Don’t take advice from a person who has a vested interest in the outcome TB Sanhedrin 76

 Today’s daf TB Sanhedrin 76 gives some common sense advice. “Rav Kahana says in the name of Rabbi Akiva: Beware of one who advises you according to his own interests, as he is likely motivated by personal gain.” (Sefaria.org translation) This is common sense, but unfortunately common sense isn’t so common today.

Elon Musk is Donald Trump’s greatest advisor. He bought this position by donating $288 million dollars to the Trump campaign. I have to be suspicious of Trump’s firing top officials with oversight that have affected agencies with federal investigations into or regulatory battles with Elon Musk’s companies. These agencies are: interior, transportation, justice, agriculture, national labor relations board, equal opportunity commission, consumer financial protection board, defense, security and exchange commission, federal election commission, and office of Government ethics. Among the categories these agencies were conducting were investigations, levying fines for violations, investigating complaints, lawsuits, and security clearances.

The New York Times reports: “The inquiries include the Federal Aviation Administration’s fines of Mr. Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, for safety violations and a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit pressing Mr. Musk to pay the federal government perhaps as much as $150 million, accusing him of having violated federal securities law.

“On its own, the National Labor Relations Board, an independent watchdog agency for workers’ rights, has 24 investigations into Mr. Musk’s companies, according to the review by The Times.”

To be fair the Times also reports: “None of the investigations or lawsuits involving Mr. Musk and his companies, at least so far (my emphasis), have formally been dropped since the start of the new administration, according to more than a dozen current and former federal officials interviewed by The Times.

“The Times also found no evidence that Mr. Musk directly ordered that an investigation into one of his companies be shut down or stalled.”

I also have to be suspicious that DOGE’s actions to root out fraud and waste is not touching Musk’s government contracts. Once again The Times report: “Mr. Musk’s companies secured $13 billion in contracts over the past five years, making SpaceX, which collects most of that money, one of the biggest government contractors. There is already talk during the Trump administration of expanding these deals, particularly at the Air Force.”

“Democrats in Congress, and outside lawyers who specialize in government contracting and ethics, have questioned Mr. Musk’s position, saying that they cannot identify a time in American history when a corporate executive with so many regulatory matters, as well as billions of dollars in federal contracts, has had such power over government operations.

“Mr. Musk’s dual roles — running a for-profit corporation while serving in public office — not only creates glaring conflicts of interest that pose grave risks for America’s most sacred institutions, but may also violate federal law,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who is the ranking member of a Senate investigations panel, wrote in a letter to Tesla’s general counsel and board chairman this month. Mr. Blumenthal sought answers as to how the company is dealing with the apparent conflicts.”

We Americans should be very wary of Musk’s role in advising Trump because of his vested interest in the outcomes. For the full New York Times article follow this link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/elon-musk-companies-conflicts.html#