Elon Musk vs The U.S. Government
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 7 February 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the three weeks since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Elon Musk has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government in what he has called "a revolution of the people".
That revolution has included offers to buyout millions of federal employees, accessing sensitive data of millions of Americans and sweeping efforts to shut down federal agencies like USAID.
What, if anything, can get in Musk's way? And has there ever been so much power wielded in America by an unelected individual?
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent
GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email [email protected] • Or use #Americast
This episode was made by George Dabby with Rufus Gray, Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, AmeriCasters. There are more of you now with us than ever before, and we'd like to try to keep it that way. |
| 0:06.6 | So do subscribe and tell people if you're enjoying what you're hearing. Now, on with the episode. |
| 0:13.4 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:17.0 | Who is in charge in the White House? Is it Donald Trump or maybe Elon Musk? |
| 0:22.1 | Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval. |
| 0:27.8 | And we'll give him the approval we're appropriate. |
| 0:30.1 | We're not appropriate. |
| 0:31.3 | We won't. |
| 0:32.3 | But he reports in and it's something that he feels very strongly about. |
| 0:39.1 | And I'm impressed because he's running obviously a big company. |
| 0:41.7 | It has nothing to do if there's a conflict that we won't let him get near it. |
| 0:45.8 | And that is because Elon Musk is moving at a pace and a scale that must have surprised even Donald Trump, |
| 0:52.9 | who put him in charge of downsizing and slashing some of the federal government, has so much power ever been wielded by an unelected individual. |
| 1:02.0 | And can anyone stop him? |
| 1:03.9 | Welcome to AmeriCast. |
| 1:08.0 | AmeriCast from BBC News. |
| 1:10.8 | God spared my life for a reason. Only... AmeriCast. AmeriCast from BBC News. |
| 1:13.6 | God spared my life for a reason. |
| 1:18.2 | Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. |
| 1:19.9 | A star is born, Elon. |
| 1:23.9 | I'm not just Maga. I'm dark Gothic Maga. |
| 1:27.2 | This is what happens when the machine comes after you. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.