Corrupt Crony Capitalism: Elon Musk's Fingerprints Are All Over Trump's Project 2025 Radical Dismantling

New Commercial Space Program Would Funnel Billions To Musk

• Abolish NOAA, Eliminate Climate Science, Privatize National Weather Service

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. ~~~ FDR “Message to Congress On Curbing Monopolies” (1938)

[Update: 6/1/25 - hahahaha! We told you so!

• Trump to Withdraw Musk’s Ally as Nominee for Top NASA Job

[Update: 3/5/25 - again, we're way out in front of the stop. See:

• Elon Musk’s Next Potential Self-Enrichment

I admit that I have not read the entire 1,000 page Project 2025 document.

In focusing on the chapters on Executive Power, the EPA, and the Department of the Interior, I've missed a lot. A whole lot.

Absolutely insane stuff like this - and this was written by one of the so called "policy experts" who are writing the Executive Orders and proposed regulations Trump will issue on Day One:

Chapter 21 - Department of Commerce:

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories. (p. 664)

The National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is housed in the Department of Commerce. NOAA's work includes incredibly critical climate science, ocean science, fisheries, and the national weather service.

So today we highlight the truly insane recommendations on NOAA.

But buried in the ruins of the dismantling Project, there are some programs that need to be expanded. Guess which ones?

Elevate the Office of Space Commerce. The Office of Space Commerce is the executive branch advocate on behalf of the U.S. commercial space industry. This office should be the vehicle for a new Administration to set a robust and unified whole-of-government commercial space policy that cements U.S. leadership in one of the most crucial industries of the future. (p. 677)

The expanded Office of Space Commerce just so happens to fit nicely within another major new government program: (Department of Defense, p. 117)

U.S. SPACE FORCE

U.S. space forces conduct global space operations to sustain and enhance air, land, and sea effectiveness, lethality, and superiority by providing secure broad-band global communications (precision position, navigation, and timing accuracy);attack warning and threat tracking and targeting capability (real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance information); and their assured continuity of operations both by defending U.S. assets and by conducting offensive operations that are capable of imposing unacceptable losses on adversaries that might seek to attack them.

The Intelligence Community (p.229):

The Importance of Space. With China developing increasingly capable space and counterspace technologies and Russia taking more aggressive action in space, space has emerged as the latest warfighting domain

The common thread of these programs is billions of taxpayer dollars to Elon Musk's Space X and related data, infrastructure, AI, and software support services.

There could not be a better example of the totally corrupt crony capitalism model that will operate under a Trump Administration: Dismantle, deregulate, and privatize government, while transferring taxpayer money to the Oligarchs and corporations.

The NOAA dismantling recommendations rise to the level of juvenile insanity. A few examples reveal their ideological agenda:

Policy

Ensure senior policy and decision-making positions are always held by political appointees. (p. 668)

NOAA is smeared as a driver of the "climate change alarm industry":

Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. (p. 675)

NOAA science and information services, like the National Weather Service and critical tasks like storm and flood warnings, should be eliminated and privatized:

NOAA today boasts that it is a provider of environmental information services, a provider of environmental stewardship services, and a leader in applied scientific research. Each of these functions could be provided commercially, likely at lower cost and higher quality.

More gems: (read the full Chapter for details)

• The NWS provides data the private companies use and should focus on its
  data-gathering services. Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS
  should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.

• Review the Work of the National Hurricane Center and the National
  Environmental Satellite Service

• Streamline NMFS.

• Harmonize the Magnuson–Stevens Act with the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.

• Withdraw the 30x30 Executive Order and Associated America the Beautiful Initiative.

• Modify Regulations Implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the
  Endangered Species Act

• Allow a NEPA Exemption for Fisheries Actions

• Downsize the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

And they pull no punches and make no bones about it, making it perfectly clear that political hacks will over-ride science:

Ensure Appointees Agree with Administration Aims. Scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an Administration’s aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with Administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area.

Advisory Committees. Due to the nature of the Department of Commerce’s portfolio, many of its advisory committees are populated by activists from organizations openly hostile to conservative principles who use the committees to impede conservative policy. Upon entering office, all such committees should be reviewed regarding whether they are required by statute and abolished if they are not. Membership of the remaining committees should be reconstituted to ensure they are sources of genuine expert advice and productive contributions to the policy-making process. Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) compliance and awareness of any ways the committees have been written into regulations should be considered.

The corrupt program and policy agenda is a disaster for climate, weather, oceans, fisheries, scientific integrity and honest information and government services the American people rely on on a daily basis.

(And you can't just get an App for that)

It must be stopped.