Jonathan Swan

Trump didn't say a bad word about Putin, and all of his criticisms seemed directed towards Zelensky.

Trump didn't say a bad word about Putin, and all of his criticisms seemed directed towards Zelensky.

Trump didn't say a bad word about Putin, and all of his criticisms seemed directed towards Zelensky.

Yes, his power is extraordinary. He effectively is unaccountable. Donald Trump has fully empowered him to roam across the federal government, get inside the pipes of the federal government, look at the payment systems and the databases to embed inside these agencies. Right. So this is not some...

Yes, his power is extraordinary. He effectively is unaccountable. Donald Trump has fully empowered him to roam across the federal government, get inside the pipes of the federal government, look at the payment systems and the databases to embed inside these agencies. Right. So this is not some...

chin-stroking professor doing an analysis of government from the outside and, you know, let me sit down at my table and write you some recommendations. You know, Walter Isaacson wrote a biography about Elon Musk where people who know him talk about, quote-unquote, demon mode, which he goes into, which is this sort of manic energy, staying up all night, sleeping on the floor of the factory. He's

chin-stroking professor doing an analysis of government from the outside and, you know, let me sit down at my table and write you some recommendations. You know, Walter Isaacson wrote a biography about Elon Musk where people who know him talk about, quote-unquote, demon mode, which he goes into, which is this sort of manic energy, staying up all night, sleeping on the floor of the factory. He's

Twitter, setting unrealistic deadlines, doing mass layoffs because he thinks stuff aren't hardcore enough. He's effectively trying to do that to the federal government. His team have moved beds into agency offices. He has an office space in the West Wing. And he also has been working out of this opulent Secretary of War suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office building.

Twitter, setting unrealistic deadlines, doing mass layoffs because he thinks stuff aren't hardcore enough. He's effectively trying to do that to the federal government. His team have moved beds into agency offices. He has an office space in the West Wing. And he also has been working out of this opulent Secretary of War suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office building.

And he's brought with him this cohort from Silicon Valley, people who've worked for him at Tesla and SpaceX, and he's installed them in some of the most important parts of government. So this is Elon Musk getting his hands into government, doing what he's done at these companies. And remember, we should say he's been in the private sector, probably the singular entrepreneur, of our lifetime.

And he's brought with him this cohort from Silicon Valley, people who've worked for him at Tesla and SpaceX, and he's installed them in some of the most important parts of government. So this is Elon Musk getting his hands into government, doing what he's done at these companies. And remember, we should say he's been in the private sector, probably the singular entrepreneur, of our lifetime.

But if you understand what he's done with his business, he is marked by incredible risk-taking, extreme risk-taking, and a willingness to, if he or his employees consider regulations or laws to be quote-unquote dumb, he pushes them, and particularly at SpaceX, to defy those regulations, just do it anyway. And If people want to sue, so be it.

But if you understand what he's done with his business, he is marked by incredible risk-taking, extreme risk-taking, and a willingness to, if he or his employees consider regulations or laws to be quote-unquote dumb, he pushes them, and particularly at SpaceX, to defy those regulations, just do it anyway. And If people want to sue, so be it.

If it gets to the mission of what he's trying to accomplish, we're seeing that kind of approach inside government right now.

If it gets to the mission of what he's trying to accomplish, we're seeing that kind of approach inside government right now.

Well, the first sign of Musk and his team moving into government, the first physical sign, was literally right after Trump's inauguration, the day after, workers in the Eisenhower Executive Office building, which is the big building next to the West Wing, they show up to work, and this building houses some operations for the United States Digital Service.

Well, the first sign of Musk and his team moving into government, the first physical sign, was literally right after Trump's inauguration, the day after, workers in the Eisenhower Executive Office building, which is the big building next to the West Wing, they show up to work, and this building houses some operations for the United States Digital Service.

This is an operation that was set up in 2014 to fix the federal government's online services. And they find a sticky note saying, Doge... D-O-G-E on a door to a suite that was once used as a workspace.

This is an operation that was set up in 2014 to fix the federal government's online services. And they find a sticky note saying, Doge... D-O-G-E on a door to a suite that was once used as a workspace.

Yeah, literally a sticky note on the door saying Doge. And this used to be a workspace for senior technologists at the agency. And inside there were these black backpacks that were strewed about. You had these young engineers, many of them in their 20s.