Elon in the Oval
by William Kristol
It was an unusual scene yesterday in the Oval Office. Elon Musk stood and held forth for a half hour to the assembled press corps, while Donald Trump sat at his desk, occasionally chiming in, but mostly looking up at Elon with what seemed to me to be increasing irritation.
With the president looking on, Musk was asked to justify his minions’ wanton rampage through the ranks of our civil servants. He said:
We do find it sort of rather odd that there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow manage to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth. . . . The reality is they’re getting wealthy at the taxpayer’s expense. That’s the honest truth of it.
Here’s a tip based on many years of watching politicians and, for that matter, of watching my fellow human beings: When someone says “that’s the honest truth of it,” that person is probably not telling the honest truth. Especially if that person is someone like Musk.
The truth is that Musk has no idea what the net wealth is of various government employees. Unless, that is, he’s had his apparatchiks take a look at those employees’ SF-86 security clearance questionnaires or their IRS records. Which would be illegal—an illegality for which we don’t, so far at least, have any evidence.
So Musk is just making this up. But why should the world’s wealthiest man let the truth stand in the way of a casual slander of government employees if that can help his assault on our government?
Musk of course now works for that government as well. When asked about the secrecy surrounding his efforts, Musk claimed that, “All of our actions are maximally transparent. No one has been more transparent than DOGE.”
This is a ludicrous claim. DOGE posts painfully little about the savings it’s found. Musk has attacked journalists for seeking to discover who are the subordinates he’s employed. And he is also refusing to authorize the release of his own financial disclosure report, which he is required by law to submit to ethics officials to guard against conflicts of interest.
So no maximal transparency with regard to Musk, who actually does stand to accrue tens of billions of dollars in net worth, unlike the fellow employees he maligns. But what we do know is that on Monday, President Trump fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics just months into his five year term.
Nothing to see here.
And fewer reporters to see it. Yesterday, the Associated Press White House reporter was denied access to the Oval Office, because the AP continues to follow history and international convention by recognizing the international body of water on our southern coastline as the Gulf of Mexico. (It also acknowledges in its reporting that President Donald Trump has ordered it renamed for the purposes of the U.S. government to the Gulf of America.)
As Tim Miller put it in a post, “The AP has been banned from the White House for refusing to use the Gulf of Mexico’s preferred pronouns.”
But really, how pathetic is it to have a president of the United States think our greatness depends on renaming a body of water minding its own business off our coast? As Jay Nordlinger of National Review remarked:
For many generations, we have referred to that body of water as “the Gulf of Mexico.” Suddenly, the Leader says, “Call it something else!” and we’re all supposed to fall in line? I think of a term I learned from the populist Right: “sheeple.” Let’s not be.
But there are sheeple everywhere, not just on the MAGA right but in corporate America. Google and Apple have now fallen in line. The Gulf of Mexico will show up on our phones as the Gulf of America. Greatness!
Speaking of greatness, today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
On August 22, 1864, Lincoln invited the 166th Ohio Regiment to stop by the White House on its way home from the battlefield. Lincoln spoke extemporaneously and thanked them for their service. He continued:
I almost always feel inclined, when I happen to say anything to soldiers, to impress upon them in a few brief remarks the importance of success in this contest. It is not merely for to-day, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children’s children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has. It is in order that each of you may have through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelligence; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable human aspirations. It is for this the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthright—not only for one, but for two or three years. The nation is worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel.
It’s dispiriting to see Trump and Musk temporarily occupying that big White House. But it’s heartening to remember that when the Trump-Musk era is consigned to the ash heap of history, the example of Lincoln will remain. |
