How Elon Musk set off two weeks of chaos across Washington

Elon Musk and his allies have spent the last two weeks barreling full speed into multiple government agencies, causing confusion and chaos and raising questions about whether an unelected businessman can wield this kind of authority, seemingly running roughshod over laws and programs set up by Congress.

Elon Musk and his allies have spent the last two weeks barreling full speed into multiple government agencies, causing confusion and chaos and raising questions about whether an unelected businessman can wield this kind of authority, seemingly running roughshod over laws and programs set up by Congress. Over the last several days, Musk-aligned personnel have gained full access to the Treasury’s payments system, threatened to shut down the US Agency for International Development, offered all federal employees a sort of “buyout” plan, and in several agencies, pushed aside career civil servants – in some cases locking them out of their offices or computers. Taken together, Musk’s moves represent an unprecedented effort to expand the power of the executive branch with little regard for laws or procedures – an effort Donald Trump foreshadowed during his successful 2024 campaign. Musk, the world’s richest man, has tens of billions of dollars in government contracts, and now, access to the innermost workings of the federal government. “I have a hard time thinking of anyone who has exerted the kind of power and control that he has exerted over government operations in the last week,” Kathleen Clark, a Washington University law professor who specializes in government ethics, told CNN. The question of whether Musk will comply with federal conflict-of-interest rules – and whether the Trump administration will enforce them – has drawn scrutiny from Democrats and watchdog groups. Multiple lawsuits are also underway, with more likely to come.