Elon Musk emerges as the Trump administration’s new Dick Cheney

Last weekend in Washington, Elon Musk worked until 2am Monday morning, stopping to post a congratulatory tweet after suspending access to the email accounts of thousands of employees of the United States Agency for International Development.

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” he wrote. “Could have gone to some great parties. Did that instead.”

The world’s richest man was not exaggerating. The work of USAID — a mainstay of US foreign aid since President John F. Kennedy created it in 1961 — is being shut down or paused. Its website no longer operates and thousands of employees will be placed on involuntary leave from Friday evening, the agency announced this week.

The agency, which conservatives accuse of funding ideologically motivated programs, is one of several parts of the US government where Musk is implementing US President Donald Trump’s plan to shrink the most expensive organisation in history. The US government spent $10 trillion last year, or about a quarter of the country’s whole economy.

In just two-and-a-half weeks running the US Department of Government Efficiency, Mr Musk has made so many decisions that one of his allies compared him with Dick Cheney, the vice-president to George W. Bush, who some historians consider the most powerful person to hold the position, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Remaking government

Mr Musk’s emergence as one of the most dynamic figures in the Trump administration is an example of the re-elected president’s determination to remake the US government in ways that might surprise even his most strident supporters.

Among the areas receiving Mr Musk’s attention is the Treasury Department, which has been at the heart of power in Washington for over two centuries.

When Mr Musk and his staff sought access to computer systems operated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which handles about 90 per cent of all money going out of the government, they were blocked by David Lebryk, the acting Treasury secretary, amid concerns in the public service of disruptions to government payments. Mr Lebryk was threatened with forced leave, before agreeing to retire.

Treasury said on Tuesday that Mr Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency had been given “read only” access to the information, similar to auditors. The data may be the most detailed picture that exists of the US budget, allowing Mr Musk to find waste, mismanagement and what he believes is deep corruption. Mr Musk has alleged Treasury officials allow illegal payments to be made by the government.

Musk has also secured access to the government’s personnel database, which is controlled by an agency called the Office of Personnel Management. Five current or former employees of Musk’s have key roles in the agency, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Last week, the agency emailed some two million public servants offering eight months’ pay if they resigned. “Fork in the Road” was written on the subject line, the same message Mr Musk used at Twitter in 2022 when he bought the social media network and cut staff by 80 per cent. It is now called X.

X Æ A-12 Musk

If Mr Musk has a formal title in the administration, it has not been made public, although his X profile refers to him as “White House Tech Support”. He was given an office in the West Wing, where the president works, but complained it was too small, according to the New York Times.

He moved to the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, where he sometimes uses the Secretary of War Suite, a collection of 10 ornately decorated rooms furnished in leather and mahogany, according to the Times. His team is dominated by software programmers, including one just 19 years of age, from X or SpaceX, companies he owns.

Mr Musk is also looking at the government’s vast property holdings. After complaining many offices were empty, he has already moved to terminate some office leases. Within the General Services Administration, which manages government property, talks have begun about eliminating as much as half of the agency’s budget.

During a visit to the agency last week, Mr Musk was accompanied by his youngest son with the Canadian singer Grimes, four-year-old X Æ A-12 Musk, according to the Times. The decisions reflect a management style the 53-year-old Mr Musk developed at his companies over decades, including Tesla and SpaceX, where he would work long hours and fire people who did not meet his high standards. While some people were unjustly treated, it worked. Tesla, his most important business, is worth $2 trillion, making it the most valuable carmaker in history.

Now in government, Mr Musk’s approach is driven by a belief that government is naturally wasteful and ideologically driven forces have seized parts of the bureaucracy. He has referred to USAID as an “arm of the radical-left globalists” and “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America”.

Over the weekend, as Musk loyalists took over, USAID staff worked to transfer money out of the organisation before they lost access, according to New York magazine. “People are freaking out,” one employee told the publication. “I’m trying to do work, and people are getting fired around me.”

Under the Biden administration, USAID expanded its work in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan, where millions of civilians received help obtaining food, shelter and medical treatment. Ukraine is the biggest recipient by a factor of ten.

Among Republican concerns is that USAID promotes left-wing causes, including abortion. The agency has said it is legally barred from funding abortions but covers the cost of post-abortion care. It financed electric cars in Vietnam and a “transgender clinic” in India. A Serbian LGBTQ group got $2 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion.”

“USAID is hardly full of Mother Teresas who only want to do good without a political agenda,’ the Journal wrote in an editorial this week.

Fourth branch of government

While allowing Mr Musk to fire employees and cut programs, Mr Trump this week said the businessman could not make unilateral decisions. “Elon can’t do - and won’t do - anything without our approval and we’ll give him the approval where appropriate,” Mr Trump said.

The qualification has not calmed critics. Mr Musk has complained people have published private information about his staff, a malicious practice known as doxxing.

Democrats complain that Congress hasn’t approved the changes and the Trump administration is breaking the law. At a protest outside USAID on Monday, Congressman Jamie Raskin said: “We don’t have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk and that’s going to become real clear.”

The following day, hundreds of Democratic-aligned activists protested outside the Treasury Department.

Instead of his businesses suffering from Musk’s immersion in Washington, there are signs investors are not worried about his association with the Republican president.

Tesla shares are flat this year despite a cut back in European subsidies for electric car makers. SpaceX has launched 17 rockets this year, and has another seven planned for the rest of February.

The price of X debt has risen, reflecting improving confidence in the company’s financial outlook. A sale by Morgan Stanley and other banks on Wednesday went better than expected, and $9 billion of debt changed hands at 3 per cent below its face value, compared to earlier estimates of as low as 10 per cent below face value.