🟠 News Club - Musk makes his mark

A hostile government takeover…

In the time since Donald Trump was elected for his second stint as President of the United States, the Squiz team has been considering how to best cover the inevitable waves of significant news that he and his colleagues generate. 

My recollection of Squiz’ing it for you between 2017 and 2021 was that we didn’t turn ourselves inside out making judgements - if it’s news, it’s news. Our job is to do our best to tell you about it, so it remains our approach as we head into this new term with Trump at the top. 

I’m telling you this mostly as a gee-up for myself… 

When I sat down yesterday to collect my thoughts about a topic for this email, I did that very same mental dance about settling on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s approach to cutting US Government spending. It’s a big story, and I reckon we can help you get around it by pointing out some excellent resources. 

Then again, our mission for 2025 is to help you be informed, not overwhelmed. This is another big Trump story - and the news he generates can be, well, overwhelming… That makes it a story I’ve found hard to tune into, given all the partisan screeching… 

But it’s not every day that the world’s most influential leader gives the world’s richest man something close to unlimited power… And there’s something about this one that feels ground-shifting as critics point to the norms of good governance getting chucked out the windows of the house that democracy built. 

So before I attempt something even more poetic, let’s get to some Club Picks to help you sort the noise from what’s actually going on:

1. Any questions about what role Elon Musk would play in the new Trump administration are now being answered as he gets cracking as the man in charge of the (non-department) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This BBC piece is a good place to start on the road to getting familiar with Musk’s mission and how he’s thrown the establishment for a loop in just 3 weeks. 

2. And take it from Musk - he is on a mission… As he and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy (who moved on to focus on his Ohio gubernatorial campaign) wrote in their opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal: “We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.”

3. This New York Times podcast The Daily episode from last week was what got me really engaged in this story. Jonathan Swan, a former political reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald/Age, stepped through what’s happened in recent days - including Musk’s reach into the US Treasury’s payment systems and his symbolic bid to shut down USAID, the nation’s aid agency. Swan does a great job of describing Musk in “demon mode” and how that’s currently playing out. 

4. Wherever Elon Musk roams, a meme is not far behind… This post/song about a “hostile government takeover” has gone viral on TikTok and Instagram, and its dance-inspired remix has had even more likes and shares than the original… 

As they say, may you live in interesting times…