this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
519 points (98.9% liked)

News

36782 readers
2376 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

The White House now claims Elon Musk is not leading DOGE, despite Trump previously stating Musk was in charge of the task force cutting $2 trillion in federal spending.

A court filing says Musk is only a senior adviser without formal decision-making authority. However, Musk’s tweets and Trump’s remarks suggest he has been directing DOGE’s activities.

The revelation raises legal concerns, as lawsuits argue DOGE violates the Appointments Clause by bypassing Senate confirmation.

A federal judge is set to rule on an emergency motion against Musk’s involvement.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Nikelui@lemmy.world 150 points 1 year ago (2 children)

"I'm not the head of the department, it's just an empty shell company with a puppethead that follows my every whim."

[–] Doubleohdonut@lemmy.ca 59 points 1 year ago (1 children)

~ President of the United States, 2025

[–] Nikelui@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (11 children)

I wonder if it's possible to play to their egos and sow discord by continuing to call them President Musk and Mr. Trump.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Every reporter who asks trump a question should follow it up with "and what does Elon musk think about that?"

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 10 points 1 year ago

First boyfriend "the Donny" Trump

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

This is unironically functionally the same as how 'Sovereign Citizens' attempt to escape legal liability.

You see, you're suing a legal entity that isn't me.

But also, I can act with, as, and through my legal entity.

But also also, I'm not actually responsible for anything bad I do, because my legal entity did that, not me.

The sad state of our laws are such that they could set up a S-Corp or C-Corp and act in official capacity of that corporation literally get away with murder.

[–] elav@lemmy.world 122 points 1 year ago (5 children)
[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 72 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Wow I can't believe Trump would just lie like that.

[–] elav@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Another day in Trump’s life.

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

"The day Donald Trump came to your village and lied to you was a Tuesday. For Donald Trump it was also a Tuesday."

[–] Darkard@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But he told you it was Wednesday and you believed him

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

To be fair, he's a very unreliable source.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 111 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Reminder: this guy could be impeached and out of office in under 24 hours, but every single Republican is actively choosing to be a Nazi instead.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

He was impeached multiple times the last time he was in office, why would doing it again magically dethrown him?

Let's be honest we all know what needs to be done to remove them from power.

[–] almost1337@lemm.ee 37 points 1 year ago

Impeachment is what the House does, and it is basically a formal accusation. It then goes to the Senate for conviction, which if successful results in removal.

Given that the Rs in both chambers are complicit in Trump's actions, neither of his impeachments resulted in a conviction, and he is equally unlikely to be impeached under the current Congress.

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 13 points 1 year ago

Player 2 has entered the chat

[–] DougHolland@lemmy.world 76 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You lost me at "White House claims." Gonna need a reputable source, please.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or you know, impeach and remove the president who lied to the population about what was going on. He's a public servant as well.

[–] PapaStevesy@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fucking finally man, I knew I was asking the wrong people previously

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 65 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A federal judge is set to rule on an emergency motion against Musk’s involvement.

Best we will get is a superficial ruling that says he can't do it while he continues to do it and there will be absolutely zero consequences nor will all of the people who he fucked receive any form of justice.

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Depends on how far Judge Tanya Chutkan is willing to go see her order(s) enforced. She famously has no love for Trump and his law breaking. Even so any ruling negative to Trump will probably get appealed to the Supremely Corrupt Court and get overturned.

[–] CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 year ago

It's actually not very fun watching a country fall to fascism.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago

Good leaders dont sow chaos and confusion

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 36 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I suspect one of two things are happening, or maybe a mix of both:

  1. Trump doesn't like the insinutations that he himself isn't in control.

  2. Musk's public image issues are now affecting the bottom lines of his companies.

These things are direct results of both men being complete imbeciles. Nothing more to see here.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

It's Schrödinger's control: for the purpose of having executive authority over the project 2025 policy agenda he is in control, except when doing so is illegal in which case he isn't. The status depends on who's looking, as it is always exactly the status that evades accountability.

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They aren't imbeciles. They are pursuing their objectives in ways that are inconsistent with US Law and tradition and when they run into trouble they obfuscate as much as possible to forestall the consequences.

As an example read the court filing from Joshua Fisher (pdf warning). If you read 3 & 4 carefully you'll come to the understanding that Musk is a SGE of the WHO with the Job Title "Senior Advisor".

Then you run into #6 where the text turns itself inside out trying to explain that the US DOGE Service Temporary Organization is under the umbrella of the US DOGE Service which is separate from the White House Office (that employs Musk) but the US DOGE Service is still a component of the Executive...which Musk works for.

Once you are done bending your noggin' around all of that you are probably too tired and confused to ask the most important question. If Musk isn't in charge of DOGE then who is?

We all know it's Musk but they can't say that nor can answer the question with someone else's name because then the jig would be up and they'd be hosed. They need it to be Musk for popularity reasons but they also need it to not be anyone at all so that no one can be held responsible.

They know what they're doing. Don't assume for a single second that they don't. You aren't seeing stupidity, at least not on this, you are seeing methodical, planned, and deliberate attempts to confuse the issue in order to escape consequences and oversight.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 31 points 1 year ago

"Musk leads DOGE"

"...that's illegal."

"No, no, no musk doesn't lead DOGE, he advises. Someone else leads it."

"...so you bypassed the Senate, also illegal..."

"No, no, you don't get it. Jesus takes the wheel here. It's God that runs it! You don't hate God do you!?"

[–] Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You are doublethinking that DOGE is run by Musk. This will be rectified by Minitrue.

This thoughtcrime is doubleplusungood. Thotpol will be notified, the guilty will visit a joycamp, and then the guilty will be unpersoned.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

All right, who's making the decisions then?

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 28 points 1 year ago

Elon, they're lying.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Tell all of your wealthy friends that Musk/Trump has all of their social security, address, work history, salaray history, etc. in their hands, right now.

[–] Albbi@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Done. Whew, that took NaN time out of my day!

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I live in Seattle. You can't throw a rock without hitting one. I sometimes forget what a bubble it is.

[–] MostRegularPeople@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The current argument is "you give your SSN, address, salary etc to the bank, your employer, the DMV, etc. They all want something from you. The world's richest man doesn't need your money, so why are you afraid of giving him all your information?"

It's basically "if you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to hide" but with your identity and life savings and social security.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] TheObviousSolution@kbin.melroy.org 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Don't look at the man behind the curtains!"

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ehpolitical@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've never had faith in politics, this isn't helping.

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (7 children)

That's what this ghouls want, it's their wholr purpose and their whole deal. If you don't have political institutions to protect you, they can eat you whole. And the best way to destroy political institutions is to errode public support for them.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] Jyek@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If he isn't running DOGE then why the fuck is he in the white house with his booger eater all the damn time? And why did he get access to those documents? And why is anyone listening to anything that falls out of his incel mouth?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 year ago

I would say that usually the courts see through thinly veiled attempts to put up a fake separation between decision makers and their positions. But lately I'm not sure of anything.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago

America regressing into a banana republic

[–] Shawdow194@fedia.io 8 points 1 year ago

Sounds like it would be more efficient if it didnt exist then?

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 year ago

ooh, President Husk ain't gonna be happy to hear that sass from lil humpty

[–] TheFogan@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We'll find out on paper, it's the little kid musk is carrying around to humanize himself that's listed as the director.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›