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      If Elon Musk Were Empathetic

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      This is the story of two immensely talented sons of Africa who each migrated to America and thrived. One you’ve heard of: Elon Musk. The other, Valentino Achak Deng, was a “lost boy” from Sudan who survived massacres, lions and crocodiles and moved to Atlanta as a refugee.Musk and Deng have since gone in opposite directions.Born in South Africa, Musk has proved himself one of the great tech entrepreneurs in history, with remarkable achievements in rockets, electric vehicles, brain implants and satellite internet. Yet Musk has warned that “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,” and by demolishing the United States Agency for International Development he is now destroying the lives of many impoverished children on the continent where he grew up.Valentino, an old friend of mine, is the opposite, for his traumas have left him exuding empathy. I admire Musk’s genius, but I wish it were leavened by Valentino’s selflessness.Valentino AchakMalin Fezehai for The New York TimesSo I came here to the remote town of Aweil in South Sudan to see what can be learned from Valentino. Maybe, just maybe, Musk will read this and appreciate that the measure of a man is less his net worth than his net humanity.Valentino’s odyssey began when he was 7 and a Sudanese militia raided his village, forcing him to flee for his life. Losing all contact with his family, surviving by eating leaves and animal carcasses, he spent five years dodging bullets and land mines. Eventually, he reached a Kenyan refugee camp, where he says he made a pact with God: If you let me get to America, I will use those connections to help my country.

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      The Second Trump Administration Is About Ideology, Not Oligarchy

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      The Democrats, casting about for an anti-Trump narrative, have found a word: “oligarchy.” It was part of Joe Biden’s farewell address; it’s central to Senator Bernie Sanders’s barnstorming; it shows up in the advice given by ex-Obama hands. It aspires to fold together President Trump’s self-enrichment, Elon Musk’s outsize influence, the image of Silicon Valley big shots at the inauguration with a familiar Democratic criticism of the G.O.P. as the party of the superrich.I don’t want to pass premature judgment on its rhetorical effectiveness. But as a narrative for actually understanding the second Trump administration, the language of “oligarchy” obscures more than it reveals. It suggests a vision of Trumpism in which billionaires and big corporations are calling the shots. And certainly, the promise of some familiar Republican agenda items — like deregulation and business tax cuts — fits that script.But where Trump’s most disruptive and controversial policies are concerned, much of what one might call the American oligarchy is indifferent, skeptical or fiercely opposed.Start with the crusade against wokeness and D.E.I., a fight spreading beyond the federal bureaucracy to everything (state policymaking, university hiring) influenced by federal funding. Is this a central oligarchic agenda item? Not exactly. Sure, some corporate honchos were weary of activist demands and welcomed the rightward shift. But before the revolts that began with politicians like Ron DeSantis and activists like Christopher Rufo, the corporate oligarchy was an ally or agent of the Great Awokening, either accepting new progressivism’s strictures as the price of doing business or actively encouraging D.E.I. as both a managerial and a commercial strategy.Capital, in other words, is flexible. It can be woke or unwoke, depending on the prevailing winds, and it will adapt again if anti-D.E.I. sentiment goes away.Next, consider Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, with its frantic quest to slash contracts, grants and head counts at government agencies. Is this oligarchy? No doubt some corporations stand ready to fill spaces left open by the public-sector retreat. But the American corporate sector as a whole is deeply enmeshed with governmental contracting, heavily invested in public-private partnerships, accustomed to cozy lobbying relationships and eager to take advantage of government largess.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Why the Pentagon Scuttled Its Briefing of Elon Musk on China War Plans

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      “You wouldn’t show it to a businessman,” President Trump said in denying that Elon Musk was to be briefed on top-secret plans in the event of war with China.Over the past 24 hours, my colleagues’ report that Elon Musk was set to be briefed on the military’s top-secret plans in the event of war with China has shaken Washington. It even seemed to take President Trump by surprise.Musk’s planned visit to a secure room in the Pentagon was called off after The Times published its article on the visit, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.This morning, Trump denied the briefing had been planned. But he also made clear that he thought Musk should not have access to such war plans.“Certainly, you wouldn’t show it to a businessman who is helping us so much,” Trump said. He added, “Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible perhaps to that.”I called Eric Schmitt, a Times national security reporter, who kindly stepped into one of the few Pentagon hallways where you can actually get cell service, and asked him to bring us up to speed.JB: Let’s start at the beginning. What did you learn yesterday about what was originally planned?ES: The Pentagon was scheduled to give a briefing to Musk this morning on the classified war plan for China. We were told it was going to be in this secure conference room called the Tank, which is typically where you’ll have very high-level military briefings with members of the Joint Chiefs or senior commanders. The idea that a civilian like Elon Musk, who’s not in the chain of command, would be getting any briefing in the Tank — much less on highly sensitive war plans for China — was certainly unusual, and it was alarming to some people.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Musk Set to Get Access to Top-Secret U.S. Plan for Potential War With China

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      The Pentagon is scheduled on Friday to brief Elon Musk on the U.S. military’s plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said on Thursday.Another official said the briefing will be China focused, without providing additional details. A fourth official confirmed Mr. Musk was to be at the Pentagon on Friday, but offered no details.Providing Mr. Musk access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets would be a dramatic expansion of his already extensive role as an adviser to President Trump and leader of his effort to slash spending and purge the government of people and policies they oppose.It would also bring into sharp relief the questions about Mr. Musk’s conflicts of interest as he ranges widely across the federal bureaucracy while continuing to run businesses that are major government contractors. In this case, Mr. Musk, the billionaire chief executive of both SpaceX and Tesla, is a leading supplier to the Pentagon and has extensive financial interests in China.Pentagon war plans, known in military jargon as O-plans or operational plans, are among the military’s most closely guarded secrets. If a foreign country were to learn how the United States planned to fight a war against them, it could reinforce its defenses and address its weaknesses, making the plans far less likely to succeed.The top-secret briefing for the China war plan has about 20 to 30 slides that lay out how the United States would fight such a conflict. It covers the plan beginning with the indications and warning of a threat from China to various options on what Chinese targets to hit, over what time period, that would be presented to Mr. Trump for decisions, according to officials with knowledge of the plan.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Musk Offers $100 to Wisconsin Voters, Bringing Back a Controversial Tactic

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      By offering cash to voters who sign a petition opposing “activist judges,” Elon Musk’s super PAC can help identify conservative voters in a race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.Elon Musk is bringing back his most controversial gambit from the 2024 presidential election: paying voters as part of a plan to identify and turn out conservative-leaning ones.The super PAC that Mr. Musk founded to funnel his fortune into Republican causes, America PAC, said on Thursday that it was offering $100 to registered voters in Wisconsin who sign a petition “in opposition to activist judges” or refer others to sign it. Mr. Musk has been using the group to spend millions of dollars to elect a conservative candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an April 1 election.The petition reads: “Judges should interpret laws as written, not rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas. By signing below, I’m rejecting the actions of activist judges who impose their own views and demanding a judiciary that respects its role — interpreting, not legislating.”The purpose of the petition is multifaceted: Drive attention from the news media, increase awareness and voter registration among conservative voters, and help America PAC collect data on the most energized Wisconsinites who are likely to turn out for the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel. Mr. Musk carried out a nearly identical maneuver in battleground states before the November election, generating significant legal and political debate.The Philadelphia district attorney sued to stop the distribution of those lottery-style payouts, which went up to $1 million to voters who signed a document in support of the First Amendment. But the day before Election Day, a Pennsylvania judge declined to halt the sweepstakes.America PAC’s revival of the use of petitions, and the wording of its new document in Wisconsin, reveal two of Mr. Musk’s priorities as he wields wide power in Washington.The first is his focus on the court election in Wisconsin, which could swing control of the state’s top judicial body back to conservatives after liberals won a major victory there in 2023. Mr. Musk’s super PAC and an allied nonprofit group have spent over $11 million to try to elect Judge Schimel, which would again push the battleground state rightward on issues like redistricting and abortion rights.Mr. Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has also sued Wisconsin to challenge a state law prohibiting manufacturers from owning dealerships. In January, eight days after Tesla filed the suit, Mr. Musk wrote on X, “Very important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud.”The second is Mr. Musk’s budding obsession with removing judges he sees as thwarting President Trump’s agenda. He posts daily on X about his frustrations with the federal judiciary, and the refreshed language of the new petition points to that focus.But despite the petition from Mr. Musk’s group denouncing judges who are openly political, there are few doubts about where the loyalties of his preferred candidate in Wisconsin lie: Judge Schimel is a longtime defender of Mr. Trump who dressed up as the president last Halloween. More

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      On Its Website, DOGE Deletes More Than 100 Government Leases It Said Were Canceled

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      Elon Musk’s cost-cutting group dropped its total purported savings from eliminating federal office space after losing some battles within the Trump administration.Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday sharply cut back the number of federal real estate leases it claimed to have terminated, signaling that the group is losing at least some internal battles to get rid of government office space.For weeks, Mr. Musk’s group said on its website that it had terminated more than 700 leases, and saved more than $460 million in the process.But around 1 a.m. Wednesday, the group eliminated references to 136 of those cancellations. That reduced its savings by $140 million, or almost 30 percent of the total for lease cancellations it had claimed a day earlier.Mr. Musk’s team did not give a reason for the changes. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.The deletions appeared to reflect a new dynamic within the Trump administration: Some federal agencies had taken on DOGE and seemed to have won, preserving office space that Mr. Musk’s group said they had to give up. Last week, the General Services Administration, an agency that oversees the federal real estate portfolio, said it was rescinding more than 100 lease terminations notices.In many cases, the reasons behind the reversals were unclear. G.S.A. officials said they walked back some terminations because of “feedback from customer agencies.” But in some instances, lawmakers and agency officials said they had pushed back on the cuts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Food Safety Jeopardized by Onslaught of Funding and Staff Cuts

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      The Trump administration halted some food testing and shut down a committee studying bacteria in infant formula. Earlier funding cutbacks under the Biden administration now threaten state labs and inspectors.In the last few years, foodborne pathogens have had devastating consequences that alarmed the public. Bacteria in infant formula sickened babies. Deli meat ridden with listeria killed 10 people and led to 60 hospitalizations in 19 states. Lead-laden applesauce pouches poisoned young children.In each outbreak, state and federal officials connected the dots from each sick person to a tainted product and ensured the recalled food was pulled off the shelves.Some of those employees and their specific roles in ending outbreaks are now threatened by Trump administration measures to increase government efficiency, which come on top of cuts already being made by the Food and Drug Administration’s chronically underfunded food division.Like the food safety system itself, the cutbacks and new administrative hurdles are spread across an array of federal and state agencies.At the Food and Drug Administration, freezes on government credit card spending ordered by the Trump administration have impeded staff members from buying food to perform routine tests for deadly bacteria. In states, a $34 million cut by the F.D.A. could reduce the number of employees who ensure that tainted products — like tin pouches of lead-laden applesauce sold in 2023 — are tested in labs and taken off store shelves. F.D.A. staff members are also bracing for further Trump administration personnel reductions.And at the Agriculture Department, a committee studying deadly bacteria was recently disbanded, even as it was developing advice on how to better target pathogens that can shut down the kidneys. Committee members were also devising an education plan for new parents on bacteria that can live in powdered infant formula. “Further work on your report and recommendations will be prohibited,” read a Trump administration email to the committee members.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Pam Bondi Calls Tesla Vandalism ‘Domestic Terrorism,’ Promising Consequences

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      Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday labeled a recent spate of attacks on Tesla dealerships across the country as acts of “domestic terrorism” directed at Elon Musk, as Trump allies have pressured the Justice Department to take aggressive action.In recent weeks, vandals in apparent protest of Mr. Musk’s polarizing efforts to drastically shrink the federal government and fire government workers have defaced or destroyed Tesla vehicles and damaged buildings in several cities. No serious injuries have been reported.Five more vehicles at a Tesla facility in Las Vegas were damaged on Tuesday in what the local authorities said was a targeted attack.“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism,” Ms. Bondi wrote in a statement. “We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”There is no federal domestic terrorism law, so those charged in the attacks would be charged under other federal statutes; Ms. Bondi did not specify what charges could be brought, but she said that if convicted, some of those accused could face sentences of at least five years in prison.Ms. Bondi’s remarks echoed President Trump’s labeling of the vandalism as terrorism. On Tuesday, he baselessly suggested in a Fox interview that the vandalism was paid for “by people very highly political on the left.”Congressional Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have pressured Ms. Bondi to call such attacks domestic terrorism — after successfully resisting efforts by Democrats in 2022 to pass legislation to counter the rise in activity by white supremacists and other far-right groups.Ms. Bondi supported Mr. Trump’s mass clemency for hundreds of his supporters who violently ransacked the U.S. Capitol, including some who assaulted police officers. The F.B.I. described those involved in the planning and perpetration of that attack as “domestic violent extremists,” whom they had previously identified in threat assessments.Several Tesla facilities have been targeted in the past several days.On Monday, police arrested a 26-year-old woman with spraypainting anti-Musk messages on the front windows of a Tesla facility in Buffalo Grove, Ill., on Friday. That same day vandals broke windows and defaced a dealership in the San Diego area with swastikas and slogans.The F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, working with the local police, are investigating vandalism of Cybertrucks at a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Mo., the F.B.I.’s Kansas City field office said in a statement posted to Facebook. An unknown attacker fired more than a dozen shots at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Ore., last week, damaging some of the vehicles and store windows. More