Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit
[flagged]
None?

> Advisors with unlimited power

Apparently they have the power to fire people, ignore access clearance rules, get full read/write (this was already confirmed and documented by multiple sources) access to data, terminate federal programs and agencies. Or at least there's no executive opposition to them trying to, so... in practice they do have the power. So far a few judges are still holding the ground, but we'll see how long that is allowed. Musk announced a few big changes as done before they were officially confirmed by Trump.

> and endless conflicts of interests

Musk practically leads the efforts to cut government spending while receiving government funding in defence and comms spending. And with weird procurement entires appearing https://www.ttnews.com/articles/armored-teslas-government Those are conflicts of interest.

> with zero obligation for transparency?

There are no obligations for transparency. The agencies being reviewed don't get a report of things to implement and we don't see any of the audit reports.

I get you may like how this unfolds, but denying it happens is weird.

loading story #43113951
This is the line the White House told us, but it contradicts what Musk and Trump themselves have said. It's also clear from their actions and social media posts that if Musk is merely advising, then Trump is rubber stamp approving whatever Musk tells him without any independent verification.
"Trump tends to echo the words of whomever last spoke to him, making direct access to him even more valuable" is what people said about him in 2016 [1]. Being his advisor is an incredibly powerful role, much more so than with most other government leaders

https://www.vox.com/2016/8/29/12691276/trump-believe-flop-fl...