Donald Musk privatising US government for MAGA

Sometime in the early 20th century, a tiny island on the Atlantic Ocean declared independence from the British Empire. Its chief decided not to run the government and leased the island to the Hilton Hotels group. But his dreams of room service at home were dashed. London sent a squad of policemen to end the freedom run. It was the first example of privatising government in the world.

That is exactly what the two new presidents of the United States, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are up to. Never before has an unelected individual wielded so much power until President Musk happened to America. Trump has given his billionaire-bro free run to cut government costs and end the woke culture infecting US institutions.

As the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk wields sweeping powers over US federal departments. MAGA is about money. Why should America subsidise global bodies that do not play nice? Musk shuttered human rights organisation USAID, whose annual budget is over $40 billion, of which India received USD 150 million last year.

Trump pulled out of WHO, a proxy Chinese organisation: Biden had donated USD 1.28 billion to the WHO’s budget for 2022-2023. The US ponies up USD 967bn, about two-thirds of NATO countries’ annual defence spending; Trump is seeking an equitable contribution from member countries. DOGE is emailing workers to retire for pay-offs.

Musk is axing down the federal department that leases thousands of offices for government staff—where they will go to work is up in the air. Musk’s 20-something employees have taken over the Treasury Department that controls about USD 6 trillion in annual payments to millions of Americans; senior bureaucrats and Congressmen are denied access to their systems. The Department of Education is going. A massive coup is underway against diversity, equity and inclusion (DIE), an acronym the far right blames for America’s social decline. Operation Musk is an unusual cost-cutting strategy, but then Trump is an unusual man.

A Devil’s Advocate may ask, what’s the harm in corporatising governance? Unqualified and inexperienced politicians rise to the top and decide the fate of millions, tax-squeezing the middle classes and creating a huge group of unskilled labour. Politicians squander taxpayer’s money on populist vote-buying schemes and freebies to keep power. Business is about profits and growth expansion.

A country could benefit from that. Above all, CEOs have accountability: fail and you’re out of the board. Many great tycoons have changed world history: Henry Ford, Richard Branson, Li Ka-shing, JRD Tata and Ratan Tata, to name a few. Dhirubhai Ambani made his poor and middle-class shareholders rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Anand Mahindra created a new road ethos. Sunil Mittal pioneered the telecom revolution. Why such sterling characters who value strategy, meritocracy and profit as driving values should not run any country is an argument worth examining.

For now, Trump has enacted a super successful hostile takeover of the American government. He does what any businessman would do: leverage every dollar. However, it stinks of self-interest: Musk is pressuring Trump to pick Troy Meink as the Air Force secretary. Meink helped Musk get a multibillion-dollar contract for SpaceX from the Pentagon to build and operate a spy satellite network for the US government.

A New World Order has dawned where profit is pre-eminent and the dollar is the weapon to serve American interests, not its enemies. Think de-Muskification or there will just be a BRICS in the wall. No more citizens, only shareholders.