Elon's fraud search exposed as a fraud

DOGE is supposed to root out waste, fraud, and abuse-- but thus far, it's only served Elon Musk's personal interests.

The talking point being trotted out by the right is actually quite clever: Elon is rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, and if you don’t blindly support him, then you must be in favor of waste, fraud, and abuse. Let me just say, first and foremost, that I agree with his stated mission. But Elon is undermining that mission every step of the way.

Consider his intervention with USAID. First off, so as not to bury the lede: The USAID inspector general was investigating Musk’s SpaceX Starlink satellite terminals, which were purchased with agency funds. In other words, one of Elon’s first targets just so happened to be an agency that was threatening his own business interests. Not a great start.

But let’s dig a little deeper. USAID costs about half of one percent of the federal budget. It offers essential, lifesaving programs around the world that focus on clean water and HIV prevention. But just as importantly, from a geopolitical perspective, it’s a tool for soft power. When you hand out medicine or food with an American flag on it, you buy goodwill around the world. That’s goodwill you can cash out on for favorable trade terms, for military or intelligence purposes, etc. It’s a humanitarian and political winner. But by dismantling that agency, not only do we leave actual human beings hanging who rely on that aid, but we simultaneously lose an inexpensive and effective tool for soft power.

Worse yet, guess which country is going to fill that void: China. The Chinese equivalent of USAID is called the Belt & Road Initiative, which involves more than 150 countries and organizations. And when we move out, China moves in. That means when it comes to trade, to alliances, to cooperation, to minerals, deference is paid not to the US, but to China. Does that seem like it’s in our national interest? No. But it sure is in favor of one particular person’s interest: a billionaire who has invested a lot of time building up his portfolio in China. Tesla's Shanghai plant is the company's largest factory, accounting for half of Tesla's global car production. In other words, while dismantling USAID hurts American interests abroad and hurts those who rely on America for help, it’s a gift to the one country that Elon stands to benefit from helping… while also ending an investigation into his own possible corruption. Lose-lose for America, win-win for Elon.

Another example: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Elon tweeted:

To be clear, the CFPB literally only exists to protect consumers from predatory banks and financial institutions. Its budget is about $800 million… but it’s returned over $21 billion to 205 million consumers. It’s sent 6.8 million Consumer complaints to companies for response. 63 million Unique visitors used “Ask CFPB,” which is an online resource for answers to a variety of common financial questions. And the CFPB levied a historic $2 billion fine in a single enforcement action against Wells Fargo for mismanagement of auto loans, mortgages and deposit accounts. The sole result of Elon’s effort to hobble the CFPB is that Americans will have no recourse when they get screwed over by banks. At least with the USAID example, I could figure out how Elon could derive a financial benefit. This one? There is no upside other than for financial institutions looking to screw people over.

Again, I want to reiterate that I am absolutely in favor of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. But when Elon starts off by dismantling one agency that just so happens to be investigating him, that costs barely anything to operate, that offers invaluable resources to the world, that affords us substantial soft power benefits… and another agency whose entire purpose is to help victims of financial crimes, then the message he’s sending is that he’s not actually serious about his own stated mission.

Frankly, if he was serious about his mission of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, he would start with the agency that serves as a poster child for financial mismanagement. The Pentagon has failed seven - SEVEN - audits in a row. And yet he starts with the CFP, the one agency tasked with helping consumers from predatory banks? With USAID, which offers medical care and clean water to Third World nations? That is why Elon’s commission looks, sounds, and smells like a sham. Because thus far, the biggest beneficiaries aren’t working class Americans, but rather Elon Musk himself. You don’t get credit for rooting out abuse if your execution raises more questions than it answers.