A 21st-century Coup

From Paul Krugman's 2-3-25 article entitled "Trump Is Doing Exactly What He Said He Would. Who Could Have Predicted That?":

For as I said, the trade war, drastic as it is, isn’t the most important story right now. It takes second place to what looks like a quiet takeover of the machinery of government.

Here’s how it works: Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary — whose selection was, financial types assured me, an indication that Trump wouldn’t go wild — has given associates of Elon Musk, who as far as we know aren’t even government employees let alone officials with the right security clearance, access to the computers at the Treasury department that control the federal government’s financial plumbing — that make payments to contractors, workers, everything.

This situation gives Musk’s minions the ability to download millions of Americans’ private information. But people who understand the system better than I do say that it also effectively gives them control of public spending. Congress may have passed a law mandating that money be spent for some public purpose; but Musk and company may simply, in effect, tell the system not to cut the checks.

If this is really the case, and serious people say that it is, we may already have experienced what amounts to a 21st-century coup. There may not be tanks in the streets, but effective control of the government may already have slipped out of the hands of elected officials.

To read Krugman's entire article, click HERE.