Letter to Senator Merkley

Dear Senator Merkley,

In a time of great danger for America, we look to you for leadership. We ask you to convene a Senate caucus that can coordinate the public to defend democracy and the rule of law. 

Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s hackers indiscriminately dismissed federal employees and blocked funds from the Treasury, usurping Congress’ Constitutional authority. Last week, Donald Trump installed loyalists who had offered to do violence on his personal behalf at the FBI and the military, while firing military lawyers who could question unlawful orders. Both Musk and Trump have publicly considered defying the courts. Their power and lawlessness may lead them to instigate violence for political ends. They may intimidate civil servants, federal judges, elected officials, and ordinary Americans into doing their bidding. It is unclear how far they will go. We are not organized enough to fight back.

Democrats in Congress seem to be relying on the courts to block illegal actions, and on the voters to defeat the perpetrators. We are optimistic that courts and voters will indeed see things this way. But that may not be enough if Musk and Trump amass power quickly enough to outrace slow judicial procedures and then disrupt subsequent elections. Trump avoided punishment for tampering with Georgia’s elections in part by attaining Presidential power before the courts could act. Musk may think his vast wealth can keep him above American law.

America has suffered a catastrophic breakdown in the rule of law before. After the Compromise of 1877 withdrew federal troops from the former Confederacy, KKK-like groups began intimidating black voters. Though Mississippi had elected two black Senators between 1865 and 1877, the era of lynchings brutally ended black political equality. Southern states fell into many decades of racial segregation.

If Musk and Trump defy the courts, interfere with elections, or threaten public officials, a last line of defense will be civil society itself. People standing together behind proper legal authority and supporting those unlawfully threatened can stop even a coup. Isolated individuals can be coerced with violent threats. Coordinated groups can respond with unity and power to those who threaten their members. But while many are eager to fight back against Musk and Trump’s destructive schemes, there is no central node around which a network of citizens can coordinate. Senators would have the stature to attract allies throughout civil society, and to coordinate them in strategic harmony with official political power. 

Senator Merkley, we ask you to convene a caucus that can coordinate civil society to defend democracy and the rule of law. We understand that your immediate power over events is limited, with Democrats in the minority and Musk moving very fast. Even so, having the public coordinated around your leadership may help you solve yet unknown problems that will arise as events unfold. A little attention from you and colleagues will give the caucus strategic guidance and the legitimacy needed for broad support. We and others whose voices carry farther will be eager to follow. Musk and Trump can likely be deterred or defeated by a well-coordinated society ready to stand up against unlawful schemes. 

We look to you for leadership because of your extraordinary past achievements in political coordination. You led Democrats to win the Oregon state House in 2006, running a strong challenger against the Republican Speaker so that she had to fundraise for herself instead of her members. Then with a slim 31-29 majority, you passed all 12 items of the Democratic agenda by convincing your party to vote as a bloc. Over 16 years in the US Senate, you have led on countless issues from immigration to the filibuster. You have always been an expert at bringing people together, in your soft-spoken and thoughtful way.  

America needs your leadership now. Please coordinate us in defense of democracy and the rule of law.

Your fellow Americans,

Neil Sinhababu
[other names coming soon]

DOGE vs The World

On Monday, Democrats finally returned from the weekend and took aim at Elon Musk’s DOGE unit for hacking into federal computer systems at sites including Treasury and USAID. Chuck Schumer’s obsessive focus on tariff-driven inflation mercifully ended after Trump backed down from his trade war. This illustrates how Schumer is a serious downgrade from Harry Reid. But he’s finally focused on the problem. He gave a good floor speech laying out the problem and promising action.

The most immediately meaningful step of the day came from former Pomona philosophy major and current US Senator Brian Schatz: “Until and unless this brazenly authoritarian action is reversed and USAID is functional again, I will be placing a blanket hold on all of the Trump administration’s State Department nominees.” Cabinet-level appointees like Marco Rubio can’t be subject to holds, but this will block undersecretaries and other underlings. Last year I gave Schatz’ Leadership PAC $2500, so he’d have more money to buy influence in the caucus, and he’s using the power well.

Musk’s control of these computer systems can’t last long, because the collective power of the entities that don’t want him to have control is vast. Do the Detroit automakers and Musk’s tech industry rivals want the Tesla CEO controlling payment systems? The nation’s air traffic controllers received his job-threatening buyout offers the day before the DCA crash, and nobody associated with aviation can want further nudging from him. Whatever the Supreme Court may have been aiming to do in previous decisions, an AI-loving CEO who immediately started hacking all the government systems to get his way is likely too chaotic to serve those aims.

Many people are calling Musk’s action a coup, but it’s really more of a hack. If one of us somehow hacked into Treasury Department computer systems, that would be legally the same as what Musk and the DOGE team is doing. Congress has the power to determine how federal money is spent. Billionaire friends of the President do not, and no legal process has empowered Musk to do so. Whatever impunity the Supreme Court gave the President doesn’t apply to him. He can steal data and create massive disruptions by blocking payments, but that doesn’t change legal property rights. It just means he’s committing a giant crime.

Lawsuits to stop Musk are already filed, and more to punish him will likely appear soon. The Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have filed suit in to keep Musk out of the federal system. Trump can pardon Musk for crimes, but not for the vast civil liability he incurs from hacking into many people’s private data. A suit for data theft at the level of the entire US population could wipe out even Musk’s massive wealth.

For now he’s the richest man in the world. That combined with billionaire privilege and exceptionally powerful friends gives him powerful defenses against attack. But all that power is fragile. His money is dependent on the market continuing to price Tesla at exorbitant levels. His political connections depend on his relation to Trump, and if Trump decides he’s a political liability and turns on him it’s over.

Two stories of the last few years come to mind. Sam Bankman-Fried peaked in a similar way, and Musk has been even more flamboyant in his criminality. I wonder if Musk is taking dopamine reuptake inhibitors like SBF did – compulsive gambling and other risky behavior are potential side effects. There’s also Vladimir Putin, who followed his success in helping Trump win an election with a disastrous invasion of Ukraine. Men don’t need weird Bay Area research chemical to wreck themselves with mad gambles – yes-men and ludicrous power may be enough.