In the first weeks of the second Trump presidency, one thing has become clear to the public: Elon Musk is the power behind this administration and Trump is merely doing his bidding. Musk has illegally commandeered multiple agencies while also capturing their data systems, removing thousands of employees, and imposing a de-facto restructuring of longstanding organizational charts. He’s behaving like a monarch — and it’s only been three weeks.
As this reality sets in, Congress is baffled as to why Musk is doing all of this, and what he possibly wants from access to sensitive data including US Treasury records on social security numbers, bank routing and account numbers, healthcare data, and Department of Energy information on nuclear weapons. He has given free rein to a group of 20-ish boys — tech enthusiasts with no training or relevant experience — so they can “improve” things and harvest information. The truth is that no one knows the extent of the damage or of the breaches, as inspectors general have been fired across the government, thanks to executive orders from Trump.
So here’s a message to Congress: Elon Musk is doing this because 1) he thinks he can get away with overthrowing the government because he is backed by Putin, Xi, Trump, Mohammad bin Salman, and other powerful allies, 2) he is familiar with the work of Curtis Yarvin and other neoreactionary thinkers, and can use that as a recruiting tool to attract vulnerable young men to his scheme, 3) he wishes to impose totalitarian control of the information sphere, which includes financial flows and payments, 4) our institutions offer no meaningful protection from this kind of an attack.
We have previously covered Project Russia, a set of books outlining a strategy for attacking Western democracies. The Kremlin is interested in defeating the United States through a combination of subversion and religion, and has repeatedly praised Musk and his efforts. Musk’s long-standing relationships in China have also earned him the support of Xi’s regime. And it is a matter of record that Russia has interfered with US elections for years on behalf of Trump, and this time, to enable Musk and Trump.
Those of us who have followed this space have known about Curtis Yarvin for years. Yarvin has received extensive coverage, and a simple internet search will yield many primers on his writing which appeals primarily to terminally-online, fascism-curious young men on the autism spectrum. Yarvin believes that democracy doesn’t work and should be replaced by autocracies led by CEO-monarchs. Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Balaji Srinavasan, and other prominent tech investors cite Yarvin’s work; he has spoken of a “Butterfly Revolution” strategy to capture, subvert, and takeover a sovereign state as a means to installing a new totalitarian government.
A group of whistleblowers familiar with the “Neoreactionary” movement (sometimes called “Dark Enlightenment”) recently released a memo directed at government and the media explaining in detail how Musk’s moves reflect Yarvin’s philosophy, and the attendant danger. Gil Duran, a reporter who follows these topics, suggests that Musk is clearly inspired by Yarvin’s ideas but is in many ways shooting from the hip and improvising. While Yarvin prescribes the hiring of experienced technical experts to run government under an omnipotent CEO King, Musk, by contrast, is hiring inexperienced child jihadis who will not question him.
Musk has been obsessed with payments since the 1990’s and his early work with PayPal and x.com. He has spoken extensively over the years about how payments are just another kind of information flow. With his control over X and current efforts to acquire TikTok, he is laying the groundwork for totalitarian control of the information sphere, not only through social media but through payments. At minimum, Musk’s penetration of US Treasury banking records may offer him deep insights about how to roll out such a network and at worst case, may give him total control over how it is used and who actually gets paid going forward.
Project Russia speaks of “pure product” — totalitarian control of information flows including payments that are so systemic as to be themselves undetectable, and which orient a population around the achievement of the goals of the ruling elite. This is what Musk’s control of the information sphere would enable, with Musk’s biggest cheerleaders and supporters being rewarded most, while dissenters are marginalized and impoverished.
Most glaringly, our institutions have no meaningful defense against Musk’s assaults. Having captured the presidency, Congress, and courts, Musk and Trump believe they are politically invulnerable. MAGA ground troops have, nearly without exception, gone along with Musk’s assaults on the premise that he is attacking shared enemies like USAID and the IRS. The question, though, is whether Musk could actually be stopped — even if anyone chose to do so?
While courts have temporarily intervened to halt his “fork in the road” retirement scheme for federal employees, and have moved to block DOGE access to Treasury data systems, those would appear to be mere documents awash in Musk’s world of on-site weekend access to data systems and forced resignations of employees who might otherwise deny Musk’s minions.
Last weekend brought a barrage of new assaults on privacy and security that led Americans to call Congress in record numbers. And Congress, acting judiciously as they do, waved their arms all week pledging to “do something” to stop all this. But what, exactly? What, specifically, will they do? What, specifically, can they do?
House Democrats Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) have sponsored a new bill, The Taxpayer Data Protection Act, in an effort to block Musk and respond to public concerns. But such a law raises the obvious question of who specifically will enforce it. With the installation of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice is also captured by fanatics who are likely to protect Musk.
Lastly, there is the prospect that Musk himself may undergo rapid unscheduled disassembly — the euphemism he uses to describe his failed rocket launches. While that would likely be a setback, Musk is just one of many aligned entities. He counts Vance, Trump, Putin and Xi as political allies (Musk has received the endorsement of Putin deputy Medvedev; Xi has backed Putin; Musk has extensive interests in China).
Musk also has the support of Peter Thiel (who hand-picked Vance), Marc Andreessen (who is recruiting for DOGE), Mark Zuckerberg (who has aligned with Musk on “woke” issues), Jeff Bezos (who has supported Trump), and Mohammad bin Salman (who helped finance the purchase of Twitter). Many other allies appear prepared to help, and indeed, their own futures may depend on the success of this coup.
Realistically, the only way to potentially stop this “bust-up takeover” of American government is to provoke a schism inside the Republican party in Congress that is substantial enough to bring a majority of both the Senate and the House onto the side of preserving the rule of law. We’re not there yet, but we may be just a few more weekends away from an epiphany.
Dave Troy is an investigative journalist covering the intersection of technology and democracy. With a background as both a tech entrepreneur and historian, he brings his unique perspective to analysis of geopolitics, information warfare, and other current events. He is currently the publisher and editor of America 2.0, a news site focused on the future of democracy in America and around the world. Dave speaks frequently at conferences on information warfare, and hosts the podcast Dave Troy Presents.
“Realistically, the only way to potentially stop this “bust-up takeover” of American government is to provoke a schism inside the Republican party in Congress that is substantial enough to bring a majority of both the Senate and the House onto the side of preserving the rule of law. We’re not there yet, but we may be just a few more weekends away from an epiphany.”
With all due respect, I strongly doubt we’ll get to that point. If that was going to happen, it’d probably have already commenced by now. Sincerely hope I’m wrong but when even Democrats like Schumer are complaining about the capitol switchboard being overloaded with calls instead of actually listening to constituents’ concerns, and with the Republicans (minus McConnell) gleefully confirming Trump’s nominees without any forethought, way too much will be damaged and dismantled for anyone to have an epiphany.