Trump Trashes Totally Normal Spending … That His Administration Authorized
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have spent the past three weeks systematically dismantling the federal government. They’ve done so under the guise of cutting waste and rooting out fraud, but the exercise has played out more like a mind-blowingly reckless publicity stunt rather than anything concerned with actually making the government more efficient.
Musk continually posts on X about the alleged fraud he and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have uncovered — which so far has consisted of simply highlighting publicly available information about government spending he either doesn’t agree with or doesn’t understand. The latest example came on Wednesday night, when Musk shared a post claiming that “DOGE investigations reveal mysterious Defense Department payments to Reuters for ‘large scale social deception’ project between 2018-2022.”
“Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the U.S. government for ‘large scale social deception,’” Musk wrote. “That is literally what it says on the purchase order! They’re a total scam. Just wow.”
Drew Harwell of The Washington Post unraveled the “mysterious” payments in a thread of his own, noting that the money went to Reuters’ data division, not its newsroom, and that it funded defense against social deception. “DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of automated defense against social engineering attacks,” reads the request for bids — which is publicly available, as are the contract details. The request was made in 2017, which is notable, because, as Harwell notes, the money was first allocated under the watch of the man Musk says he loves as much as a straight man can possibly love another man: Donald Trump.
Nevertheless, the reactionary right has been up in arms over the spending since Musk posted about it. Trump himself weighed in today. “DOGE: Looks like Radical Left Reuters was paid $9,000,000 by the Department of Defense to study ‘large scale social deception,’” he wrote on Truth Social. “GIVE BACK THE MONEY, NOW!”
Musk’s work with DOGE has led to concerns that he’s operating in service of his own interests, rather than those of the United States, and the White House has said Musk will police himself regarding any conflicts of interest. Harwell noted in his thread about the government’s payments to Reuters that Musk has long had it out for the outlet, which last year won the George Polk Award for its investigative coverage of Musk’s businesses.
“Reuters is lying (again),” Musk wrote in April 2024, one of several times he has trashed the outlet in recent years.
It’s Musk, though, who has been repeatedly pushing misinformation as he tears through the federal government’s infrastructure. He acknowledged as much while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “Some of the things that I say will be incorrect,” he said when asked about his false claim that the Biden administration was sending millions of dollars worth of condoms to Gaza, which was echoed by Trump.
“We will make mistakes, but we will act quickly to correct any mistakes,” Musk added in yet another claim that could use a correction.
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