Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (6 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Following the Project 2025 playbook, in the last week, Trump and his newly installed loyalists have moved to (1) dismiss federal officials deemed unreliable to do his bidding (including 17 inspectors general) - many of which have protections from arbitrary dismissal, (2) freeze all science and public health activity until he can wrest full control, (3) freeze all federal assistance and grant activity deemed inconsistent with Trump's agenda, and (4) moved to terminate all federal employee telework and DEI programs.

The problem is much of this is controlled by federal law and not subject to sudden and complete change by the president through executive order. Most notably is the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that simply codifies what is the constitutional allocation of resources where Congress appropriates money to the executive branch for a specific purpose, the executive branch must carry out that statutory purpose. This is indeed a constitutional crisis and even if Congress abdicates to Trump by acquiescing, the courts must still apply the law - or rule it unconstitutional.

And meanwhile the architect of much of this unlawful action is Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB nominee who the Senate appears ready to confirm.

120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025

The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of "impoundment"—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon.

www.stevevladeck.com

 

[DaveXA]

“No, Musk’s Teenage Tech Bros Can’t Rewrite the Federal Code Base in a Week”​

No, Musk’s Teenage Tech Bros Can’t Rewrite the Federal Code Base in a Week

In order to fight, we must know what we are fighting against, and that ain't it.

www.ruminato.com

I mean, if you want to keep believing press reports over people who actually are being impacted.

 

[Sendai]

I mean, if you want to keep believing press reports over people who actually are being impacted.

I know what a code base is and you can’t change it in a week. I doubt the people making the claim have anything to do with the software driving the systems.

 

[DaveXA]

I know what a code base is and you can’t change it in a week. I doubt the people making the claim have anything to do with the software driving the systems.

You can't change it all overnight or even a week, sure, but you absolutely can modify parts of it pretty quickly if you know what you're doing.

And this isn't something that's been in the works for a few days. This has been in the works for months and not to mention they had an entire 4 years of Trump administration to work with fron 2016-2020.

These guys absolutely are hitting the ground running. But again, go ahead and lap up those articles if it makes you feel better.

 

[RobF]

I know what a code base is and you can’t change it in a week. I doubt the people making the claim have anything to do with the software driving the systems.

I know what a code base is, and I have a degree in Software Engineering too. No, they can't rewrite the entire codebase or replace it overnight, but yes, they absolutely can start messing around with it and inserting additional code to add or modify processes to do all kinds of stuff, as well as just using the existing systems in inappropriate ways.

I have no idea why people, who on the face it should know better, want to define this is as a black or white "either they can 'rewrite the code base of the United States government' or they can't do anything at all". The WIRED article cited and linked to from your link, Sendai, doesn't even appear to mention them doing that. A different WIRED article - https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/ - says they have write access to some systems, but also doesn't say they plan to "migrate the code base of the United States Government".

The bottom line is, they can do a lot of damage with the access they reportedly have, and the fact they can't "rewrite the code base of the United States government" overnight does nothing to change that. That's like saying someone punching you in the face doesn't have the ability to disintegrate your entire body. Great. They're still punching you in the face.

 

[coldseat]

“No, Musk’s Teenage Tech Bros Can’t Rewrite the Federal Code Base in a Week”​

No, Musk’s Teenage Tech Bros Can’t Rewrite the Federal Code Base in a Week

In order to fight, we must know what we are fighting against, and that ain't it.

www.ruminato.com

And it's okay for those "Teenage Tech Bros" to have access to all of Americans sensitive information because .....? What could possibly go wrong? What makes anybody think these kids or Elon even know what and how Treasury conducts its business or are in any way qualified to opine on it, much less have access to it.

 

[Huntn]

Ever wonder what a modern billionaire Nazi look like? This image nails it.

 

[coldseat]

I hope the next person that runs for President for the Democrats runs on locking Elon and all of his companies out of government contracts. I would support that full stop and I'm sure millions of others will as well. Space X, Tesla, etc. can all go down, other companies will take their place. Fear needs to be placed into these billionaires heads that if they try and control everything, they will be taken down. We need guardrails for the billionaire class.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

I hope the next person that runs for President for the Democrats runs on locking Elon and all of his companies out of government contracts. I would support that full stop and I'm sure millions of others will as well. Space X, Tesla, etc. can all go down, other companies will take their place. Fear needs to be placed into these billionaires heads that if they try and control everything, they will be taken down. We need guardrails for the billionaire class.

I get that, I really do... but it's a bad way to run a government. I'd suggest setting up very strong rules and procedures and institutions, with high ethical standards, and then let the procurement process play out in a transparent manner.

I want more institutional processes, and less running by personal feelings and vendettas.

I do think we need to figure out how to limit the power billionaires wield as a whole though.

 

[coldseat]

I get that, I really do... but it's a bad way to run a government. I'd suggest setting up very strong rules and procedures and institutions, with high ethical standards, and then let the procurement process play out in a transparent manner.

I want more institutional processes, and less running by personal feelings and vendettas.

I do think we need to figure out how to limit the power billionaires wield as a whole though.

We can get to that after. Sometimes, hard lessons need to be learned by those who go to extremes to control and hurt the rest of us. This is one of those times. The punishment needs to be swift and painful.

This is only 2 weeks into this administration. I can't imagine how I and millions of others will feel after 4 years.

 

[DaveXA]

We can get to that after. Sometimes, hard lessons need to be learned by those who go to extremes to control and hurt the rest of us. This is one of those times. The punishment needs to be swift and painful.

This is only 2 weeks into this administration. I can't imagine how I and millions of others will feel after 4 years.

Well, hopefully sooner...mid-terms.

 

[SFIDC3]

I know what a code base is and you can’t change it in a week. I doubt the people making the claim have anything to do with the software driving the systems.

I worked with Treasury (not for) for years as we disbursed funds to injured workers, you don't need to make "code changes" to stop payments to anyone (nor to start them, modify them, etc), I'm quite sure that can be done fairly easily through their application.....

This is utterly lunacy, it's not enough that these idiots should be shown the door, they need to be prosecuted, especially Musk, if that doesn't happen, we are lost as a country.....laws are supposed to matter....

 

[superchuck500]

 

[Poppy]

Im just happy we're finally gonna expose all of this wasteful government spending. I think Trump should have picked someone else to do this, but, im glad it is being done. Trump getting things done. Refreshing. America first is what he ran on, and he is doing it. God bless him.

 

[TampaJoe]

I know what a code base is and you can’t change it in a week. I doubt the people making the claim have anything to do with the software driving the systems.

I would find that hard to believe as well. Read only access to the data is pretty standard on most systems. It still should be approved. You wouldn’t hand that out to just anyone. The ability to modify code is a different level of access and isn’t generally handed out to anyone other than folks who actually approved to code. Further, whomever runs security would know if the code had been modified. These are common controls in large systems. You wouldn’t pass the first audit otherwise.

 

[Sendai]

‘Second American Revolution’: The team behind DOGE’s government overhaul​

‘Second American Revolution’: The team behind DOGE’s government overhaul | CNN Politics

As Musk’s team barrels its way through the government seeking access to sensitive information, questions are arising about the people behind DOGE

www.cnn.com

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Im just happy we're finally gonna expose all of this wasteful government spending. I think Trump should have picked someone else to do this, but, im glad it is being done. Trump getting things done. Refreshing. America first is what he ran on, and he is doing it. God bless him.

After all the lawsuits and litigation and then the reinitialization costs of all the programs starting up again. This will probably end up costing the government millions of more dollars. Everything they've "uncovered" has already been published publicly.

Another thing that hasn't been discussed yet b/c the ramifications aren't known yet.. but the government has stopped paying some contractors for work already performed and billed, which then means they can't pay off the lines of credit they have to do business. Banks have extended government contractors favorable lending rates with only the government contract as collateral, b/c a government contract was considered solid, as the government always pays its bills. If that comes into doubt, then the lending fees will increase and that cost will get passed back onto the government, and ultimately the taxpayers.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

We can get to that after. Sometimes, hard lessons need to be learned by those who go to extremes to control and hurt the rest of us. This is one of those times. The punishment needs to be swift and painful.

This is only 2 weeks into this administration. I can't imagine how I and millions of others will feel after 4 years.

Again, I understand that, but I think the only way to combat tyranny is by strict adherence to proper rules and process.

If you want to punish Elon, work vigorously to get everyone to stop buying Tesla's. The stock is already overvalued... if sales keep declining they'll have a massive correction.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Im just happy we're finally gonna expose all of this wasteful government spending. I think Trump should have picked someone else to do this, but, im glad it is being done. Trump getting things done. Refreshing. America first is what he ran on, and he is doing it. God bless him.

sure keep beliving this. it will make you feel better as you suffer.