“This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”

Waleed Shahid is a political strategist who has worked as spokesperson for Justice Democrats and adviser for the campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman.

Earlier today Shahid was interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now about his latest piece on Substack entitled “Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup.”

Following is some of what Shahid shared.

If this story was taking place somewhere in Central Asia or in Africa [then] the United States media, the United States State Department, and international institutions would likely refer to it as a coup. [Elon Musk] a billionaire industrialist who donated $300 million to [Trump’s presidential] campaign is installing his personal loyalists in key parts of the federal bureaucracy. This is essentially Viktor Orbán’s playbook.

And we need to know: Why does a billionaire industrialist, with millions in government contracts and military contracts for his private companies, need the Social Security numbers of every American, needs to know every single check that the U.S. government gives out to businesses and to charities? Why does this billionaire need to know this information?

He was not vetted or approved by the U.S. Senate. He has a history of corruption, for using public resources for private gain. He’s one of the wealthiest men in the world. In any other situation this would be called state capture, and people around the world would be condemning it. But in the United States we are not used to this kind of level of creeping authoritarianism, of plutocracy, of oligarchy so explicit.

. . . The Democratic Party in Washington is largely asleep at the wheel. They are acting as if they’re kind of a librarian shushing noise in a crowded room. They are still believing in the normal procedures, normal decorum; [still believing] that everything here is the normal transition of power. And they still believe that what Elon Musk and Donald Trump are doing is just a libertarian reform of the government, not an oligarchic, plutocratic takeover by a private billionaire who is potentially seeking to know what his competitors might be doing with government contracts. . . . But the Democratic Party is not able to put forward an opposition message right now, because they feel like this is normal.

And that’s why it’s so important for concerned citizens all across the country to twist the arm of your Senate Democrat. Go to their office. If you go to Indivisible.org today, you can find a way to join your local chapter all around the country, whether your senators are Republican or Democrat or independent. They need to hear from concerned citizens, because the Democratic Party doesn’t move on issues of oligarchy, of plutocracy, of taking action, unless their constituents show up in person and demand that they hold hearings . . . [and] grind the Senate to a halt until we know why Elon Musk, someone who was not elected, has this information.

– Waleed Shahid
Excerpted from “Is Elon Musk Staging a Coup?
Unelected Billionaire Seizes Control at
Treasury Department and Other Agencies”
Democracy Now!
February 3, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
“It’s a Coup”: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security – Olivia Rosane (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Trump and Musk Have All of Washington on Edge – Just Like They Wanted – Philip Elliott (TIME, February 3, 2025).
“Americans Were Sleep-Marched Into Fascism”: Signs of Creeping Authoritarianism We Can’t Miss Again – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, February 3, 2025).
Musk’s DOGE Blitzkrieg Should Infuriate the Nation – Ann Wright (Common Dreams, February 3, 2025).
“Solidarity Is the Antidote to Fascism”: Progressives Organize Treasury Protest Over Musk Takeover – Charles R. Davis (Salon, February 3, 2025).
The Fu*king Nightmare – Robert Reich (RobertReich.com, February 2, 2025).
We Must Create a Broad Anti-Fascist Movement to Fight Back Against Trump 2.0 – C.J. Polychroniou (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Fighting for Justice Doesn’t Have to Be a Big Dramatic Act. It Can Be Small – Rebecca Solnit (The Guardian, February 2, 2025).
Did You Hear About the Friday Coup? – Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket, February 1, 2025).
Call It by Its Name: A Coup – Robert B. Hubbell (Today’s Edition Newsletter, February 1, 2025).
Dictator Donald Thinks He’s Invincible; He’s Not – Ralph Nader (Common Dreams, February 1, 2025).
Top Treasury Official Out as Musk Cronies Demand Access to Payment System That Funnels Trillions in U.S. Funds – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
“DOGE-Affiliated Goons” Accused of Locking Career Civil Servants Out of Key Databases – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
Trump’s First Week: “Designed to Destroy the United States From Within" – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, January 30, 2025).
How to Organize Under Authoritarian Creep in a Closing Civil Society – Nadine Bloch (Waging Nonviolence, January 30, 2025).
Trump’s Neofascism Is Here Now. Here Are 10 Things You Can Do to Resist – Robert Reich (The Guardian, January 24, 2025).
Can Nonviolent Struggle Defeat a Dictator? This Database Emphatically Says Yes – George Lakey (Waging Nonviolence, January 8, 2025).
The Hungaryfication of the USA – Thomas Klikauer (Other News, January 9, 2025).
I Watched Orbán Destroy Hungary’s Democracy. Here’s My Advice for the Trump Era – Gábor Scheiring (Politico, November 23, 2024).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup by an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up by a Felonious President”
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
• How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born
• Neoliberalism vs Neofascism: Cornel West on the State of U.S. Politics
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
• Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
• Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
• History Matters
• Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
• Will We Let Fascism Come to America?

Image: Artist unknown.