Elon Musk and Robert Moses:

I am most disturbed that the “Department of Governmental Efficiency” is not actually a department, and is acting extra-legally (and perhaps outside the Constitution) to gut longstanding governmental programs that have, in fact, been highly efficient and highly effective in helping vulnerable American populations.

This sort of vigilante, violent burn-down of government institutions seemed to be what many Americans wanted. I cannot explain the re-election of Trump any other way. It is sad to see how, one after another, Trump-voters are realizing that wholesale cutting of government expenditures are hurting them. Perhaps Trump-voters thought that government expenditures were handouts to colored people. The bigotry of that mindset is disturbing enough; but the inaccuracy of it is disturbing in an entirely different way. The ‘unintended benefits’ of eliminating farm subsidies may help make America more sustainable, but at the expense of permanently impoverishing and shrinking our agricultural sector. Let us be clear: high-tax-paying Californians never wanted to do this to ranchers. It is the ranchers that voted for their own economic harm, and y’all are going to have to sort out your own politics for your own well-being. We have no interest in imposing anything on you; but we are shocked by the harm you are doing to yourselves.

My more immediate concern is for the people I refer to as “we” in the above paragraph. For us Lefty urbanites, is there a quick way to make sense of this wildfire-speed shitstorm of a presidential administration? I think there is. Draw parallels between Elon Musk and Robert Moses.

Robert Caro’s exhaustive book The Power Broker traced Moses’ career, which began with public admiration for his early works as Parks Commissioner. Jones Beach is Moses’ most admired project from the 1930s. But in the 1950s, Moses became more invested in his impunity as an un-elected official imposing his vindictive will on New Yorkers. The most infamous example of this later, imperious arrogance is the Cross-Bronx Expressway. Opposition to “the impositions of unelected technocrats” is now well-embedded in American consciousness. We can apply that pre-existing mindset towards Musk and his DOGE kids.

However, we also need to be careful with this legacy of opposition to Robert Moses. It can draw on anti-Semitism, so let’s call that out. One reason Moses sought un-elected offices is because it was infeasible for a Jewish man to pursue elected positions in the America of the 1920s and 1930s. So, respect the context in which Moses’ strategies were formed. Likewise, Elon Musk has Jewish ancestry, and I never want that to be held against him—not even implicitly. His wealth comes from being an industrialist, and from low wealth taxes which WE voted for under the very non-Jewish Ronald Reagan. We can blame ourselves for Musk’s extreme wealth, or maybe even accept that his wealth reflects the value-added that he personally contributed to his various companies. In the case of SpaceX, I would argue that Gwynne Shotwell deserves much more recognition, credit, and compensation than she has received; and likewise anyone who has worked excessive hours solving technical and logistical problems in that company. I don’t mean to get into the particulars of this example here, but I want to be clear: the unelected impunity of DOGE is extremely dangerous and anti-democratic. Any shades of anti-Semitism follow down that same anti-democratic, fascist path, so let us tread carefully.

But quickly.

The damage to foreign relations done in the last eight weeks will persist for decades to come. The damage already done to domestic institutions will harm Americans for generations—particularly the working poor and farmers. Are Trump-voters getting what they deserve? I don’t think they knew how self-destructive these policies would be. Then again, they have given Reagan’s tax-cuts and union-busting a free pass for 40 years. Do Trumpers truly despise democracy? Do they truly despise the US Constitution? I am sworn to defend our Constitution because I teach in the California public university system. I recommend that we all re-read Articles 1, 2, and 3 (not just the Bill of Rights, but those too). It is pretty clear in the Constitution’s very long Article 1 that the actual government of the United States is Congress. There is nothing in the Constitution about co-equal branches of government. The much shorter Article 2 creates an Executive who can act quickly in times of war, whereas the government (the Congress) is a deliberative body. There is a reason why we call the president “mister president” and not “your honor” nor “your majesty.” We explicitly rejected tyranny. We explicitly rejected monarchy. We explicitly rejected sovereign impunity. We explicitly rejected un-elected appointees imposing their will on the way we spend our tax dollars.

How can we restore Constitutional government quickly?