Musk S Slash And Burn Tactics Won T Work For America

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As feared, Donald Trump is sending shockwaves through US politics, the global economy and international relations, with the reverberations being felt around the world.
I’m actually surprised at the enthusiasm for him shown by many Americans, and others elsewhere, including Malaysians.
I even read on social media a local feller saying he’d take a bullet for Trump! I wouldn’t take a bullet for anybody, save perhaps my family, and then only in my back because I was running away.
But the stark polarisation of the American public is proving to be a feature, and not a bug, of us humans.
The US faces major demographic changes, becoming less white and less Christian through immigration, higher birth rates among the non-whites and an increasingly less religious population.
They face major economic issues: short term ones caused by wars and pandemics, and longer-term ones of being uncompetitive in job-creating sectors such as manufacturing, even as they dominate finance, social media, online business and artificial intelligence.
But underneath it all lies a deep-seated racism that the US had never fully exorcised. That explains a lot of what’s happening, and is also becoming less and less hidden among many Americans.
Enter the Musk factor
On top of these, there’s a new factor in play: Elon Musk. If anybody on earth can be even more unpredictable than Trump, Musk is that person.
He’s running the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which initials are itself a play on a popular internet meme as well as one of the crypto currencies.
All of these are very on-brand for Musk.
Within weeks he has eviscerated the USAid agency, which channels over US$40 billion to many causes in the world, from internet connection for the Ukraine military (by paying Musk for his Starlink services) to supplying medicines for millions of HIV patients in Africa.
I wouldn’t be surprised if USAid does indeed pay for some of the programmes conservatives hate – perhaps something on DEI or transgender or family planning somewhere in the world.
The agency, just like the transgender issue – this in spite of America’s NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) saying at most only about 10 amongst the 510,000 college athletes are transgender – have become the punching bags for conservatives.
Hatred of government
What’s becoming clear is the conservatives’ guttural hatred towards any form of government at all. Many are actually cheering at the dismantling of the US federal government.
It’s easy to claim – without offering proof – that agencies such as USAid are manipulated by liberal politics. It’s becoming clear, however, that conservative ideology is the real driving force for its destruction.
USAid’s biggest sin is that it represents America reaching out to the world. In the “America First” era, anything that says America ought to care about the rest of the world is sacrilege.
The plan was to bring a “business mindset”, such as Musk’s, into the government.
The cutting, slashing and unsubstantiated allegations of corruption, crimes and waste, are typical ploys from the Muskian playbooks, as seen before in his acquisition and running of Twitter, now renamed X.
More heads to roll
Next in the firing line are agencies such as those protecting consumers from big banks, as well as those conducting science on climate change – yet another evil in the worldview of the conservatives.
The “business mindset” approach of running the government – the idea that ruthless business tycoons can bring about efficiency and savings – sounds very attractive and alluring especially to other business tycoons, or their many wanna-bes.
Will this work for America? We shall see, but my money is on No.
First, USAid isn’t a charity – it has strategic objectives to sell America’s soft power to the world, amid other soft power competitors such as the old USSR or the current People’s Republic of China.
You can liken it to America’s marketing department. Many companies facing financial troubles often gut their marketing budget first, because that’s the easiest step. But often this also guarantees to bring about the demise of those companies.
Investing in the future
Practical issues aside – listening posts all over the world, tracking of diseases and refugees etc – USAid and similar efforts by earlier US administrations, from the Marshall Plan to help the recovery of Europe after WW2 to the establishment of international institutions and treaties, showed an optimistic, forward-thinking America willing to invest in its future by investing in others too.
That’s certainly a factor in the collapse of its principal adversary the USSR in the Cold War, and its rise to become the most powerful military and economic superpower post WW2.
That’s not the America of today. Today we see an angry nation lashing out at real or perceived enemies and destroying long-standing alliances and norms that were often created by America itself.
It seems the rest of the world are the culprits for what went wrong in the US – its opioid addiction, its hollowed-out manufacturing base, its issues with immigration, its national debt and trade deficits etc.
Everything, it seems, except for the gun violence epidemic there.
The business of government
But why won’t it succeed? Because a government is not a business. While they share some processes, their goals are different. Businesses are out to make profits for their owners, fighting their competitors in an often zero-sum game.
Businesses prioritise who they serve: those with money.
Government, however, is society’s safety net for the well-being, security or health of those who have little or no money. Governments should never turn anyone away from hospitals or schools just because they’re poor.
The current extreme form of capitalism – that government should exist to serve the rich – has been called end-stage capitalism. If it’s indeed so, expect to see a huge backlash from those now on the losing end: the common people.
There’ll be a modern version of the French or Russian Revolutions soon.
Another reason for saying no is history. The principal barely-hidden goal of cutting down government spending on the “losers” (the poor, the marginalised and the foreigners) is to allow for tax cuts for the “winners” – the rich.
Price of ideology
The last tax cuts during Trump’s first presidency cost the US national debt to balloon almost US$8 trillion in the largest growth as a percentage of the GDP not during war times.
So, claims about fiscal responsibilities are just disingenuous. The rich want to get richer now, and they aren’t worried about the future, because they expect to get even richer still.
As for the poor? The marginalised? The foreigners? Well, if they’re poor (or marginalised, or foreign) then it’s their fault! Work harder! Sacrifice more! Make better life choices! Or go back to your own countries!
I can see how these tropes can be very attractive to Malaysia’s own masters-of-the-universe types, whether captains of industries or politicians, many of whom fancy themselves as Elon Musk, tearing through lazy bureaucrats and slashing costs everywhere.
We’ll see how things play out in the US. But I hope common sense prevails in Malaysia. We certainly must do what’s necessary to trim expenses and improve efficiency and effectiveness, without descending into hate and mean-spiritedness.
Or else this will just leave many members of society in an even worse position, while their “leaders” – the thrashers and the slashers – get away with a fatter bank account. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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