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TRUMP ABUSE IN EVERY DIRECTION BTC: SHOCK NEWS: Elon Musk pulls dangerous move at Treasury Dept. PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ee5-c6BlAk Peter Burgess COMMENTARY I am not at all sure that I understand what Trump is doing. At some level he is doing a bit of everything to confuse everyone ... and he has certainly done a good job of confusing me. However, I have come to the conclusion that he has no idea what he really is doing. In my understanding of how things work, the Trump agenda will 'blow it up' wiohout having anything of substance to keep essential services doing their job. Peter Burgess
SHOCK NEWS: Elon Musk pulls dangerous move at Treasury Dept. Brian Tyler Cohen 3.63M subscribers Feb 2, 2025 Democracy Watch with Marc Elias Democracy Watch episode 251: Marc Elias discusses Elon Musk's dangerous moves at the Treasury Department. SIGN UP: https://www.democracydocket.com/btc-s... Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/busine... For more from Brian Tyler Cohen: Order my #1 NYT bestselling book: https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/s... YouTube (español): / @briantylercohenespanol Twitch: / briantylercohen Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/36UvEHs Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0066rKC... Twitter: / briantylercohen Instagram: / briantylercohen Facebook: / briantylercohen TikTok: / briantylercohen Newsletter: https://plus.briantylercohen.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/briantylerco... Threads: https://www.threads.net/@briantylercohen Transcript 0:00 this is democracy watch Mark we've got some alarming news here the highest ranking career official at Treasury and the guy who was previously serving as the acting treasury secretary is now out after a clash with Elon Musk and his allies because they wanted access to sensitive payment systems that distribute about $6 trillion in US Government payments so this is basically all of the money that flows out of our government into the hands of the folks where it gets distributed whether it's different programs and whatnot first of all can I have your reaction to what looks on its face like pretty startling news in that uh the guy who is managing these systems is out and Doge and Elon musk's um whole organization is now in after trying to get access to the system for a a long time now I mean it's shocking I mean I don't shock easily and even I am shocked by this at a couple of levels the first is you know this guy 1:00 who has now retired and resigned he was the acting uh treasury secretary just a few days ago I mean this is a guy who knows how to make sure the treasury Department runs and the treasury Department is one of the most important agencies and departments in in the world it not only oversees the payment uh uh process but it oversees literally you know a lot of how the US economy winds up working and so just the fact that a guy with that much experience who's that senior who has been around the treasury Department all these years for him to suddenly resign tells you something really bad is happening number one but number two you know there are only a couple reasons why someone from Doge would want access to the US payment uh system um one is that they're trying to cut off the flow of funds to certain programs now that is important because remember the Trump White House through om and then through a tweet from the 2:02 press secretary has tried a series of ways to suggest that the that Donald Trump can control whether or not funds are distributed or not distributed uh to various Federal uh uh programs or through grants or through loans and that Constitution for congress so having been frustrated with their effort to block this through om one wonders if they're now trying to find another way block it through the actual mechanism of funds moving out the door of course the only other possibility is that why you would want to control the payment process is not to stop funds from going out but you would want to direct where the funds go out right and you know you can only imagine what kind of trouble could be done there I mean I want to dig into that part a little bit of it because we already know that the Trump Administration is especially interested in blocking payments um to recipients that they don't want to fund anymore they've already tried to to do it to 3:01 programs like Medicaid to Meals on Wheels a lot of these programs that that the poor who the Elon Musk of the world and the Donald Trumps in the world don't care about rely on to survive but if you have if you have other recipients we'll just say um who might who might want government want funds from the federal government but the oversight all of the controls are other Trump lackies then then what bull workk is there to prevent from abuse happening yeah I I you know we tend to focus on this as we should about what does this mean for the poor what does this mean for people who need who who are the most needy what does it mean for the billionaires right and the large multinational corporations that have either bowed down or not bowed down right what does it say if you are a major defense contractor what does it say if you are a major contractor to the federal government that provides oh I don't know say CL Computing 4:01 Services right or space Services what does it mean that now the spot for how you how money can go out or how money cannot go out is now under a control of political actors rather than you know people who are who are upholding their WTH of office or or federal law so that is terrifying because you know that is the carrot that is the stick portion of the program uh not just the carrot portion of it and then of course there is just the Mis the the possibility that funds are just distributed in you know in ways that that that defy common sense and that might benefit his uh uh his uh you know Donald Trump's political supporters you know will funds flow for example to certain types of cryptocurrency uh certain meme coins for example I don't know if there's one you could think of you know maybe what we need is a Brian Tyler cone coin yeah 5:00 that's that's next up on my uh next up on my plate I need a I need a shitcoin basically that that's what I should be well you know it seems to be very much in fashion I know it is it's in it's in Vogue I'll tell you what if all I have to do is Pivot to the right and I can I can uh start selling coins and and that that's really all it takes at this point mark um in terms of in terms of recourse what is what is the bull workk if the federal government if the Executive Branch if the folks at the treasury aren't willing to provide any adequate or requisite oversight do we then look to the courts like what happens when all of the police basically become bought and sold by the very people um who who are who are content to abuse the system and look we've spoken at length about how Donald Trump is trying to root out career civil servants from the government he's trying to get them to resign he's sending out these mass emails he's promising them buyouts which may or may not happen I don't think there's any Avenue for the government to be able to pay 12 months in advance um but but these are the folks who would largely make up the population of 6:00 whistleblowers for example if there was abuse these are folks who wouldn't be willing to just allow a a criminal president and his criminal accomplice to just run Ru shot over over these these departments and so if those people are gone then who becomes who becomes the person responsible for oversight here well so sadly uh in our system of checks and balances the the check on the executive branch misusing appropriated funds is Congress because it's Congress that has the greatest interest in seeing that their Appropriations are followed I mean after all it is literally in the Constitution the House of Representatives has a privileged place in the Constitution about appropriated funds and normally normally the Senate appropriators the house appropriators on a bipartisan basis the one thing that they guard more than anything else is their prerogative to appropriate funds and to ensure that 7:01 the funds that they appropriate are sent out and the funds that they don't appropriate are not sent out but but I got to tell you Brian we're I mean we're not seeing any sign of life from the republicans in Congress as a check yeah I mean if if if the goal here is to hope that Mike Johnson and the Margy Taylor greens of the world are going to serve as a bull workk to Trump's worst excesses then uh I think we're in a pretty Grim position moving forward do I mean at this point we would have to hope that that um either there's going to be some remaining officials who are willing to speak out and not just completely bend the knee to Donald Trump which you know if if he gets his way those people won't exist or that someone in Congress is willing to actually speak out against against the worst abuses by their own party which again also doesn't seem likely given them given the way the incentive structure for the GOP today right and so look the courts are an ultimate back stop here because ultimately people who don't get funds that they're entitled to can sue the 8:01 federal government and then go to court but but I want to be clear you know I try to point out the places where I think the courts can be really a Frontline uh actor to Halt Donald Trump's worst imp uh impulses and and I think it's important that we recognize when the courts do that and celebrate them when they do that this one's trickier because the fact is you will need a a recipient of federal funds who number one is willing to blow the whistle so far we have not seen a lot of uh of uh courage from the from Corporate America or government contractors or uh from Republican state Governors so sure you have the Democratic AGS and the Democratic Governors and they they they they can do this but the second is the courts are not meant to police the day-to-day distribution of funds from the federal government the oversight of that is done by Congress that's why we talk about Congressional oversight of the executive branch and like I said usually if there is is one aspect of the 9:00 federal government that is subject to more rigorous day-to-day oversight it is the Appropriations process and so this is a terrifying development because they may have found you know Trump may have found the weak spot in the federal government where Congress won't do oversight the courts will but where it is very clunky and and not efficient and then you are left as you say with the career of civil servants and hoping that they can stand up against the powerful in the way in which the Legacy Media is backing down the way in which Corporate America is backing down the the the billionaire oligarchs are backing down and I should add you know to that you said whistleblowers where do whistleblowers go whistleblowers usually either go to Congress or the or the inspector's General the inspector's general which have been fired or they go to the media yeah and you know tell me which if you're if you're a career civil servant and you're counting on can't go to the LA Times you can't go to the 10:01 Washington Post Yeah like what are you going to do I I I think all of that underscores the importance of of the work that you're doing over at democracy docket which is the news Outlet you founded to focus on everything voting in elections you guys have been uh completely cleare eyed and focused on Fearless journalism and holding the powerful to account so for those who are watching right now if you are not yet signed up please do yourself a favor and sign up you'll get good information and you'll support folks who are actually meeting this moment with the urgency that it deserves so I'll put the link right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video I'm Brian teller Cohen I'm Mark Elias this is democracy watch [Music]

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