears down agencies that regulate his businesses – to be the one deciding how the government works.
Democracy needs transparency, accountability, and balanced power. Checks and balances. That’s what I learned at Parker. Those things seem at risk when an unelected billionaire with no Senate confirmation can shut down federal agencies with a tweet and an emoji. This isn’t just government reform—it’s starting to look like a complete takeover. And it’s just….wrong.
