Elon Musk delivered an ominous signal on Friday that his sights are set next on bringing down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – and the internet wasn’t having it.
The not-so-subtle message from President Donald Trump’s chair of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency came in the form of a cryptic social media post on Friday.
Social media users quickly responded after the billionaire owner of X appeared to confirm suspicions that the federal watchdog created to protect consumers from scams and abusive business tactics would be next on his government chopping block.
‘"CFPB RIP,” Musk posted on X above a tombstone emoji. He later doubled down on his new target by telling a MAGA supporter that the agency “did above zero things, but still need to go.”
But political observers across social media had their own unmistakable messages for the world’s richest man, some of which were dripping with sarcasm – and outrage.
“The sole result of this move is that Americans will have no recourse when they get screwed over by a bank,” liberal political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen wrote Friday on Bluesky. “Good work Elon.”
“No room for consumer protection in Trump world,” former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade, a law professor, wrote in her own Bluesky post.
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Ex-MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan wrote to his Bluesky followers: “Nothing to worry about: the world’s richest man, and donor to Donald Trump, is bragging about killing off the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The party of the little guy against the elites! Yeah!”
Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias told his followers on X that “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established by an act of Congress and neither can nor should be unilaterally shut down by a part-time advisor to the president.”
“World’s richest man, now in charge of the federal government, celebrates his gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” Justin Horwitz, founder of Really American Media, said in a post on X. “Another victory for the average American. Tired of winning yet?”
Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, reminded his followers of a key benefit that the bureau brought to consumers.
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau required the removal of medical debt from credit reports,” he wrote.
