What Elon Musk Is Doing to the Government

In today’s newsletter, our columnists try to make sense of Elon Musk’s Washington takeover, offering insight into his ideology, erratic management style, and stunning political influence. Plus:

Caroline Mimbs NyceNewsletter editor

Donald Trump is by no means a small personality. Yet he is starting to seem like a supporting character in his own Presidency, frequently eclipsed by the presence of Elon Musk. Musk is everywhere: at an Inauguration event, gesturing to the crowd with what looked like a Nazi salute; in the White House, taking questions from reporters and holding forth at this morning’s Cabinet meeting; and in the in-boxes of millions of federal employees, demanding that they justify themselves to him.

That an unelected tech billionaire has so much power over the American government is equal parts confusing and frightening. As one Republican recently explained to Susan B. Glasser, Musk’s takeover is “something entirely new in the annals of global coups.”

The ongoing Musk-creep is part of a larger merging of Silicon Valley and Washington. As many tech titans fall in line behind Trump, MAGA-style populism is giving way to an optimization-oriented vision for the country’s future, Kyle Chayka explains in his latest column. “American techno-fascism is no longer a philosophical abstraction for Silicon Valley to tinker with, in the vein of intermittent fasting or therapeutic ketamine doses,” he writes. “It is a policy program whose constitutional limits are being tested right now.”

Central to this approach is the idea that these companies simply work better and smarter than their counterparts in business or government. But the efficiency revolution may have its limits. As Cal Newport points out, even the most prominent tech companies and management scholars have struggled to figure out comprehensive ways to measure the productivity of knowledge workers. In the case of evaluating the federal government, he warns, “a thirty-seven-word e-mail is unlikely to do the trick.”

For more: Back in 2023, Ronan Farrow reported that Musk’s power over the U.S. government was already growing out of control.

P.S. Feeling a little bleary today? Maybe you absently poured yourself a third glass of wine with dinner. Or maybe a certain magazine threw itself a birthday party last night. Either way, this classic Shouts & Murmurs by Amy Ozols will set you on the road to recovery. 🥂

Ian Crouch contributed to this edition.