Plutopians are joined by EFF-Austin president Kevin Welch. Elon Musk’s team of alleged geniuses continue to disrupt many U.S. government agencies. With that in mind, we discuss Musk’s disruptive influence on U.S. government agencies, democracy, and the rule of law. Our conversation explores how Musk’s unqualified team is recklessly dismantling government technology systems, leading to security breaches, mass layoffs, and data misinterpretation, with concerns over IRS and Social Security databases. The discussion also highlights the long-standing complexities of government software, the dangers of centralized data collection, and the erosion of institutional trust. The hosts reflect on the broader implications of these changes, including the loss of privacy, potential financial manipulation, and the risks of unchecked executive power in an increasingly unstable political landscape.

Kevin Welch:

It all has very much the feeling of a fishing expedition – they don’t necessarily know what they’re looking for, they’re just looking, and then when they find stuff, they take things out of context to justify continuing to look. If I take them at their word, they’re claiming they found proof of fraud – oh, there’s the same persons in the system multiple times. Dead people are getting tons of money. By the way, I am sure that is happening to a certain degree because there’s no way a system that sprawling, that old, with that much data that you can’t just delete – some of it may not be right. I’m sure to a certain extent it is happening. Hell, reports have been put out under previous administrations identifying some of this problem. But what’s happening is a highly selective window narrative is being built here, combined with people who don’t have the technical expertise to truly know what they’re looking at.