Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and the Fight to Control the Future: The Private Power Grab No One Saw Coming
If you think you’re being played, you probably are. That’s the warning echoing across political media this week as a shocking new story emerges about Elon Musk and Donald Trump—a story so vast it eclipses anything in the news over the past seven months.
For years, critics have accused both men of running the same playbook: deny, denigrate, diffuse, and distract. Like the Wizard of Oz, the mantra is simple: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” But behind that curtain, something far more audacious appears to be unfolding—a private power grab that could reshape the relationship between governments, citizens, and technology forever.
The Data Scandal That Could Make Watergate Look Small
According to a whistleblower complaint filed by Charles Borges, Chief Data Officer at the Social Security Administration, a little-known government project dubbed “DOGE” (Department of Government Efficiency) allegedly allowed private contractors to copy the personal data of more than 300 million Americans—names, birthplaces, citizenship, race, parents’ names, Social Security numbers—to an unsecured cloud system controlled by outsiders.
Those outsiders, critics allege, include Elon Musk’s network of companies. The complaint describes a “gross abuse of authority” and a “substantial threat to public safety.” In short, the greatest theft of personal data in U.S. history.
Musk has not publicly addressed these allegations, but the stakes could hardly be higher. As one political observer put it:
“Imagine turning the keys to your country’s data over to one billionaire—and then finding out he’s using it to build a private empire.”
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A $17 Billion Deal That Changes Everything
While the headlines focus on Musk’s public antics on Twitter/X, a quieter but far more consequential development took place this summer. SpaceX—Musk’s private space company—executed a $17 billion acquisition of telecom company Echoar’s spectrum rights, a move that could fundamentally transform global communications.
This isn’t just about faster internet. Echoar’s frequencies allow direct satellite-to-smartphone connectivity without any terrestrial infrastructure. In other words, Musk’s satellites could beam service straight to the billions of phones already in people’s pockets, bypassing national networks, local regulations, and government oversight entirely.
For the first time in history, a private company—not a state—would control the global communications backbone.
Governments Losing Grip on the Information Age
From the printing press to the telegraph to the internet, governments have always had levers of control: licensing operators, regulating content, surveilling networks. But a satellite network that routes around national infrastructure makes those levers obsolete.
Britain’s Online Safety Act, for instance, requires platforms to remove harmful content and cooperate with regulators. But how do you enforce compliance when traffic can simply bypass British infrastructure and flow directly through space?
Combine unrestricted communications with borderless payments—something Musk’s companies are also experimenting with—and you have an infrastructure for accelerated regulatory arbitrage. Citizens could opt out of their governments’ rules entirely: skip speech restrictions, ignore local currencies, transact in global digital assets.
A Glimpse of the Future: Starlink in Ukraine
We’ve already seen a preview. In the days after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, SpaceX activated its Starlink network across the country, providing secure satellite internet that kept Ukraine’s military connected even as Russian strikes destroyed ground-based systems. Ukrainian forces used Starlink to coordinate drone strikes and artillery—military capabilities that no government authorized or controlled.
It was a turning point: a private corporation enabling a war effort in real time.
The Leverage Problem
With exclusive spectrum rights for direct-to-phone connectivity, SpaceX can dictate terms to device manufacturers, telecoms, and governments alike. Want satellite connectivity for emergency services? SpaceX sets the price. Need secure communications for your military? Better stay on Musk’s good side.
Until rival networks are built—a costly and time-consuming process—governments face a grim choice: negotiate access on Musk’s terms or accept the loss of sovereignty.
The Trump Connection
Critics say Donald Trump is already helping Musk consolidate this power, framing him as a key partner in reshaping America’s technological and political future. Trump himself hinted at this during a recent rally, telling supporters that voting for him would ensure they “never have to worry about it again.”
Whether this is political hyperbole or a glimpse of an actual plan is unclear. But if true, it would represent a staggering shift: not just deregulation, but privatization of core state functions on a global scale.
From Star Wars to Starlink: The Empire in the Making
Forty years ago, Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense system was ridiculed as too ambitious and too expensive. Today, Musk’s satellite empire—combined with Trump’s political machinery—suggests that the “impossible” is already happening.
This isn’t just about rockets or tweets. It’s about a potential private Star Wars Empire—a network of satellites, data, and digital currencies controlled not by governments but by billionaires.
What’s at Stake
Unless governments grasp the scale of this shift and adapt, they risk becoming “pumpkin powers”—symbolic authorities governing at the permission of private infrastructure owners. The power is moving to the heavens, and every new launch makes it harder for governments to bring it back down to Earth.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s a structural transformation unfolding right now. And as Occupy Democrats warns, the time to pay attention is before the curtain closes.