The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup As the world's richest man seizes control of government agencies, mainstream outlets are treating it like standard political news Parker Molloy Feb 3 In the past two weeks, Elon Musk — a man no one elected to any office — has gained unprecedented access to Social Security payment systems, fired thousands of federal workers, shuttered entire agencies, and installed his loyalists throughout the government. If this were happening in any other country, we'd call it what it is: a coup. The Present Age is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Yet mainstream media outlets continue treating this as just another story about government reorganization. The Associated Press matter-of-factly reports that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has "gained access to sensitive Treasury data," as though this were a routine administrative development rather than an unelected billionaire seizing control of the mechanisms that deliver Social Security checks to elderly Americans. Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP Even NPR treats this as a standard political restructuring. Their Morning Edition coverage frames the dismantling of USAID as Trump "seeking to remake the federal government" — as though this were a typical administration reorganization rather than an unelected billionaire declaring he's shutting down a congressionally established agency. When Musk announces on his own social media platform that he's eliminating a federal agency, NPR presents it as a policy dispute rather than what it is: an unprecedented seizure of power by someone with no constitutional authority to make these decisions. The interview questions focus on procedural details while skating past the fundamental question of how Musk acquired this authority in the first place. This isn't normal government operation; it's a hostile takeover. At USAID, Musk's allies have fired senior civil servants with decades of experience, removed the agency's flag, and even taken down its memorial wall honoring those who died in service, according to an anonymous agency employee writing in Rolling Stone. The message is clear: this isn't about government efficiency, it's about power. The playbook should be familiar to anyone who watched Musk's takeover of Twitter. As Wired reports, many of the same people who helped him gut that platform are now installed throughout the federal government. They're demanding lists of employees, sending out "voluntary resignation" emails identical to ones used at Twitter, and even trying to build sleeping rooms in government offices — just like they did at Twitter HQ. But this time, they're not just dismantling a social media company. They're seizing control of the administrative state itself. Musk's DOGE commission now has access to Treasury payment systems, procurement data, and personnel files. His allies are attempting to use White House credentials to access GSA technology that could let them monitor federal workers' emails and remotely access their computers. This is what a coup looks like in 2025. It doesn't require tanks in the streets or soldiers storming buildings. It just needs control of the bureaucratic machinery that makes government function. By seizing these mechanisms while Trump provides political cover, Musk is accumulating unprecedented power for an unelected individual. As president, even Trump should not have this kind of power. The mainstream media's failure to recognize this as a constitutional crisis is itself a crisis. When Treasury's acting Deputy Secretary resigns after 30 years of service rather than grant Musk access to payment systems, that's not just a personnel change — it's a warning sign. When Musk baselessly claims that Treasury officials "literally never denied a payment" to terrorist groups, that's not just political rhetoric — it's laying groundwork for seizing control of federal payments. We've seen this pattern before. As Jared Yates Sexton writes in his newsletter, this is about oligarchs using Trump as a figurehead while they strip government assets and consolidate power. Trump signs the orders, but it's Musk and his allies who are writing them. Think about what's already happened: A billionaire with extensive business interests in China now has access to sensitive national security information. A man who publicly mocks federal workers can now monitor their emails and computers. Someone who treats government agencies like hostile takeover targets has gained control of the systems that deliver Social Security checks to elderly Americans and food assistance to hungry children. This isn't just about destroying the administrative state — though that's certainly part of it. It's about replacing government accountability with private control. When Musk's team tells federal workers they should seek "higher productivity jobs in the private sector," as reported by Wired, they're telling on themselves. The goal isn't to make government more efficient; it's to transfer its power and resources to private hands. Democracy requires public servants who answer to the people, not to billionaires. It needs civil servants who can't be fired on a billionaire's whim. It requires systems that distribute public resources based on law and need, not private interests. Instead, we're watching the systematic dismantling of these democratic safeguards, carried out by someone who treats the Constitution like terms of service to be rewritten at will. The longer media outlets treat this as just another political story, the more normal it becomes. This isn't about government reorganization or bureaucratic efficiency. It's about whether we'll still have a democracy when Musk is done "optimizing" it.