As Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency associates barrel through the federal government, former Twitter (now X) employees have seen this all before.

Even as Mr Musk was speaking, workers at USAID ’s headquarters in Washington were being told not to come in the next day. Some 600 of the agency’s staff seem to have been locked out of their emails. That followed a weekend in which the agency’s website went offline;

Elon Musk’s incursion into the federal government is unprecedented. It’s also pretty good news for his companies.