WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.960 I realized that I might be one or two liberal 2 00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:07.519 slash media freakouts late to this, But I want to 3 00:00:07.559 --> 00:00:11.000 talk a little bit about Elon Musk, the role he's playing, 4 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:16.280 and the sort of outrage over his position and stuff 5 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:23.440 he's doing. It seems clear that the Democrats have just 6 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:28.679 sort of settled on this as their big talking point. 7 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:32.119 Fear mongering about Elon Musk, talking about how terrible Elon 8 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:36.439 Musk is. That's the big talking point. And I feel 9 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:42.320 like it is symptomatic of the rudderless state of the 10 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:46.759 Democratic Party. They don't really have a true leader. They 11 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:52.520 don't really have particularly smart or intelligent or outside the 12 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:56.439 box messaging or thinking. All they have is sort of 13 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:02.759 the blob of millennial political concerts who did a terrible 14 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:07.760 job running the Biden and Harris campaigns, So they don't 15 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.200 really know where to turn. The country has taken sort 16 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:16.439 of this anti DEI turn, this anti trans ideology turn, 17 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:19.359 and it seems like the Democrats are not catching up. 18 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:22.920 Trump's approval numbers are actually pretty good. He's still sort 19 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:25.680 of in the honeymoon phase of his early presidency, and 20 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:27.120 I think a lot of the things that they are 21 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:33.680 most freaking out over early in the presidency the tariffs 22 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:38.480 controversy with Mexico and Canada that I just don't think 23 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:41.319 a lot of Trump voters really care that much about 24 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.400 or are very worried about. They're like, Okay, let's just 25 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:49.040 see where this goes. Tariffs are the kind of thing 26 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:57.879 that Washington people get really upset about, and probably it's 27 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:00.359 just not the kind of thing that I think phils 28 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.079 down to your average Joe to really get his engine 29 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:07.079 revved up about. So the fact that they were trying 30 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:08.159 to make this big stick. 31 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.120 How dare Trump attack our northern neighbors or Canada and 32 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:16.000 Mexico with these tariffs, which clearly Trump was using them 33 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.680 instrumentally at not as like actually wanting to use them. 34 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:22.719 You wanted to squeeze various kinds of concessions out of 35 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:30.039 Canada and Mexico for additional border security enhancements. He managed 36 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:32.800 to get some concessions. How significant, I'm not sure, but 37 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:36.599 he certainly got some concessions out of them for just 38 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:47.080 a one month delay in applying those tariffs. Anyway they 39 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.159 focused on, I think they focused on a lot of 40 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.879 things that are not really gonna resonate very much with 41 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:53.879 the electorate. As a whole, and I think Elon Musk 42 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.759 is one of those things. I just don't think Elon 43 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.919 Musk is that unpopular. He's disliked by Democrats right now, 44 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:04.120 but I don't know how much independence and moderates dislike him. 45 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:05.759 I think a lot of people actually kind of think 46 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:11.280 he's cool. You know, he's the CEO of the coolest car, 47 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.919 the hottest car company in America. He does all kinds 48 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:21.280 of weird stuff with space exploration. You know, he goes 49 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:24.240 on the Joe Rogan podcasts and smokes dubes. I think 50 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:26.520 a lot of people think he's cool. I don't like 51 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:30.520 the smoking dubes part, but I just don't the Democrats, 52 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:34.520 I think, have this sense that this evil billionaire is 53 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:40.199 taking over the government and doing these horrible things. Now, 54 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:43.000 let me sort of explain, because I think a lot 55 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.039 of people have this outrage of like Elon Musk has 56 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:50.520 no authority to cancel spending, blah blah blah. All right, 57 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.759 so let me kind of describe a literate little bit 58 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.400 what I think is the sort of theoretical structure of 59 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:02.280 what Musk is doing and et cetera. So Musk has 60 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:12.479 clearly been basically what happened was There is this entity 61 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:18.720 called the Executive Office of the President, the Executive Office 62 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:22.600 of the President of the United States. This is a 63 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:27.160 series of offices and agencies that support the work of 64 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:32.639 the president within the executive branch. So these are people 65 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:37.199 who directly assist and support the president's work as executive 66 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:45.199 sort of advisors. It includes things like the White House Office, 67 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.439 which is the staff who work directly with the president, 68 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:53.839 including West Wing staff, the National Security Council, the Homeland 69 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:58.839 Security Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Council 70 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:07.000 of Economic Advisors. Now, the head of the Executive Office 71 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:10.319 of the President is the White House Chief of Staff 72 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:15.759 in this case Susie Susie Biles or Susie Wiles. I 73 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:20.160 can't remember her name, Susie Wiles. There we go. So 74 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:30.000 this is Most of these positions are not treated as quote, 75 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:32.839 officers of the United States. Most of the people who 76 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:35.720 work in this are not officers of the United States, 77 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.040 meaning they don't themselves enforce any kind of law. They're 78 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:45.839 not tasked by the President with actually enforcing some aspect 79 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.639 of the law. They are not, as a result, subject 80 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:57.720 to confirmation by the Senate. There are a few exceptions 81 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:03.839 to this, So I believe the head of the Office 82 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:07.959 of Management and Budget is subject to confirmation by the 83 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:13.800 Senate couple maybe like one or two other officials. Let's see, I've. 84 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:13.959 Got a. 85 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:19.480 Reading through this. Yeah, the Director of the Office of 86 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:22.720 Management and Budget, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, 87 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:27.920 and the US Trade Representative. They are the few exceptions 88 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:31.360 to the rule that they are actually subject to Senate confirmation, 89 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:38.319 but no one else is. One of the offices within 90 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:44.199 the Executive Office of the President that was set up 91 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:46.759 under Barack Obama was this thing called the United States 92 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:52.720 Digital Service, and the idea of the United States Digital Service, 93 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:55.279 I think it was set up by Obama to try 94 00:06:55.319 --> 00:07:00.600 to improve government websites and stuff like that. Trump basically 95 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:04.600 took this and renamed it the Department of Government Efficiency. 96 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:09.079 Now that has led to some angst because the word 97 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:14.040 department has a certain meaning within the structure of the 98 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:19.759 executive branch. A department is usually a larger and more 99 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:24.600 significant division of the federal government created by congressional statute 100 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:32.920 that has a Senate confirmed secretary who is a member 101 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:37.120 of the President's cabinet. So the Department of Homeland Security, 102 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:41.199 the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense. 103 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:47.120 The Department of Government Efficiency that Elon Musk is running 104 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:50.319 is not like that. It was really only named that 105 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:57.120 as a joke acronym. This is Elon Musk's weird, kind 106 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:03.800 of dumb sense of humor. The phrase doge was some 107 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:08.399 kind of Internet slang joke that applied to certain kinds 108 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:12.160 of funny pictures of a dog that would say funny 109 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:16.079 things online. It got picked up by people sort of 110 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:18.839 in the tech universe. Elon Musk, for some reason, thinks 111 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:22.120 this is hilarious. He thought that it would therefore be 112 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:25.439 funny if he could be within the government doing stuff 113 00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:28.600 to help promote governmental efficiency. So I think he honest 114 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.199 to god, this is I think the reasoning behind this. 115 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:33.840 He thought, wouldn't it be funny if we named it 116 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:36.919 the Department of Government Efficiency and we called it doge 117 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:42.360 and like, actually have some entity within the federal government 118 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:47.799 named after this stupid online running gag joke of a 119 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:51.919 dog saying funny stupid things. All right, that's genuinely what's 120 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:54.320 going on. So the Department of Government Efficiency is not 121 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:57.799 an actual department like the Department of Health and Human Services, 122 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:05.080 The Department of State of Defense, the Department of Justice. 123 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.919 It is basically an office within the executive branch to 124 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.799 assist the president in doing his work. So that's an 125 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:19.000 important thing to realize in all of this. Musk is 126 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:22.399 in charge of this. This is an executive This is 127 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:27.039 a presidential thing. This is within the executive office of 128 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:32.639 the President, designed to help the president do his job. 129 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:39.919 None of the people within the Executive Office of the President, 130 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:42.840 other than maybe a couple of exceptions, like some of 131 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:46.080 the Senate confirmed people, possibly none of those people within 132 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:48.320 the Executive Office of the President are people who have 133 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:56.039 the authority of themselves to issue rules or make cuts 134 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:03.600 or things, or cut spending or anything like that. It 135 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:08.919 seems what Musk's role in all of this is, if 136 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.399 I'm understanding this correctly, I'm willing to be contradicted if 137 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:16.519 this is any if anything more arise happening. But basically, 138 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:21.679 what Musk is doing is this is a presidential advisor 139 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:28.039 who is being empowered by the president to have access 140 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:35.320 to different kinds of information about government spending. He's been 141 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:39.600 given access to Treasury information, and the president is the 142 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:44.120 head of the executive branch. He is able to give 143 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:51.480 Musk that kind of clearance access whatever. There are some 144 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:55.559 people getting upset. What business does Elon Musk have having 145 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:00.159 access to Treasury information? Well, he is a presidential advisor. 146 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.840 The president has the right to have access to anything 147 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:05.320 that's going on at the Department of the Treasury. If 148 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:08.480 the President wants to oversee things directly that's happening within 149 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:11.759 the Department of the Treasury, and he wants to task 150 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:17.080 an advisor, an Executive Office of the President advisor with 151 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:19.720 reviewing it and overseeing it, he has the authority to 152 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:20.039 do that. 153 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.519 Elon Musk is getting access to individual taxpayers or social 154 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:25.279 security numbers. 155 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:30.039 Okay, some other executive branch official has access to all 156 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:33.840 of our social security numbers who ultimately reports to the president. 157 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:40.960 The president can access those things. The President can task 158 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:44.879 Elon Musk and the other people that Musk has working 159 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:48.679 for him within this little office within the Executive Office 160 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:52.360 of the President. He can give them access to that 161 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:56.440 stuff in a way that I think makes theoretical con 162 00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:07.639 law sense constitutional law sense. Furthermore, I don't think Musk 163 00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:12.799 is single handedly able to affect any changes on his own. 164 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:17.559 All he can do is identify things and propose things 165 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.720 so that the president or the reve relevant head of 166 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:27.759 the relevant executive agency can authorize whatever freeze in spending 167 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:36.240 or cuts or laying off of staff happens. So, for example, 168 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:40.320 it appears that most of the people who work for 169 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:46.440 the United States Administration for International Development USAID, it looks 170 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:52.480 like most of those staff are being laid off. Elon 171 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:55.559 Musk doesn't have authority to do it. But if Elon 172 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.360 Musk is saying, hey, we're seeing that USAID is just 173 00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:03.440 a complete dumpster fire. So much of what's happening there 174 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:09.080 is wasteful, useless, advancing left wing causes, like we need 175 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.960 to just bring a halt to this entire operation and 176 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.559 just start over from scratch. He can propose that, but 177 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:21.440 I believe USAYED is under the State Department, Marco Rubio 178 00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:25.240 or whoever the relevant official there is would make that order, 179 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:35.240 or the President himself. So all of this is tied up. Now, 180 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.679 all of this is being framed by the Democrats as 181 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:43.600 an unelected billionaire Elon Musk is just doing what he wants. 182 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:50.120 Let's address this. There are only two people in the 183 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:56.120 executive branch who are actually elected, Donald Trump and JD. Vance. 184 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:59.960 That's it. Nobody else in the executive branch is elect 185 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.399 did The idea is that the president enforces the law, 186 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.159 and anyone else who's enforcing the law is there at 187 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:14.759 his pleasure, and the president is the lynchpin of accountability 188 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:19.279 for all those executive branch officials. Let's take Marco Rubio 189 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.559 as an example. You know what, Actually, I'm gonna save 190 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:23.519 this for the next segment because I want to go 191 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:27.559 into this. But this idea of Elon Musk is an unelected, 192 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:36.639 unaccountable lunatic. No, he's not unaccountable. The accountability is there 193 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:39.200 in the person of Donald Trump. And I'll explain that 194 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:40.960 when we return. This is the John Jrardy Show on 195 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:47.679 Power Talk. Elon Musk is an unelected, unaccountable billionaires running 196 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:51.159 a rough shot over the federal government to Oh, it's 197 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:54.320 terrible what he's doing, cutting all these programs. It's terrible. 198 00:14:54.360 --> 00:15:03.840 It's terrible. Is he unelected? Is he unaccountable? Musk's position 199 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:06.879 is as an advisor working within the Executive Office of 200 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:10.799 the President. As such, his only role is advising the President, 201 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:13.720 and in so far as the president wants him to 202 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:19.399 advising other executive branch departments, the president can grant him 203 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:21.399 access to the stuff the president wants to grant him 204 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:25.960 access to. If there are cuts in funding that the 205 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:28.279 president has the authority to make, or layoffs that the 206 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:31.440 president or some other executive branch official has authority to make. 207 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:35.159 Musk can recommend them, and the President can affect them, 208 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:42.120 effect them, make them be. But is he unaccountable? Is 209 00:15:42.200 --> 00:15:45.759 he unelected? All right, let's remember this is the point 210 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.919 I made at the n last segment. Literally, there are 211 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:52.080 only two people in the executive branch who are elected, 212 00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:58.080 the President and the vice president. That's it. Nobody else 213 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:00.720 in the executive branch is elected. Everyone else in the 214 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:09.360 executive branch is appointed by either the president or hired 215 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:12.000 by the president, or hired by someone who's hired by 216 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:13.759 someone who's sired by someone who's sired by someone who's 217 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:20.360 hired by the president. Nobody in the executive branch is elected. Okay, 218 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:25.559 but when you elect a president you get a decent 219 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.080 sense of all, right, well, he's going to appoint people 220 00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:31.919 who are like him, So no one's yelling and screaming 221 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.200 at Marco Rubio become the secretary becoming the Secretary of State. 222 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:39.399 Everyone kind of figured someone like Marco Rubio maybe even 223 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:42.240 Marco Rubio himself might very well be nominated to be 224 00:16:42.519 --> 00:16:45.320 the Secretary of State. We all knew what the deal 225 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.480 was electing Trump. He would elect someone with more Republican 226 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:53.559 leaning foreign policy. He picks Marco Rubio. Not not a 227 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:55.759 crazy thing. No one's looking at Marco Rubio as an 228 00:16:55.799 --> 00:17:03.120 illegitimate secretary of State. What I'd say, let me posit this. 229 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:08.440 Elon Musk was far more obviously going to be part 230 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:17.880 of the deal with Trump than Marco Rubio was. I mean, 231 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:21.200 we weren't exactly sure whom Trump was going to appoint 232 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:23.359 a secretary of State when he was elected. We only 233 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.920 learned it was Rubio at some point after the election. 234 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:30.359 Probably people were guessing that Rubio would have been one 235 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:32.119 of the candidates, but it wasn't. Really, It was not 236 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.400 confirmed before the election that that's what Trump would do. 237 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.960 Everyone knew Elon Musk was going to have a role 238 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:45.319 in the Trump administration starting in August of twenty twenty four. 239 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:47.559 August of twenty twenty four was the first time that 240 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:51.680 Trump came out during a rally and said, if I'm elected, 241 00:17:51.799 --> 00:17:53.680 I'm going to create this thing called the Department of 242 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:56.200 Government Efficiency and Elon Musk is going to be in 243 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.160 charge of it, and Elon Musk is going to try 244 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:00.720 to work for us to identify for all waste, et 245 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:08.240 cetera within federal spending. And everyone at the Trump rallies 246 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:15.880 Elon Musk. Sounds good. Everyone knew no executive branch official, 247 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:19.720 again other than the president is elected. But insofar as 248 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:22.640 like who's going to be part of the package of 249 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.960 electing Trump, everyone knew that Elon Musk was part of 250 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:30.880 the deal. And Trump won pretty handily, kicked Kamala Harris's butt. 251 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:36.599 He's elected president with everyone knowing. Everyone's clear that he's 252 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:40.680 gonna pick Elon Musk to run this government efficiency business. 253 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:47.680 You know, he wins the popular vote running on that basis. 254 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:54.799 So the idea this unaccounted and let me I'll address 255 00:18:54.839 --> 00:19:00.920 this the unaccountability side. Elon Musk is not accountable, Yeah, 256 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:09.279 he is. Every executive branch official has accountability. You know 257 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:13.119 what that accountability is. It's the fact that they are 258 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:16.200 serving at the pleasure of the president. The president has 259 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:23.920 to be politically accountable. President Trump knows that if any 260 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.839 of his executive branch officials perform badly are involved in scandal, 261 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:33.000 do things that are unpopular. Ultimately it redounds to him. 262 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:37.240 Ultimately it's gonna harm him his political standing, his ability 263 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:40.519 to get his agenda done, his and his party's ability 264 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:45.119 to win the twenty twenty six midterm elections, his or 265 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.960 his parties, or his vice president's ability to win the 266 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:55.480 twenty twenty eight presidential election. There is political accountability that's 267 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:59.359 at play for every single employee within the executive branch, 268 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.119 in the person and of their boss, who hired them, 269 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.720 who appointed them, and who lets them serve it as pleasure. 270 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:10.960 I mean, Trump could snap his fingers and tomorrow Elon Musk, 271 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:14.400 his whole Department of Government efficiency thing could be gone. 272 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:18.200 Elon could be kicked out. He can snap his fingers 273 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:24.640 and literally do that tomorrow. So this idea of like 274 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:34.119 this whole conception that Elon Musk is this unaccountable, out 275 00:20:34.119 --> 00:20:38.920 of control billionaire slashing fund. What authority does he have, Well, 276 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:41.880 he clearly he has the president's authority. That's what he has. 277 00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:47.000 He wasn't unelected in the sense I mean everyone again again, 278 00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:52.119 it was very clear to everybody when Trump was running 279 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:55.400 that Elon was going to be part of the deal, 280 00:20:57.400 --> 00:20:59.720 and that Elon was going to try to slash spending, 281 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:03.440 that Elon was going to try to identify wasteful government 282 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.799 employees who weren't doing anything to fire them like that 283 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:13.319 was all understood and Trump won on that basis, which 284 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:17.920 is why I kind of find it baffling that Democrats 285 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:20.799 think this is going to be like a really reliable 286 00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:23.920 talking point. Now, Am I going to agree with that 287 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:26.559 every single thing Elon Musk does. No, But I just 288 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:30.759 don't find there to be anything actually incorrect or wrong 289 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:35.119 theoretically structurally, as far as I can tell from a 290 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.319 constitutional law perspective, the theoretical structure of how the executive 291 00:21:38.359 --> 00:21:41.079 branch is supposed to work. I really just don't understand 292 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:45.599 the kind of Democrat horror. I mean, I understand the 293 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:50.200 Democrat horror he is knocking over these sacred cows that 294 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:56.519 Democrats have preserved, these babies that they have for influencing 295 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:58.240 the culture in all these left wing weights. I mean, 296 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:01.759 the freak out over USAID is is really, I think 297 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:07.759 disproportionate to the amount of actual impact that it has. 298 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:11.319 I mean, it gives some foreignade to some countries of 299 00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:15.640 dubious value in many many cases, but that was clearly 300 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:21.079 their baby and the fact that he's touching that. It 301 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:27.519 just has absolutely driven them completely insane. All Right, when 302 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:32.480 we return, the president is starting to face some legal 303 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:36.720 challenges to his and Musk's desires to fire and lay 304 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:41.000 off people. Why that should not be That is next 305 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:47.279 on the John Gerardi Show. A few days ago, a 306 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:53.359 large number of federal executive branch employees received an email 307 00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:59.640 that very similar that was clearly influenced by Elon Musk, 308 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:02.279 and it was very similarly patterned off of an email 309 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:05.680 that Musk sent to all of the employees at Twitter 310 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:10.799 shortly after he took over ownership of Twitter. It used 311 00:23:10.839 --> 00:23:13.680 the phrase fork in the road, and it basically said, Hey, 312 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:15.279 there's going to be a lot of changes that are 313 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:20.680 happening with your employment as an executive branch employee, as 314 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:23.519 a federal government employee. This is a fork in the road. 315 00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:26.400 If you want to resign, click the resign button or 316 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:28.880 say you want to resign, and you will give you 317 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:31.920 a severance package. Blah blah blah blah blah, no hard feelings. 318 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:37.359 If you want to stay, indicate that you want to stay. 319 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:43.359 And there's now a federal lawsuit that's being brought against 320 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:47.640 the federal government by the labor union that represents a 321 00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:50.799 lot of these federal employees, saying that such an action 322 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:55.599 violates federal law protections for workers' rights within for federal 323 00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:00.079 workers who work within the federal executive branch. And I 324 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:06.799 think this is going to start raising a really really 325 00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:11.680 significant point of constitutional law, some stuff with constitutional law 326 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:17.880 that I think our country has gotten wrong since since 327 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:25.200 the FDR era Supreme Court. And basically it's this idea 328 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:28.519 that the president is in charge of the executive branch, 329 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:33.799 but for some reason can't fire everyone he wants within 330 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:36.839 the executive branch. He doesn't actually have the ability to 331 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:46.960 control its personnel completely. So let's get into that when 332 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:53.200 let's look at a football team. Right. When a football team, 333 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:58.960 let's say, let's take the football team that's lost its 334 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:03.279 head coach and is hiring a new head coach. Right, Like, 335 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:07.240 let's take the Washington Commanders, all right. Ron Rivera was 336 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:12.000 the head coach of the Commanders. He gets fired. They 337 00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:15.160 bring in Dan Quinn, who's the new coach of the Commanders. 338 00:25:16.519 --> 00:25:21.359 Dan Quinn doesn't keep all of Ron Rivera's people. He 339 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:24.680 doesn't keep his offensive coordinator and his defensive coordinator and 340 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:26.960 his linebacker's coach, and his quartersback coach, and his strength 341 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:31.880 and conditioning coach, and this guy and this No, a 342 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:37.680 new administration comes in and you can't effectively be the 343 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:44.400 head coach without having control over the personnel. Having control 344 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:47.440 over the coaching personnel is essential. Like it would be 345 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:52.000 a really bizarre situation. How can I really effectively be 346 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:54.400 a head coach if I'm brought in to be the 347 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:56.359 head coach but I'm told no, no, no, you have to 348 00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:58.240 if the owner owner tells the guy, no, no no, you 349 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:02.680 have to keep all the same offensive defensive staff from 350 00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:07.759 the prior administration. The Cowboys tried to do this recently. 351 00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:13.640 They had when they brought in Mike McCarthy. They told him, well, 352 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:16.599 you can't fire our old offensive coordinator because Jerry Jones, 353 00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:20.920 the owner likes him. And that didn't last long. Basically, 354 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.799 that offensive coordinator ultimately wound up leaving Mike McCarthy wound 355 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:27.720 up kind of taking control over calling offensive plays. But 356 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:29.920 when you bring in a new if someone's gonna be 357 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:32.920 in charge, they need to have control over personnel. Personnel 358 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:36.279 is policy. You can't expect a bunch of people who 359 00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:39.559 fundamentally disagree with the policy you're trying to implement, to 360 00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:41.680 stay there and keep working for you and be effective. 361 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:46.599 And we've just sort of accepted this, like it's just 362 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:51.000 like an expectation. Like the media is like outraged at 363 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:55.240 the idea of Hey, the career A ton of the 364 00:26:55.240 --> 00:27:00.599 career employees of the federal government are very liberal, and 365 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:04.720 many of them stemied the work of Trump forty five. 366 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.880 And the press treats this as like, no, that was 367 00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:15.079 a good thing. The idea that the president would want 368 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:19.039 the executive branch to be filled with people who will 369 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:23.359 actually actively support his agenda and not slow roll his agenda. 370 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:27.240 It is seen by the left like there have been 371 00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:31.880 wild stories about how Trump, by wanting to fire all 372 00:27:31.880 --> 00:27:36.599 these executive officials is threatening the separation of powers. That 373 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:39.200 wasn't an actual story from the New York Times trying 374 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:43.400 to make that claim. No, that has nothing to do 375 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.200 with separation of powers. Separation of powers means that Congress 376 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:48.640 does its thing and the president does its thing. It 377 00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:52.160 has nothing to do with the president within the executive 378 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:58.119 branch of government picking his people. Because let's remember what 379 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:04.599 Article two says, the executive authority of the United States 380 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:10.039 of the federal government the authority to enforce the law 381 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:15.640 is vested in Article two of the Constitution in the president. 382 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:23.960 That's it. He's the only one. Everyone else involved in 383 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.680 enforcing the law. And I'm not just talking criminal law. 384 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:35.119 I'm talking about criminal law, environmental law, all of the 385 00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:38.039 enforcing tax law, enforcing this kind of loan for this 386 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:39.680 kind of regulatory law, this is kind of healthcare law. 387 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:45.240 This is the whole panoply of the alphabet soup of 388 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.240 the various executive agencies that are all tasked with enforcing 389 00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:51.039 some provision of law. The FDA, which is charged with 390 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:56.240 enforcing federal law relating to the regulation of food and drugs. 391 00:28:57.319 --> 00:28:59.640 That's an executive branch role. The head of the FDA 392 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:03.440 is all timately answerable to the president. Now, the problem is, 393 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:09.200 this is what happens administration to administration. A Republican administration 394 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:14.559 comes in. There are certain kinds of positions within the 395 00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:18.119 executive branch that are deemed political appointees, and then there 396 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:24.119 are others that are called career employees. The career employees 397 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.079 all stay, a lot of them are represented by a union. 398 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:33.400 So the president appoints all the top people, all the 399 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:37.680 political appointees, but they still have to work and do 400 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:40.279 the work of this agency with all the career employees. 401 00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:45.079