The Technology Meme Men Have Arrived

I am only able to do this work because of your financial support. Even donating $1 every once in a while helps! 

(I could use some help.) 

First, an incomplete recap of what has happened so far. Second, I tell you why you needn't despair.

First

So yes...it appears Trump has handed over the US government to Elon Musk. Which is awkward because Elon Musk was not elected and reporting says he doesn't qualify for high level security clearance because he is compromised by drug use and economic dependence on America's adversaries.

Trump seems to have even told Musk to break into the Treasury payment system that disperses federal funds to states, institutions and individuals - including tax refunds, medicare and social security. And yes, that is totally illegal! Messing with that system could destabilize America in a way it's never, ever experienced - like the Great Depression would look like a block party. Reports say Musk and his people want to be able to freeze federal funds - they want to be able to stop the government from paying salaries, social security payments and tax refunds.

Oh and Musk's people? The ones messing around with the non-political by design system that you know...takes care of everything and all of us? They include kids who've just graduated from high school. I am not joking. That's who Musk and Trump are trusting with the existence of your social security payments.

And sure, federal agencies are being gutted. Federal employees are being offered ill-defined long-term severance packages. The terms of those vague offers violate federal employment rules. The offers also cannot actually exist because government funding is only sorted until March. And yes, federal employees at the Department of Commerce are being locked out of their computer systems and Musk's minions are just rifling through it unsupervised. And yes, there is a ton of our data in there and we have no idea what they are doing with it! It doesn't stop there - Musk's former employees (and now volunteers??) are trying to get the ability to access General Services Administration "remote into laptops and read emails." ALSO ILLEGAL.

And you betcha, Elon-orchestrated negligence is knocking planes full of children from the sky. And yep, Trump blamed Black people and women for the plane crash instead of the Nazi saluting billionaire who forced the head of the FAA out just a few days before the crash. And certainly, our children's privacy is being grossly violated in a Musk-directed trans-panic witch hunt.

And totally, the new head of the Department of Transportation is insisting infrastructure money will now allocated based on birth rate. So yes, the Republicans are holding the ability to MOVE through OUR OWN COUNTRY hostage. And the ransom they are demanding is literally women's bodies.

And yes, you heard it right - Trump is imposing incredibly high tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China starting tomorrow, February 1st. Those are our three biggest trading partners. 20% of our produce comes from Mexico. Last year, we imported $40 billion dollars worth of Canadian ag products - including grain, beef, pork and vegetable oil. And China? What don't we import from China?

The only mandate Trump got was lowering grocery prices. But he is intentionally making our groceries more expensive. Cars are also about to become prohibitively expensive. Which is a damn shame as I hoped to replace my 20 year old car this year. Guess not. Today, Trump said he is also planning on imposing tariffs on drugs - your medicine is about to get much more expensive.

Trump told reporters that the American people would just have to bear the disruption. Hmmm. I wonder where he learned to talk like that? Maybe his boss, Elon Musk?

And yes! It appears almost every single Democrat has decided to just let it all happen while uttering mild sighs of dismay. Adam Schiff just keeps narrating the coup? Thanks, Adam. Now go do something.

It is all very overwhelming.

These fascists have already hurt people. And more people are going to get hurt. I am very upset about all of this. I am sure you are very upset about all of this. It's very bad. And it didn't have to be this way. But I want to ground us in a few things.

Second

Senator Wyden just sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent

He's demanding answers about Elon Musk seeking access to the Treasury Department payments system. Please read the whole letter. Including the questions at the end. And then reach out to your reps and ask them those same questions - while also expressing your horror at Musk's apparent, ongoing coup. Tell them you will do everything in your power to make sure they are primaried if they do not fight like hell right now, in public.

Here's an excerpt of the letter from Senator Wyden,

To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems … The federal government is in a financially precarious position, currently utilizing accounting maneuvers to continue paying its bills since it reached the debt limit at the beginning of the year. I am concerned that mismanagement of these payment systems could threaten the full faith and credit of the United States.

Primary every single do-nothing Democrat

Are you a firecracker who wants to primary a do-nothing Democrat? Do you need a platform for your launch? I have one right here. 60% open rate. Let’s go. My readers are engaged, brilliant and ready to fight for their lives. And like, hey readers, is one of you a firecracker who wants to primary a do-nothing Democrat? DO IT.

Founder Mode Can Only Take You So Far

Donald Trump seems to be doing the bidding of Marc Andreessen and Elon Musk. They want to turn the federal government into an Authoritarian Techno-Optimist Fever Dream.

But Founder Mode can only take you so far. You see, these fuckers aren't operators. They don't know how to manage shit.

If they did, they would know that you've got to be subtle enough to keep the alarm at a kind of simmer. You've got to actually move in all your own guys - and have them functioning on your behalf - before you purge the government. This is basic Establishing a Dictatorship in a Soon to Be Previously Democratic Country stuff. Maybe they didn't finish taking the course? I don't know.

Andreessen and Musk's Destroy the Nation-State and Impose the Network State plan is loathed by everyone who learns about it. Well, everyone except like the most deeply gullible techbros. So getting the plan going depends on the charismatic authority of a declining 78 year old. They don't have time to be subtle.

People are starting to feel really freaked out - even (gasp) some Republican voters are like, what exactly is going on here? Musk and Andreessen are going too fast. And like, I get it. They're in a rush! I mean, Elon doesn't even have time to play his own video games, how is he supposed to make the time to do a coup right?

Everything that is happening is very, very bad. But once Trump got elected, things were always going to be bad. The billionaires carelessness is making all that bad stuff OBVIOUSLY bad, which is good.

I’m not saying we’ll DEFINITELY get out of this in one piece. I am saying the men in power are so sloppy, so provocative, so unpopular with the public and the military, so threatening to the wealth already accumulated, it’s much more likely even once allies will say - Well. That’s about enough.

Again, I anticipate a lot of harm, a lot of horror, a lot of fear - including for my own safety. And nothing is guaranteed. But. Doomerism is not warranted. It would not save us even if it was.

I told you last August that I thought we'd have to hit Fury Road. I wish I had been wrong. I really do. But I wasn't. The Technology Meme Men are putting their boots on our necks. Let's break their knees, spit in their eyes and take back what's ours.

Look. It’ll be a hard day. But I guarantee you that a 160 days’ ride that way…there’s nothing but salt. At least this way, you know, we might be able to…together…come across some kind of redemption.
- Mad Meg