Dear MoveOn member,
Ooooh, we are getting under Donald Trump’s skin!
After one week of our “Nobody Elected Elon” campaign, Trump has gone from saying, “Elon is doing a great job” to releasing an official statement that Musk has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions.”1,2
Kendall, getting Trump to dump Musk is a key step to saving programs like Head Start, cancer and Alzheimer’s research, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from his reckless rampage through our government.
That’s why we’ve posted these billboards outside of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, calling out Musk’s puppet-like control over Trump.
We know that Trump has the thinnest of skin. And he drops people like flies when he thinks they’re getting more of the spotlight. So we want to keep these billboards running as long as possible and also expand them to other key locations to keep driving a wedge between Trump and Musk.
Will you pitch in $5 a month to keep these “Who’s the Boss?” billboards up and running for as long as it takes and then keep fighting to stop Trump at every turn?
No, I’m sorry, I can’t make a monthly donation.
It’s hard to believe it’s only been a few weeks since Trump set Musk on the task of shutting down funding to critical social services, eliminating government staff who ensure the safety of everything from air travel to nuclear safety, and so much more.
And no matter what Trump’s memo about Musk not being in charge says, his actions speak very differently.
Musk has already admitted that his gang of hackers has accessed our most sensitive date—like Social Security numbers and bank accounts—through the Treasury Department.3
And he has axed so many programs, including these:
- The Department of Education’s tracking of learning outcomes and special education needs4
- The majority of work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which holds corporations accountable for taking advantage of us5
- Half of the funding for grants at the National Institutes of Health, affecting studies into new vaccines and cures for disease, such as Alzheimer’s6
- Hundreds of employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is charged with ensuring that commercial air travel is safe7
Meanwhile, Musk is milking the government for billions of dollars for his own companies.8
But the more that we call out Musk’s puppeteering of Trump, the more we upset Trump—and the more likely Trump will dump Musk. After Musk’s disastrous Oval Office press conference last week, the State Department backed off a plan to buy $400 million of armored Teslas.9 And now the White House is relegating Musk to “senior adviser” rather than DOGE director.10
If we keep the pressure on, we can get Trump to throw Musk out of the White House—and we can slow down the barrage of attacks on our lives, well-being, and livelihoods.
Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help keep the “Who’s the Boss?” billboards outside Mar-a-Lago up and running for as long as it takes and then keep fighting to stop Trump at every turn?
No, I’m sorry, I can’t make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–Toni, Olga, Amy, Amanda D., and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. “Trump says Elon Musk’s DOGE team ‘doing a great job,’ will look at slashing Pentagon spending,” New York Post, February 7, 2025
https://nypost.com/2025/02/07/us-news/trump-says-elon-musks-doge-team-doing-a-great-job-will-look-at-slashing-pentagon-spending/
2. “Who’s in charge of DOGE? Not Elon Musk, White House says,” Politico, February 17, 2025
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/17/doge-administrator-elon-musk-00204639
3. “DOGE and Elon Musk: The 5 biggest controversies (so far),” KTLA5, February 18, 2025
https://ktla.com/news/doge-and-elon-musk-the-5-biggest-controversies-so-far/
4. “Elon Musk’s DOGE has worked quickly to cut federal agencies. Here’s a list of what’s been targeted so far.” Business Insider, February 19, 2025
https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-agencies-musk-doge-targeted-list-2025-2
5. Ibid.
6. “NIH Budget Cuts Are the ‘Apocalypse of American Science,’ Experts Say,” Time, February 11, 2025
https://time.com/7216299/nih-budget-cuts-science-research-funding/
7. “Hundreds of FAA employees are let go as Trump’s mass layoffs continue,” NBC News, February 17, 2025
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/hundreds-faa-employees-let-go-trumps-mass-layoffs-continue-rcna192458
8. “Elon Musk’s Business Empire Scores Benefits Under Trump Shake-Up,” The New York Times, February 11, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/elon-musk-companies-conflicts.html
9. “State Department removes mention of ‘armored Teslas’ from its 2025 procurement list, replaces it with ‘armored electric vehicles,'” Business Insider, February 13, 2025
https://www.businessinsider.com/state-department-buy-400-million-worth-armored-teslas-2025-2
10. “Who’s in charge of DOGE? Not Elon Musk, White House says,” Politico, February 17, 2025
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/17/doge-administrator-elon-musk-00204639
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