Years ago, there was a thriving television company called Philco. Being the forward-thinking company they were, they assigned an engineer by the name of Larry Goch to cut costs. He was ruthless. He even went out on the line to snip parts out of a working TV circuit. If the television still functioned, he declared the removed component unnecessary and ordered it eliminated from production.

While this method helped Philco reduce manufacturing costs, it also—predictably—led to catastrophic reliability issues, contributing to the company’s eventual downfall.

If you don’t see the significance of this historical tidbit, let me spell it out for you: this is exactly how Musk is treating our government. Except he’s cutting out parts on his own whim, without even waiting to see if the “TV” fails before declaring them unnecessary.

You’ll notice Philco no longer exists. And why? Because the reliability issues were inevitable. Imagine a television with no surge protection, no fuse, no noise reduction, and no safeguards for aging components. Power surges would fry circuits, and over time, performance would plummet.

At least Larry Goch had the ability to put components back when he realized they were essential. But even then, he failed—because he couldn’t predict the long-term consequences. And guess what? Philco no longer exists.

Now, in Elon Musk, we’re facing an ego-charged, reckless version of Larry Goch. He’s gutting the system without a second thought. If our government collapses, so what? Even better. Case in point: the elimination of USAID.

USAID was a major customer for American farmers. Without it, many of them will go out of business. Not your problem? Well, with fewer farmers, food prices will skyrocket. Talk about an inflation bomb. But from Musk’s point of view, if the government fails, that’s just another opportunity. He’ll swoop in at the fire sale and buy up the remnants. Win-win—for him.

Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, Musk plans to use AI to replace the agencies he’s systematically destroying. Now, I love AI. I use it for coding, writing, and artwork. It’s an incredible tool—as long as you verify that it’s actually doing what you want.

Think about this: most of you can drive a car, right? Yet AI is still struggling with that. And when self-driving AI fails, accidents happen, the NTSB investigates, and a software patch gets rolled out. That is, assuming the NTSB still exists. I haven’t checked today’s list of Musk’s pillages yet, but I do remember they were looking into some Tesla issues, and retaliation seems to be the defining strategy of the current regime.

And let’s talk about Musk’s access. His team has installed all the backdoors they need for software updates. They now have full remote access to government computers—including those containing classified information. But I’m sure they were all cleared by the DCSA before being granted access, right? Then again, we do know how Trump feels about classified material. Maybe Musk has already eliminated the DCSA.

Consider this gem from The Wall Street Journal:

“A staffer for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved by a federal judge on Thursday, has links to a deleted social media account that advocated for racism and eugenics. The 25-year-old employee, Marko Elez, resigned Thursday after The Wall Street Journal asked the White House about his connection to the account.”

This is Musk’s team? This is someone cleared to look at classified documents? And Musk’s reaction? He lashed out at the journalist, calling her “shameful” and demanding she be fired. Fired—for reporting the truth.

And let me tell you, Musk’s outburst on X about the journalist was eerily similar to Trump’s typical rants. At this point, it’s becoming impossible to tell which one is the puppet and which one is the puppet master.

Today, I heard a Democratic senator say Musk has no authority to do this and should be brought in for a congressional hearing. Wow. Clueless. A hearing will accomplish nothing except pissing off Musk. Meanwhile, his programmers will still be out there modifying government code.

If Congress really wants to accomplish something, haul in his programming team—their names are public. At least while they’re testifying, they won’t be tampering with government systems. While you’re at it, ask them about peer reviews, statements of objectives, or even their authority to make these changes. You know—basic programming practices.

And while I’m on a roll—if I wrote a story about henchmen for an egocentric supervillain taking over government computers simply by walking in and making threats, no one would believe it. But that’s exactly what’s happening.

Musk has zero official authority, yet his team walks in and takes over government systems. Unbelievable.

And that is what should be the subject of a congressional hearing. Did agency staff verify credentials? Did they verify authority? Were guns involved? I wasn’t there, but this reeks of a massive security failure. It’s like me walking into a bank and saying, “Trump had an accident down the street and needs cash right now—empty the tills into this bag.”

What do you think would happen to me? Maybe if I had an audio recording of Trump ordering it, they’d take me more seriously.

The lawsuits are starting to pile up—good. But meanwhile, Musk and Trump are ignoring them and continuing to do whatever they please. And that is very bad for all of us.

By the time the courts catch up, the agencies will be gutted, the signs torn down, and the buildings abandoned. Hard to argue that an agency has a right to exist when there’s nothing left of it.

At this rate, Canada and Mexico might be picking up new provinces at the upcoming fire sale.

And I promise—this is my last political post of the year. I’ve decided to come out of my comfort zone and joined Bluesky, bsalt127.bsky.social. I’ll express my political feelings on that platform.  I’m putting this on Opinionbypen because at this rate, it might soon be illegal to express any opinions that don’t echo Trump’s.

Update 2/8/25: During a poorly scripted performance on X, Trump, Musk and Vance all agreed that Marko Elez should be forgiven and brought back. I could not understand why they would take this effort until I realized he was one of one two staffers approved for access. Having to go to through another judge to approve a different staffer might not go well.

© 2025, Byron Seastrunk. All rights reserved.