18F GitHub Repositories (github.com)

*Technically not a department.

That’s not the point of Elon’s actions, aside from generating headlines that let them throw chaff to make the casual observer think that might be something they’re doing and succeeding at.

For the lulz.

If his true goal isn’t efficiency but axing regulators and profitable outsourcing opportunities, the last thing he wants is a group which shows that the government can be efficient, filled with smarter people who can contradict his pretexts when they aren’t supported by the facts.

The USSR’s apparatchiks (their DOGE equivalent) were not fond of people who would point out errors their claims, either, because errors damaged the impression of the party as the source of truth.

There's too much evidence contradicting the notion that his goal is efficiency. Not sure what it actually is, but if it is efficiency, he's worse than useless and needs to be shitcanned yesterday.

My pet theory is he's still mad about being forced to buy Twitter after he opened his big stupid high-as-a-kite mouth, and decided to channel his anger into wrecking the organization that, ultimately, was what made him follow through on that deal (the US government).

If you were asking what is Musk's motivation to knock over a corner store then sure, hundreds of billions of dollars argues against. But the US government spent over $6 trillion last year, if Elon ran AmericaX, a "much more efficient" replacement for the United States of America it makes hundreds of billions seem like chicken feed.

But sure, money isn't everything, maybe he's going to destroy some bureaucrats who annoyed him, or who he imagines annoyed him, or who symbolically represent some annoying idea. It doesn't really matter why, American voters apparently weren't even capable of imagining why it might be a bad idea - which isn't great, but the American system of government is especially ill-suited to solving this sort of problem which compounds that.

Yes, excellent theory, rich people are famously not greedy assholes.

Beyond the basic greed which causes someone to become a billionaire in the first place, his wealth is almost entirely in equities rather than hard assets and the same volatility which made him set wealth records could easily move him back down the list. Most of his companies were substantially boosted by government funding and he has had a number of legal cases where adverse government decisions could significantly impact the share price of his companies. For example, the NTSB forcing Tesla to stop selling FSD under false pretenses or doing a safety recall; or removal of the tariffs keeping BYD out of the U.S. market would lower Tesla share prices which are ¾ of his net worth. SpaceX is most of the rest and that goes up or down based on things like whether NASA hires them or they’re forced to pay for environmental damages.

There are tons of non-obvious concerns: Starlink is in the news with the special FAA contract (part of why they want control of the GSA is that Starlink isn’t on the general Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, making it harder for agencies to buy) but it even includes things like whether the FTC regulates or other parts of the government subsidize Bitcoin since a big chunk of Tesla’s reported profits come from unrealized Bitcoin gains.

I just figure the owner of the largest garden gnome collection in the world is somehow driven to collect garden gnomes.

This is such an insane take I keep hearing. What 10 million wasn’t enough, 100 million wasn’t enough, 100 billion wasn’t enough? But when he hit 359 billion yep that was the number, now he is good.

Do you continue trusting people that lie to you?

Do you know anything about Elon Musk’s companies?! He got to be the richest person in the world on the back of US tax payer via US federal loans, grants, and contracts[1]. If not for US tax dollars, his WikiPedia page would have ended with just another member of the PayPal Mafia and a young bald guy who crashed a MCClaren F1.

Also, if what you say is true then he surely won’t suggest that the US federal departments use X AI, right? Riiiiight????

[1] https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2025/02/27/elon-mu...

Because he is not a trillionaire yet. Because he can. Who among the crew that is that wealthy stops trying to get even more? Come on.

Elon’s end goal is off-world - maybe not for him, but his grandchildren at least. He and a group of other wealthy folk have the goal of getting their descendants off planet and living elsewhere, and they will do whatever it takes to get there. If humanity on earth has to burn so that they can go somewhere new and fresh and all theirs, they will do it.

Elon sees the rest of us as stepping stones to his long-term goals.

BTW I'm probably talking to myself here, but I'm a pretty avid follower of USG activities, I think that something like this shows clear value:

https://playbook.usds.gov/

Despite the slightly pessimistic view I expressed about the general character of the most starred 18F repos which I also distinctly admitted was probably a myopic view in light of their breadth.