To form an official federal agency requires an act of Congress, such as the 2002 Homeland Security Act, which created the Department of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. While it remains to be seen whether the Republican-led Congress would create this department for Trump and his benefactor, that has not yet happened.
Certainly, based on his track record of promoting racist and conspiratorial content both personally and via his ownership of X, the new organization could give Musk a way to provoke attacks against federal civil servants. But at the moment, what Trump has announced for Musk and Ramaswamy is effectively a blue-ribbon commission.
A blue-ribbon commission is a time-honored Washington tradition that crosses party lines. An announcement is made of a panel of experts and the like to address some issue, garnering headlines and muting criticism on the topic. What effectively happens is the issue is tabled and some months or years later a report is issued when nobody is paying any attention and little changes.
There are already signs from within Trump world that Trump wants to get rid of his growing Musk problem. Politico is now reporting that insiders close to Trump believe Musk has “become almost a comical distraction,” citing his habit of “hanging around Mar-a-Lago” and sitting in on high level meetings and giving feedback nobody asked him for.
“Elon is getting a little big for his britches,” one Trump-affiliated source told the outlet.
Similarly, NBC News has reported that sources close to the Trump transition believe Musk’s presence has “begun to wear on people.”
“He’s behaving as if he’s a co-president and making sure everyone knows it,” the source told NBC.
By the same token, however, Musk put in hundreds of millions to elect Trump again and is likely aware of the access and power Trump has traditionally given his elite donors in the past. He is just the latest to step up to the trough.
Trump loves a good show, particularly when it can steer media coverage in the direction he prefers. He has staged events over and over making grand proclamations which turned out to be nonsense. The announcement of Musk’s new fake department fits flawlessly in that mold, and it appears perfectly worded to put Musk in his place.
But will the billionaire sugar daddy get the message?
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