Jess Bidgood

Washington, D.C.

Managing Correspondent and Writer at On Politics

I write the On Politics newsletter for @nytimes. Forever @BostonGlobe fan. Send me your ideas. [email protected]

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Articles

What Will Elon Musk's Retreat From Washington Mean for DOGE?

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Jess Bidgood

One month into his chaotic tenure as a special government employee and a right-hand man to President Trump, Elon Musk basked in the cheers of an adoring public at CPAC. The episode is best known for the chain saw he wielded onstage, a gift from President Javier Milei of Argentina. But Musk did something else just as outlandish and revealing that day.
Sen. Kelly Denounces Musk’s Cuts: ‘Not What Anybody Signed Up For’

2 weeks ago | myheraldreview.com | Jess Bidgood

Sen. Mark Kelly knows Elon Musk better than most Americans do. Kelly, D-Ariz., is a former NASA astronaut and Navy combat pilot. He used to consult for SpaceX about crew safety, he told me, and sat in on meetings there with Musk. He drove a Tesla for a while, before very publicly returning it this year. In a way, Kelly embodies the whiplash many Democrats feel when it comes to Musk, and he has emerged as one of the billionaire’s most vocal critics in Washington.
Senator Denounces Musk’s Cuts: ‘Not What Anybody Signed Up For’

2 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Jess Bidgood

7 hours agoIn generational shift, Schatz joins race to be Senate’s No. 2 DemocratThe 52-year-old senator from Hawaii is officially running to become Senate whip after two decades of static leadership. Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii) has formally launched his campaign to take over as the No. 2 Senate Democrat, vowing to guide an “emerging generation” of the party’s leadership.
Elon Musk Faces Questions About His Government Influence After Setbacks

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Jess Bidgood

At the start of the new Trump administration, Elon Musk's influence seemed to have no limits. He was in the Oval Office, one of his sons on his shoulders. He was meeting with heads of state. He was putting the United States Agency for International Development through the "wood chipper." He gave a Fox News interview with President Trump.
The Next Phase of DOGE

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Jess Bidgood

Since it was created in January, DOGE has resisted requests for basic transparency, arguing that it doesn't need to reveal exactly what it is up to. Now, a federal judge might be about to change that. Yesterday, Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who is overseeing a lawsuit against DOGE, ordered Musk's team to clear up a lot of the uncertainty around its operations.
Elon Musk's DOGE Cuts and Their Moving Goal Posts

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Jess Bidgood

"This is an old story," he said. HELP US REPORTAs my colleague David Fahrenthold works to analyze Musk's claims about savings, he has realized there's a key "receipt" he can't find. Today, we're going to do something a little different: We're asking if you know where it is. David explained what he's looking for. Here's what we know: On its website, DOGE lists the contracts it has terminated, and the money it saved by canceling each.
The Moving Goal Posts in Musk’s DOGE Cuts

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Jess Bidgood

Tesla (TSLA) has to replace computer in ~4 million cars or compensate their ownersTesla (TSLA) has to replace the ‘self-driving’ computer inside about 4 million vehicles or likely compensate the owners of those vehicles. The liability could be more significant than the largest automotive recall in terms of cost. In 2016, Tesla claimed that all its vehicles in production going …
Elon Musk and Social Security's Effort to Curb Illegal Immigration

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Jess Bidgood |Alexandra Berzon

One hallmark of Elon Musk's 12 weeks in government has been his focus on Social Security. He has sent one of his closest advisers to work at the Social Security Administration. He has falsely insisted that the program is rife with fraud. And he has depicted the entitlement as a tool - a " giant magnet," to be specific - that he says entices illegal immigrants to come to the United States.
What's at Stake in Wisconsin

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Jess Bidgood

About nine minutes into his time onstage in Green Bay last night, Elon Musk neatly explained why he - a billionaire technologist who is already distracted by a little project in Washington - had poured $20 million and hours of his time into a Wisconsin Supreme Court election. "What's happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives," he said.
In Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Republicans Shrug at Democrats' Focus on Elon Musk

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Jess Bidgood

In 2022, when Musk took over the platform, he liked the crowdsourcing idea so much that he expanded it sharply. Musk viewed content moderation as akin to censorship and preferred to put such decisions in the hands of users. So he effectively replaced all of Twitter's content-moderation work with Birdwatch, which - in a purge of all avian-themed nomenclature - he renamed Community Notes.