It's Over

In politics, the ‘fat’ is the juiciest part. It’s what the politicians most want. If you take money from taxpayers to conduct a war, for example, and you spend the money efficiently, what do you get?

Source: Open AI

Friday, May 30^th, 2025

Bill Bonner, from Amsterdam, Holland

‘A bill can be big. Or it can be beautiful. I don’t know if it can be both.’

—Elon Musk

News Flash: the whole Trump program is falling apart.

Over the course of the last fourteen days, federal judges have made it clear that the US still has a constitution, and nowhere in it does it give Elon Musk’s DOGE the power to cut federal programs without Congressional action...

Or give Donald Trump the right to set taxes and trade policies as he pleases.

More on Monday...

But these developments leave poor Elon out. What was he doing? For whom? Why? And is he now personally responsible for the billions in losses the states say they have suffered?

And now it’s official. The Trump/Musk duo has broken up. The Washington Post:

Elon Musk is leaving his role in the Trump administration

A day earlier, in a major break with the president and Republicans, Musk said he did not approve of Trump’s spending bill — officially known as the One Big Beautiful Bill — with its massive tax cuts.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said in an interview with CBS News.

And this from Bloomberg:

Musk leaves Washington pretty much as he found it.

Poor Elon. He never understood what government is all about...or his role in it.

There he was...out on the front lines...exposed to ridicule, widely reviled, the target of the feds, the media...the enemy of the ‘casta politica’ and all of the freeloaders and parasites who want to live at others’ expense. Musk took the lead — as an unpaid volunteer. It was he who put together a team and revealed billions in ‘waste, fraud and inefficiency’ in federal spending.

In business cutting the ‘fat’ can be key to making a profit. Companies struggle to provide the best products and services at the lowest cost. ‘Fat’ is an enemy.

But in politics, the ‘fat’ is the juiciest part...it’s what the politicians most want. If you take money from taxpayers to conduct a war, for example, and you spend the money efficiently, what do you get? Dead bodies. Piles of rubble. Flattened buildings. Just look at what the US gets for its money in Gaza.

If the money were ‘wasted,’ on the other hand, it would do less damage. Plus, more of it would go where it was really intended to go — into the pockets of politicians, cronies, and favored clients.

Elon’s lieutenants found billions that could be cut. There were ‘foreign aid’ programs, for example, where the money never left the Washington DC area. This was, from the feds’ point of view, an ideal program. Some of the money was supposed to go to train ‘African circus performers.’ Again, a perfect swindle. Those clowns weren’t going to complain!

Elon’s team even found $4.7 trillion in payments that were practically untraceable.

But after Elon busted his hump and endured so many slings and arrows, did the nation say ‘thank you for your service?’ Did the Republicans incorporate even one penny of the many money-saving examples he uncovered in their ‘big, beautiful bill?’

No, they did not. Charlie Bilello:

‘What about the DOGE spending cuts? None of them were codified in the bill, meaning that any savings announced over the past few months could just be temporary.’

The Republicans’ ‘big, beautiful bill’ extends the 2017 tax cuts...adds new cuts (for tips, etc)...increases spending...and ends up with bigger deficits than ever.

And now, they are now going to hang Musk out to dry. The Independent:

Judge spares Trump from massive DOGE lawsuit — leaving Elon Musk holding the bag for ‘unauthorized role’

Musk — tapped by the president to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — is facing a lawsuit from a group of 14 states arguing that the world’s wealthiest person lacks any legal authority to carry out mass firings, terminate grants and access sensitive government information and taxpayer data.

Musk thought he was doing the country a favor; he thought the MAGA folks really wanted to curb US debt. As it turned out, they didn’t. And now, in addition to his other problems, Musk faces a lawsuit charging that he ‘lacked any authority’ to do what they asked him to do.

And the White House has pulled the rug out from under his defense, specifically stipulating that he had “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions.”

For all his trouble, despite all his money, and all his expensive lawyers...and all his success in business...Musk is just another casualty of politics.

Regards,

Bill Bonner