Tuesday, February 18, 2025

In Order To Work This Malign And Duplicitous Farce, Musk Needs To "Lobby" Non-Trumpians In Government. He's Stuck.


Thesis: the federal ethics in government laws do mean something. By way of contrast, Elon Musk thinks simply by saying he holds no "employee" role at DOGE (i.e., not a federal employee), he is no longer subject to the conflict of interest disclosure rules of the LDA of 1995.

Not so.

Moreover, by saying under oath that he is merely an advisor, but employed in the West Wing, every time he speaks to someone outside his own MAGA cult who is an administrator or elected representative in the federal government. . . he violates the LDA's disclosure rules.

He has not registered to lobby the Democratic Congress-people, most directly -- and it is beyond dispute that his business interests conflict into the hundreds of billions of dollars -- with those of ordinary Americans (and the platforms the majority of Democrats seek to advance). He has not disclosed, in any cohesive, statutorily-required written manner, how his vast business desires are antithetical to the peoples'.

So -- each time he cajoles or implores the non-MAGA folks in government -- he commits a new LDA violation. The world's richest man may not care about the $200,000 per violation fine -- but the two year prison stint -- now that it is a "knowing violation". . . should wake him up.

These sworn statements were filed last night in DC, in the suit by New Mexico and other states, against his usurping the roles of statutorily mandated agencies and review processes. Musk's lawyers believe they offer him refuge. They do not.

That is a power Tangerine 2.0 needs new legislation to even begin implementing.

Onward.

Out.

नमस्ते

1 comment:

condor said...

Perhaps trivial, but we will keep Trump's record at 1 for 23, since the "no immediate TRO" rulings he's seeing this week... are simply a view that the plaintiffs don't AUTOMATICALLY win a restraining order. Not any final win for Baby-T 2.0.

As more evidence is developed, they may well win.

Said another way, the 23 judges saw a clear violation of law -- so clear that the plaintiffs were AUTOMATICALLY allowed to revert to the previous state of affairs -- before the lawless Black Sharpie scribbles.

Very odd times. . . with the US laying prone before Russia's Putin to boot. What on Earth does Trump owe. . . Vlad Putin, to get this supplicant posture on the world stage?

We want to know.