this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
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Summary

Hundreds of protesters, joined by Democratic lawmakers, rallied outside the Treasury Department, condemning Elon Musk’s "hostile takeover" of federal financial systems.

Lawmakers, including Maxine Waters and Ayanna Pressley, attempted to enter the building but were turned away.

Treasury officials later claimed that Musk’s team had “read-only” access to coded payment data, but concerns persist over security risks and misuse of taxpayer information.

Protesters fear Musk’s influence is part of a broader effort to dismantle government institutions and exploit federal systems for financial gain.

top 21 comments
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[–] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 13 hours ago

For fuck’s sake, the protesters are there to tell you to do your jobs! Quit the token gestures of solidarity and fucking do something!

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl -1 points 7 hours ago

Are the Dems actually calling for progress? Or do they just want to return the power from the new plutocrats back to the status-quo plutocrats?

Yawn.

[–] Absaroka@lemmy.world 15 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Holy shit! A Schumer sighting!

[–] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I forgot he was still alive.

[–] nomy@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 hours ago

The eyeglass adjusting and tut tutting was truly uproarious.

[–] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago

Like the mighty cicadas, he can be seen once or twice a decade.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 54 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I hope their protest involves they stop approving his fascist political agenda

They keep passing laws, they keep approving appointments

If they want to actually stop this then they need to stop being complicit

[–] LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 9 points 19 hours ago

Seriously they need to grind every gear possible until musk is escorted out of the building. No conversations about bills or appointments or anything should occur the rabid dog is put on a leash and contained.

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Hundreds of protesters, joined by Democratic lawmakers, rallied outside the Treasury Department"

Standing around outside being concerned and condemning actions that are actively occurring on the other side of the wall is really going to make an impact. Their literal job title is "representative" so maybe they should start acting like it.

[–] usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Notably they have no majorities in either the house or senate. They can slow things down - and they have pledged to use some of the tools to do so until Musk stops his insanity - but they cannot do a ton directly more without Republican support

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

These actions aren't being conducted in the house or senate, though. If the rules don't apply anymore, then what's stopping them from barging in there and kicking his ass out? How would Trump having a sitting representative or senator arrested play out in the media? Democrats need to take some pages out of the Republican playbook. Committees, harsh letters, and bureaucracy aren't the path out of this.

[–] usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Notably they actually did try to barge in. From the article

Minutes earlier, a handful of lawmakers, including Crockett, Pressley, Frost and Jamie Raskin, had attempted to get inside the treasury department before being rebuffed.

They also tried to get into USAID yesterday

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 7 points 20 hours ago

I did see that. If being told "no" by some security guard at the door is all it takes for them to back down, then we might as well accept our fate now because we're completely defenseless against what's coming.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 2 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Sorry, but none of this matters. Republicans are all powerful now. They have the White House, the House, the Senate, SCOTUS, the Fed, the Treasury. For the next two years, they can do whatever they want and act however they like. The voters walked right into this with eyes wide open. I don't want to hear the excuses and cries. America is just getting what it voted for.

[–] xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

this matters a LOT, and it was illegal… they DON’T have the authority to just take over the treasury like that….
musk doesn’t even have the security clearance to enter the treasury, nor do his lackeys….
they’ve already begun “heavily modifying” their system… meaning they must have had access to it BEFORE trump was sworn in as president….
meaning, an APT hacked the treasury and gave the source code to musk…
this is literally a foreign attack. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/musk-cronies-dive-into-treasury-dept-payments-code-base

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 0 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, it matter to us, but it doesn't matter to them. And there's nothing we can do anything about it. That's the point. They have the power to do whatever they want right now, every branch of the government, and their supporters and voters with find any excuse to defend their actions no matter how wrong those actions are, because it's "necessary."

[–] xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

they have a very thin majority in congress, they don’t actually have every judge… there are things that can be done….
there are things we could do about it and you should stop being defeatist

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee -1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Not being defeatist, just a realist. Judges don't matter when SCOTUS is in Trump's pocket. Republicans know they have these two years to dismantle the government and set it back decades while they have literally all the power. They have everything they need to get it done.

This is what happens when some people choose to stay home on election day because "the Democrats are not doing enough for Palestinians." Now watch what happens to Palestinians.

[–] xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 11 hours ago

the democrats were enthusiastically supporting a genocide and calling protesters of that genocide “anti-semites”.
myopic of anyone to think trump would be better, but hardly inspirational to say “we’re only doing genocide-lite!”.
trump inspired his base, the democrats alienated theirs…

[–] leftytighty@slrpnk.net 10 points 19 hours ago

Very inspiring speech: we will vote against them on the beaches when they let us and hopefully there's not too much interference so it's a fair election.

Fucking fight back, join protests / join unions / riot.

MAGA blew up power infrastructure and stormed the Capitol over made up shit and the best you can do is "we'll vote em next time!"

Political impotence.

[–] cloud_herder@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

This feels like it will help.