‘First-buddy’ Musk calling the shots in Washington
It appears America now has two masters. Elon Musk, who contributed $277 million and the backing of his massive social platform to now-President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, is taking his role as “first buddy” to the extreme. Not satisfied with his assigned task of cutting $2 trillion in spending, he is now speaking on congressional action, in particular a bipartisan spending bill to avert a government shutdown.
So, who is in control? The speaker of the House was in contact with Musk, a man who was not elected to anything and received not one single vote in the past election, about the bill. It appears he is calling the shots in Washington. It is well known that Trump is not interested in the nitty-gritty of governing, so we have an unelected man, who happens to be the richest man in the world with his own agenda, calling the shots. Does anyone really believe that this man has our back?
SUSAN LAUTENBACHER, DUNWOODY
Trump’s privatized transition sounds familiar
A recent article in Politico revealed another layer of chaos around the Trump transition. The article “Trump’s transition is happening over private emails. Federal officials are nervous,” detailed how the incoming administration teams are using private email addresses, servers and mobile devices instead of the secure government equivalents. Understandably, this is making many federal officials worried about national security implications — and privatizing the transition obscures the Trump team’s actions from public accountability.
I’m old enough to remember nonstop media coverage, hearings and FBI investigations of a previous presidential candidate found to be using a private email server.
I look forward to Republicans in Congress leading chants of “lock him up!” to anyone who will listen, just as they did back in 2016. They first need to stop kissing up to President-elect Donald Trump.
DAVID LEEDLE, ATLANTA
