The Red Team blocked Congressional oversight over Trump II's Department of Greedy Executives (DOGE), specifically a subpoena for TechGod and DOGE Chief Elon Musk to answer for his unit's intrusions into various government agencies and their confidential databases.
So how did Elon get the keys to departmental computer systems? Plants, moles, operatives from fellow TechGods. Take some of Musk's early wins:
Government Services Administration Chief Stephen Ehikian came from Salesforce, which acquired Ehikian's AI company Airkit in 2023.
Andreessen Horowitz Managing Director Scott Kupor became Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Andreessen Horowitz just hired Red Team star Daniel Penny, fresh off his "not guilty" verdict for killing a mentally ill man threatening other riders on a New York subway. Penny will be a deal partner on Andreessen Horowitz's "American Dynamism" Team.
Andreessen Horowitz joined Trump II, the digital Caligula, in summer 2024.
Billionaires wanting more billions via crypto and AI, while keeping the Trump tax cuts for the super wealthy plus even more tax cuts. That caused the pair of founders to each donate $2.5 million to a Trump Super PAC, $5 million in total.
I'll suggest Andreessen Horowitz also wanted protection from liability for the spectacular failure of fintech affiliate Synapse. Small people got hurt financially, some were wiped out because VC's don't throw good money after bad.
Rather than try to make that situation right, Marc Andreessen spent half his time at Mar-a-Lago. The money Andreessen Horowitz founders gave to Trump's campaign could more than cover the audit needed to help make Synapse customers whole.
Placing wealthy insiders in key government positions is a longstanding practice. Every president in this century put wealthy, connected insiders on their cabinet. As the number of private equity underwriters (PEU) soared, so did their presence on Red and Blue White House Cabinets. Many served as the President's Chief of Staff.
The unusual aspect of Trump II, the digital Caligula, is the widespread insertion of TechGods into government gears and their sudden freezing up department functioning. Red Team Rep, Mike Turner presented the crisis need for such action, urgent deficit reduction. Turner did not reference the $8 trillion in federal debt added during Trump I. Nor did he cite extending Trump's tax cuts for the super wealthy and the need for Congress to cut taxes even more for PEU Lords and their new TechGod peers.
Little people know what happens when their workplace is taken over. PEU's, usually the new owner, cut staff, implement crappy technology, rob employees by reducing a mix of benefits and institute a series of conflicting exhortations (high standards, no overtime, no raises, get job done within 40 hour week or we will find someone who will, etc.). All the rewards go to executives.
TechGods have a chokehold on government operations with the aim to further their firms, their pocketbooks, their influence and to reduce risk for the insane ventures they have on their plate. It's clear they answer to nobody.
Update 2-7-25: WaPo reported:
Agents of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have gained access to highly restricted government records on millions of federal employees — including Treasury and State Department officials in sensitive security positions — as part of a broader effort to take control over the government’s main personnel agency, according to four U.S. officials with knowledge of the developments.
The records maintained by the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, amount to a repository of sensitive information about employees of most federal agencies — including addresses, demographic profiles, salary details and disciplinary histories.
Courtesy of an Andreessen Horowitz plant.
At least six DOGE agents were given broad access to all personnel systems at the OPM on the afternoon of Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration, according to two agency officials. Three more gained access about a week later, they said.
TechGods will have their way which includes:
...several members of Musk’s DOGE team — some of whom are in their early 20s and come from positions at his private companies — were given “administrative” access to OPM computer systems within days of Trump’s inauguration last month. That gives them sweeping authority to install and modify software on government-supplied equipment and, according to two OPM officials, to alter internal documentation of their own activities.Supplant people with software....I hear the TechGod cash registers ringing.
core units focused on modernizing the agency’s network and improving accountability are “likely to go away,” according to a recording of the sessionNot needed under the all knowing, all seeing Wizard of Musk and his boss, Trump II, the digital Caligula.
Trump issued an executive order last month that bypasses the normal procedure for White House staff security checks
Update 2-9-25: The unitary executive is now an Emperor under Trump II, the digital Caligula.
Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been instructed to stand down by OMB Chief and Project 2025 author Russ Vought. The former chief took a strong position in regard to Synapse failure.
This year, Synapse, a middleman between nonbanks offering deposit-style products to end users and their partner banks, filed for bankruptcy. The firm appears to have failed to properly track customer account balances and may have engaged in other shady practices. As a result, tens of thousands of customers have had their funds frozen for months. The banks have been unable to reconcile all the records necessary to get end users their funds back. This has led to severe harm, especially for people who were using the nonbank account as a primary checking or savings account.
Whatever the CFPB was doing in regard to Synapse, if anything, is on hold and may be shelved for good. TechGods win.
A HuffPo article on Trump attending the Super Bowl stated:
Trump’s attendance at the big game follows his decision to attend the Army-Navy football game in December, accompanied by then-Vice President-elect JD Vance, now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Daniel Penny, who put a homeless Black man in a chokehold on the New York City subway in 2023. (Penny was acquitted of killing the man, Jordan Neely, in 2024.)
