We live in unprecedented times. Our president not only owes his second term to Musk, he owes his freedom. It's likely the president would have spent the remainder of his life in jail had he lost the election. While you may think the power rests in the president, it in fact lies with his saviour. The president is certainly one to break off relationships, as he regularly showed in his last presidency, but he needs Musk for the midterms and potentially beyond. Musk bought him the presidency and his money will be needed if the Republicans want to keep control of the house and Senate. The voters for a midterm are far more dedicated and it will take more to sway them.
Musk is a clear and present danger not only to the US but to the entire planet. He now has the personal data, including social security numbers and tax history, of all Americans. This means that he can blackmail Republican and Democrat Legislators in order to make them follow his dictate. He could release financial history that could reveal some awful truths about our legislators. He can also threaten Supreme Court Justices. Even the justices and legislators who have clean financial histories can be blackmailed by him doctoring them. Musk can leak our personal data to the dark web allowing criminals to commit identity theft and ruin our credit. That’s just 18 days of damage!
Musk has fired and will continue to fire critical members of our government. Musk took a similar approach when he bought Twitter leading to the loss of over half the employee’s which led to a complete breakdown in the website. Twitter’s revenue peaked Q4 of 2021 at $1,567 million. Musk bought Twitter in the start of 2022 and now their last reported revenue was in Q3 2024 at $271 million. That’s a drop of 82% in revenue after two years. Now that he’s bought the federal government, imagine what the country will look like with him in charge in two years!
As Musk’s position has no official standing it also has no corresponding checks and balances. Technically he answers to the president, but since the president owes his freedom to Musk, Musk is only accountable to himself!
If we survive however long Musk is in charge he will have set a precedent for future billionaires to follow. Bezos or Zuckerburg might be his successor.
His power in the US isn’t just a problem for our country. One of the first agencies he cut was USAID. Healthcare clinics have been shut down in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. USAID’s destruction also destabilizes economies which reduces our intelligence efforts and increases potential threats to the US.
Further, he’s propping up the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which he recently said should put behind them guilt over the holocaust and WWII. Their election will be in less than a month and potentially give him similar powers in Germany. Regardless of how that election goes it’s likely he’ll try similar tactics in other countries.
To protect yourself from identity theft, lock your credit. I’d normally include a link to a usa.gov site explaining how to do this, but Musk’s lackeys have been deleting and editing federal pages so it’s possible the page won’t exist when you read this. Instead, go to each of the credit reporting agencies Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to place freezes. You can place freezes via the internet or phone.
How to Stop Him
There is a two pronged approach to stopping him. First, the government can and should stop him. Second, if he loses his CEO positions and his companies lose value he will lose money, potentially enough money that the liability he creates for the president will be outweighed by his loss of funds.
Germany - Urge Germans to critically assess the implications of Musk's involvement with the AfD. While voting is a personal decision, it's essential to consider how foreign influence and political affiliations may affect Germany's democratic processes and international relations.
Tesla - While Musk is the CEO of Tesla do not buy or lease Tesla vehicles. Do not buy stock in Tesla. Musk is not a majority shareholder of Tesla so he can be removed by shareholders. If you are a shareholder of Tesla, demand his removal. His political entanglements have already caused a decline in European sales. Nobody can effectively lead multiple companies and work in politics. China is ahead of the US in manufacturing high quality affordable electric vehicles.
SpaceX - Like Tesla, Musk is not a majority shareholder in SpaceX. If you own stock in SpaceX, use it to demand his removal.
Twitter - Musk owns Twitter. If you have a Twitter account, deactivate it. Some people recommend Blue Sky as an alternative but I can’t make a similar recommendation until they pick a monetization model. Oddly the president still prefers TruthSocial and while I’ll never use it I believe TruthSocial (or as I think of it PravdaSocial) is also better than Twitter.
Neuralink - If you own stock in Neuralink ask for Musk to be removed as CEO. Do not participate in clinical trials while he is a CEO. If you work at an institution using or considering using Neuralink work to prevent it.
xAI - Musk owns xAI. Do not use it! Use ChatGPT (which helped me fact check this essay and create the image), Claude, DeepSeek, Bard, Meta AI, Cohere, or MS AI.
The Boring Company - Musk owns The Boring Company. If you live in Nevada ask your state legislators, governor, and the Vegas government to stop doing business with The Boring Company unless Musk sells it. If you work in any state or local governments considering using their services, urge them not to.
Contact your Legislators - Email (if this federal page is taken down, get the contact information from your state) or call your federal legislators and tell them:
Musk needs to be removed from the federal government and needs to destroy all records obtained. If you live in California file a CCPA complaint.
Lift the EV tariffs from China.
Ban SpaceX contracts while Musk is the CEO.
If you work for the federal government, thank you for your service to our country. Do what you can to resist and document what is happening. If you’re asked to do harm, refuse.
Share this with everyone you know. This is an issue beyond party lines.