El presidente republicano de la Cámara de Representantes, Mike Johnson (c), habla brevemente con los periodistas para aclarar su postura sobre la representante demócrata electa Sarah McBride, que se convertirá en la primera mujer transgénero en el Congreso. EFE/JIM LO SCALZO
Washington.- El uso de los baños del Congreso estadounidense se ha convertido en la primera piedra que algunos legisladores republicanos han tirado contra la representante demócrata electa Sarah McBride, la primera persona transgénero de Estados Unidos elegida para la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos.
Sin que todavía haya prestado juramento, pues lo hará en enero, los cuchillos del ala más radical y conservadora del partido, fiel al presidente electo, Donald Trump, ya han comenzado a volar contra McBride.
El lunes la representante republicana de Carolina del Sur, Nancy Mace, presentó una resolución para modificar las reglas de la Cámara de Representantes para prohibir que las mujeres transgénero usen los baños de mujeres en el Capitolio.
«Es un hombre biológico» y «no pertenece a los espacios de mujeres, baños de mujeres y vestuarios», dijo la republicana a la prensa el lunes.
Este martes, el presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Mike Johnson, se negaba a responder en una rueda de prensa si McBride es un hombre o una mujer.
«Mira, no voy a entrar en eso. Damos la bienvenida con los brazos abiertos a todos los nuevos miembros que son representantes debidamente elegidos del pueblo», respondió Johnson a la pregunta de la prensa.
Sobre la propuesta de su compañera de partido, Johnson afirmó que «existe una preocupación sobre los usos de los baños y los vestuarios» y que «este es un tema que el Congreso nunca ha tenido que abordar antes» y se hará «de manera deliberada, con el consenso de los miembros al respecto». «Nos adaptaremos a las necesidades de cada persona», añadió.
En su petición, Mace afirma que «permitir a varones biológicos entrar en instalaciones para un solo sexo, como baños, vestuarios y vestuarios diseñados para mujeres, pone en peligro la seguridad y la dignidad de los miembros, funcionarios y empleados de la Cámara de Representantes que son mujeres».
Esta petición ha tenido el apoyo de figuras como la representante por Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene: «Es un hombre biológico y no debería usar ninguno de nuestros baños en el Capitolio, y menos en nuestros edificios de oficinas. Pero la resolución de Nancy Mace no es suficiente», afirmó.
A través de un mensaje en la red social X, McBride restó importancia a la propuesta y aseguró que este es «un intento flagrante de los extremistas de extrema derecha de distraer la atención del hecho de que no tienen soluciones reales para lo que enfrentan los estadounidenses».
«Deberíamos centrarnos en reducir el costo de la vivienda, la atención médica y el cuidado infantil, no en crear guerras culturales», afirmó.
Cuando tome posesión de su cargo, McBride será la primera persona transgénero en el Congreso de Estados Unidos. Todo ello tras derrotar, a sus 34 años, al candidato republicano John Whalen III.
La política había sido elegida para el Senado de Delaware en 2021 y entonces se convirtió en la primera persona transgénero en ocupar un puesto de senadora estatal en EE. UU.
Lancaster Country Day School is seen in this undated photo in Lancaster, Penn. (Photo: AP/Blaine Shahan/LancasterOnline)
Images that depict the faces of girls with nude bodies have led to the departure of leaders from a private school in Pennsylvania, prompted a student protest and triggered a criminal investigation.
A juvenile suspect was “removed from» Lancaster Country Day School and his cellphone was seized by investigators in August, Susquehanna Regional Police Department Detective Laurel Bair said Tuesday.
It’s the latest example of how the use of artificial intelligence to create or manipulate images with sexual content has become a concern, including within school settings.
U.S. law enforcement has been cracking down on graphic depictions of computer-generated children as well as manipulated photos of real ones. The Justice Department says it’s pursuing those who exploit AI tools and states are racing to enact laws to address the problem.
A new Pennsylvania state law that takes effect late next month explicitly criminalizes making or disseminating AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
And police in South Korea are on a seven-month push to combat explicit deepfake content, with tougher penalties, expanded use of undercover officers and increased regulation of social media. Concerns in South Korea deepened after unconfirmed lists of schools with victims spread earlier this year.
As part of the police investigation into what the Lancaster Country Day School describes as “disturbing AI generated photographs,» a search warrant was used this summer to obtain an iPhone 11 linked to a 15-year-old, according to court records. The records do not identify the teen.
A woman told police that her daughter said a fellow student had been «taking photographs of students and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to portray the female juvenile students as being nude,» according to a probable cause affidavit used to apply for the search warrant.
Matt Micciche, then the head of the school, told police the school had received a complaint about the photos in November 2023 through the Safe2Say Something program but the suspect, identified by his initials, denied the allegations, according to Bair’s affidavit.
When some parents became aware of the photos in May, Bair wrote, they also learned that the “AI nude photographs” had been posted in a chat room.
Bair, leading the investigation because the suspect lives in the Susquehanna Regional Police Department’s territory, said there has been shock at the school “that this is even occurring and that it happened within their small community.” She declined to say how many girls had been shown in the images but added that more information about the case will likely be made public in the coming two weeks.
Erik Yabor, a spokesperson for Lancaster District Attorney Heather Adams, said Tuesday that Lancaster County prosecutors had no comment about the ongoing investigation.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Michelle Henry’s office said the agency was not able to talk about specific tips or reports made to the Safe2Say Something platform, which fields anonymous reports from students and others about safety threats.
“Generally speaking, our team intakes the tips and sends them to the respective law enforcement or school personnel for review,” Brett Hambright said. “We have confirmed that was done regarding the matter you inquired about.”
LNP in Lancaster reported that most of Lancaster Country Day’s high-school age students held a walkout on Friday, Nov. 8, marching around the campus and chanting, “Hear us. Acknowledge us. See us.» School was canceled on Monday.
LNP said the school indicated on Friday that it had “parted ways” with Micciche and that board president Angela Ang-Alhadeff had stepped down. The Associated Press left phone messages seeking comment with both of them on Tuesday. A letter addressed to the school community Monday by the Lancaster Country Day Board of Trustees said it was working to replace them and was “still in the process of finalizing the resolution to the case.”
“What we can say is that over the course of the past week the board was made aware of information that led us to the decision to resolve the matter,” the board wrote, including acting “in the best interests of the girls who have been impacted and in the best interest of the school long term.”
The school said counseling has been offered to students and the institution is reviewing reporting procedures, safety practices and other policies regarding student safety.
PHILADELPHIA. — Two adult staffers were stabbed and wounded at a northeast Philadelphia middle school Tuesday while disarming a boy with a knife, police and the school’s principal said.
Officers were called to Castor Garden Middle School shortly after noon and found a 63-year-old woman was stabbed in her left side and a 31-year-old woman in the right arm, police said.
The first victim was taken to a hospital where her condition wasn’t immediately available; the second victim refused medical treatment.
Principal Shawn McGuigan said in a message to families that the victims are staffers at the school and that all students were safe following a school lockdown, WPVI-TV reported.
Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said a boy, who attends the school, pulled a knife out of his bag in a classroom. He said the staff members were alerted by other students and sustained “superficial” cuts while disarming the boy.
Vanore said the boy was in custody, and police are working with his parents.
Monique Braxton of the School District of Philadelphia said the student had gone through the school’s metal detector “and it did not pick up the knife.” She said the district’s Office of School Safety will investigate.
Captura de la interfaz que agradece a los usuarios de la red social Bluesky por formar parte de los primeros 10 millones. EFE/Bluesky
Nueva York.- La red social Bluesky alcanzó este martes los 20 millones de usuarios, tras sumar un nuevo millón de cuentas en las pasadas 24 horas, confirmó Jay Graber, responsable de la compañía.
«¡Bluesky tiene ahora 20 millones de personas!», exclamó en su cuenta.
«Hemos estado añadiendo más de un millón de usuarios al día en los pasados días», añadió en la red que amenaza con rivalizar con X, antiguamente conocida como Twitter.
Hace mes y medio Bluesky tenía 6,18 millones de usuarios, cifra que aumentó a 10,8 millones hace 30 días. La red llegó a los 15 millones el pasado jueves.
Desde que el exmandatario republicano Donald Trump (2017-2021) se impuso a la vicepresidenta de EE.UU. y candidata demócrata, Kamala Harris, en las elecciones del pasado 5 de noviembre, el éxodo de usuarios de X a Bluesky se ha acelerado.
El actual dueño de X, el empresario Elon Musk, apoyó de forma activa a Trump durante la campaña electoral. Usuarios y analistas han acusado a Musk de convertir X en una máquina de desinformación en la que campan a sus anchas los bulos a la vez que se promueve ideología de extrema derecha.
Artistas como Guillermo Del Toro, Barbra Streisand y Jamie Lee Curtis son algunos de los destacados nombres que han pasado de X a Bluesky en los últimos días.
La revista especializada The Hollywood Reporter listó al menos 64 artistas de renombre que recientemente han dejado X a favor de Bluesky o que están generando más contenido en esta última red que en la que posee Musk.
Bluesky es una red social descentralizada iniciada en 2019 por Jack Dorsey, que también fue el fundador de Twitter, como parte de una investigación para crear una plataforma de comunicación descentralizada. Dorsey formó parte del consejo de dirección de Bluesky hasta mayo de este año.
Robert Hopkins of Lehigh County Voter Registration, works with ballot tabulators in a state-mandated recount of the U.S. Senate race at the Lehigh County Government Center in Allentown, Pa., Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Photo: AP/Michael Rubinkam)
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The recount underway in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race marks the end of a chaotic post-election period that has become the latest example of how disputed election rules can expose weak points in a core function of American democracy.
The ballot-counting process in the race between incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick has become a spectacle of hours-long election board meetings, social media outrage, lawsuits and accusations that some county officials are openly flouting the law.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Nov. 7, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead.
As the race headed toward a recount, which must be concluded by next Tuesday, Republicans have been claiming that Democrats are trying to steal McCormick’s seat by counting “illegal votes.” Casey’s campaign has said Republicans are trying to block enough votes to prevent him from pulling ahead and winning.
A big part of the dispute has centered around the date requirement on the return envelope that contains a mail-in ballot.
Republicans say state law and court precedent is clear and that mail ballots must be discarded if their envelopes don’t meet the criteria. Democrats insist that ballots shouldn’t be tossed out because of what they call technicalities.
Several Democratic-controlled county election boards have been counting mail-in ballots in which the voter either wrote the wrong date on the return envelope or didn’t write one at all, despite the state Supreme Court saying just days before the election that such ballots shouldn’t be counted.
On Monday, the Democratic-majority high court reasserted its authority, ruling 4-3 to override active litigation in county courts and order local election boards to obey prior rulings that said such ballots cannot be added to the tally.
“Only the courts under our charter may declare a statute, or provision thereof, unconstitutional,” wrote Justice Kevin Brobson, a Republican.
Some Democrats had said the issue had been a legal gray area before Monday’s ruling. Democratic-majority election boards in Montgomery County, Philadelphia and Bucks County had voted to count ballots that lacked a correct date, while Republicans had said including a date is a critical element of ballot security.
Omar Sabir, the chairman of Philadelphia’s election board, pointed out that a county judge had recently ordered the board to count such ballots in a lawsuit stemming from a September special election.
“I think we as commissioners have discretion to decide which ballots can count, and that’s our right under Pennsylvania statute,” Sabir said Tuesday.
But it was a statement from a Democratic commissioner in Bucks County, a heavily populated political swing county just north of Philadelphia, that ignited social media outrage and threats of legal retaliation from Republicans.
In a meeting last week, Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, voted to count provisional ballots that were missing one of two required voter signatures. She did so after being told by a county attorney that the state Supreme Court had already ruled that such ballots can’t be counted.
“We all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country and people violate laws any time they want,» she said. “So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it. There is nothing more important than counting votes.»
The video of her statement spread quickly among conservatives, often wrongly portraying it as justifying a separate vote by the Bucks County election board to count mail ballots that arrived at local election offices in undated or misdated envelopes.
“This is a BLATANT violation of the law and we intend to fight it every step of the way,” Lara Trump, President-elect Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the RNC, wrote in a post on X that received 1.2 million views.
Ellis-Marseglia didn’t return a call to clarify what she meant. But the county board chair, Democrat Bob Harvie, said in a statement that commissioners had voted to protect the rights of voters — not sway an election.
The controversy over the decisions by some Democrats to take actions that appeared to contradict Pennsylvania law evoked similar disputes in several other states over the role of local election boards in certifying results. Some Republicans on those boards in recent years have voted against certification without any evidence of problems or wrongdoing, and did so despite their duty under state law.
In Pennsylvania, Republicans were quick to criticize local Democrats who voted to accept the mailed ballots that came in undated or wrongly dated envelopes. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley called it “corrupt and despicable.”
“This is the kind of conduct that undermines faith in elections,” Whatley told reporters on a conference call. “When election officials pick and choose at the last minute which rules to follow and which to ignore, it naturally leads voters to lose trust in the process.”
Asked whether he thinks some county officials could face legal consequences, Whatley said Republicans were exploring options and would “pursue this to the fullest extent that we can.”
Even if the ballot-counting process this year is chaotic, it could produce a lasting result.
The legal challenges could lead to court decisions that dictate in future elections which ballots can and can’t be tallied, said Jeff Reber, a Republican who chairs the elections reform committee for the statewide association representing county commissioners.
“No one thinks the recount is going to change the outcome of the election,” he said. «The real battle is which ballots will be counted because that could be a precedent-setting decision.»
Pennsylvania Senate candidate Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., takes part in a debate at the WPVI-TV studio, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Photo: AP/Matt Rourke)
PENNSYLVANIA – Bob Casey for Senate released the following statement on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ruling against David McCormick’s efforts to throw out ballots from eligible Philadelphia voters. The court’s ruling will ensure 996 Pennsylvanians have their votes counted.
Statement from Tiernan Donohue, campaign manager for Bob Casey for Senate:
“Today was a victory for democracy and Pennsylvania as the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas rejected McCormick’s attempt to throw out 996 ballots cast by eligible voters. The Casey campaign will continue to fight to ensure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard and eligible voters can participate in our democracy.”
Key Facts on McCormick’s Efforts to Disenfranchise Pennsylvania Voters:
Republicans are filing lawsuits to throw out provisional ballots over minor issues that do not impact a ballot’s validity or a voter’s eligibility. These include:
Election Worker Signature: Provisional ballots where the voter did everything right and the only error is that an election worker made a mistake and did not sign the ballot envelope. McCormick is suing to throw out these ballots in Bucks, Chester, Erie, Lackawanna, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia.
Single Voter Signature: Provisional ballots where the voter signed the envelope once, but not a second time. Pennsylvania’s provisional ballot envelope asks a voter to sign twice which is a duplicative and unnecessary requirement. McCormick is suing to throw these ballots out in Bucks, Monroe, Montgomery, and Northampton County.
Did Not Check Reason: Provisional ballots where the election official did not check the reason the provisional ballot was cast. This is a technical requirement that in no way changes the voter’s eligibility. McCormick is suing to throw these ballots out in Philadelphia County.
While the McCormick campaign sues to silence Pennsylvanians, the Casey campaign is actively fighting to make sure every legal ballot is counted.
PHILADELPHIA. – The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) is aware of offensive and racist text messages circulating throughout Philadelphia and nationwide. Black Americans, including high school and college students, have reported receiving alarming messages instructing them to report to a plantation along with other deeply offensive and hateful references. Similarly, hateful messages may also be targeting Latino and LGBTQIA+ groups.
“These kinds of messages are vile and disgusting. It is a completely unacceptable attempt to harass, demean, divide, and intimidate our communities,” said PCHR Executive Director Kia Ghee. “Racial discrimination, in any form, but particularly through the use of harassing messages that target some of our most vulnerable is a violation of basic human rights and an affront to our core values as a society. Our agency is steadfast in its commitment to fighting this and all other forms of discrimination and harassment. We do not, and will never, condone practices that perpetuate inequality and injustice.”
The FBI has urged anyone who receives such messages to report them immediately via their Electronic Tip Form. PCHR remains committed to supporting those affected by these incidents and to working alongside local and federal partners to confront racial harassment and discrimination in all its forms.
For additional information or to report hate and bias incidents, please contact PCHR at pchr@phila.gov or215-686-4670. Incidents of hate and bias can also be reported with our online reporting system here.
Renovations, including those with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, are underway at the Island Terrace Apartments, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Chicago. (Photo: AP/Erin Hooley)
Renters in affordable housing felt forgotten and left out of the nation’s transition to clean energy. They lived in older buildings that had been repaired over the years but had leaky windows and old appliances that consumed a lot of energy. They didn’t have solar power.
That was the feedback Adrianne Todman got while traveling to housing sites as the head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
She told renters and property owners things were going to change, and on Tuesday that change hits a milepost: HUD is announcing the last $30 million of more than $1 billion spent to modernize and fix older buildings for thousands of low-income renters nationwide.
The aim is to make the homes more comfortable as they release less carbon pollution. The retrofits also allow them to better withstand extreme weather, preserving needed affordable housing units.
The money was disbursed nationwide over the past year. Building owners are using it to add energy efficient windows, heaters and air conditioners, electric vehicle charging stations, floodproofing, roofs that don’t get as hot, and solar panels with batteries. Eligibility includes units where the federal government subsidizes rent for low income households, seniors and people with disabilities.
“If there’s anything that this billion dollars has done, in addition to doing the work that those of us know needs to be done to deal with the impact of climate change, it’s given people who live in those buildings hope, so that they can live comfortably, and hope that they can live safely,” Todman said in an interview.
Bernadine Gibson, 82, talks about leaks in her kitching ceiling and how she is looking forward to renovations to the building her family has lived in for 27 years, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Chicago. (Photo: AP/Erin Hooley)
That includes New Orleans resident Hilda Bell, 74, who wants to live in a building that is safe from severe weather. Bell resides at the St. John Berchman’s Manor apartments for low-income seniors in New Orleans.
One of the larger awards, a $12 million loan, was given to the owner of her apartment, Providence Community Housing, in September. The building flooded with four feet of water during Hurricane Katrina and it took four years for it to reopen, in 2009, after repairs. Now 42 years old, it needs a fortified roof and windows that can withstand severe storms, structural changes to harden electrical and mechanical systems against flooding, and updated heating and cooling equipment to reduce energy use.
“I know this building needs that strengthening. The roof needs repairs. The windows need to be sealed,” Bell said. “So this money that’s awarded can be greatly used. There are many things that can be replaced. Because they were fixing before, but with this award money, things can be replaced.”
The community desperately needs affordable housing, said Terri B. North, president and CEO of Providence Community Housing. If the building is green, energy efficient and resilient, it’ll last for another 42 years, she added.
At Crafton Towers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, residents will get most of their electricity from solar power once their renovation is done. Owner ACTION-Housing, Inc. said the apartments need significant improvements focused on energy efficiency and decarbonization and the help is needed because it has become increasingly hard to make improvements as energy costs go up but rents don’t. The nonprofit developer received a nearly $6.2 million grant.
“We need to preserve affordable housing by keeping these buildings operating, keeping the utility costs down and making them more energy efficient and better for our climate than they have been,” said Sarah Ralich, senior energy and construction manager for ACTION-Housing. This program, she said, «actually gives tangible dollars for the work.”
Resident Joseph Cousineau Sr., 73, agreed the 1970s building “needs some love.” Water leaks through the windows when it rains and the heating and cooling units in some apartments don’t work, he said. The building is getting a new exterior with insulation and windows and electric heat pumps to replace gas-fired units.
“We’ve been left out for years. Nothing has been changed on this building at all, to really improve it, since the day they built it,” he said. “We need to be brought up to date, we really do,” he said.
Bernadine Gibson, 82, looks out the window of a renovated unit in the building her family has lived in for 27 years Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Chicago. (Photo: AP/Erin Hooley)
Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. received 18 awards through the program, ranging from $750,000 to $7.8 million, totaling nearly $65 million. At Island Terrace Apartments, a 21-story, 240-unit high rise for families, an intense rehabilitation is underway that is desperately needed, said Konrad Schlater, vice president for development finance at the national nonprofit. That includes a device that saves energy and is becoming more common: an energy recovery ventilation unit. It brings in fresh air and sends out stale air without losing heating or air conditioning. Resident Bernadine Gibson, 82, said she sometimes leaves her apartment door open to get fresh air.
There would have been no way to modernize many of these properties now without the HUD program, Schlater said.
One of the first grant recipients was Woodland Homes, an apartment community for low-income seniors in Lexington, Tennessee. Property manager Wesley Living used a $750,000 grant to convert the furnace and water heater from gas to electric, new cabling for the electrification work and electric vehicle charging stations. Solar panels were added to the community center roof, with batteries to store power as part of a larger renovation using a state tax credit program. The work is now complete.
“It’s going to be good for the future, not only for us, but for the future of our planet,” said 74-year-old resident Judy Jones.
Jones and other residents said they take comfort in knowing the lights will stay on in the community center when severe storms and tornadoes cause outages. Wesley Living expects the buildings to use about a third less energy, reducing both utility bills and carbon emissions.
HUD is tracking which investments significantly reduce energy and water use and improve the lives of residents, and will share that information with affordable housing providers to help inform their future renovation decisions. Grants and loans totaling about $1.4 billion have gone to 270 properties with over 30,000 rental homes in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Todman thinks the true number of people helped is far higher, considering future residents. Without these investments, she said, some of the units could have become distressed and unlivable, worsening the affordable housing shortage.
“This program brings HUD’s subsidized units into the 21st century,» she said. “It helps to make sure that people, because they’re low-income, are not being left behind with the energy improvements that need to happen and are happening across the country.”
Turistas visitan la fortificación española de San Felipe del Morro de la ciudad amurallada de San Juan, Puerto Rico en el Aniversario del descubrimiento de la isla por Cristóbal Colón en su segundo viaje a América. Imagen de archivo. (Foto: EFE/Ricardo Figueroa)
San Juan.– Puerto Rico conmemora este martes la llegada a la isla de Cristóbal Colón que, según algunos historiadores, tuvo lugar el 19 de noviembre de 1493 en el actual municipio occidental de Aguada.
El llamado ‘Día de la Puertorriqueñidad’ o ‘Día del Descubrimiento de Puerto Rico’ es festivo en la isla y se celebra especialmente en Aguada con un gran desfile.
Colón pisó tierra puertorriqueña hace 531 años en su segundo viaje a América, una época en la que el territorio estaba poblado por los indios taínos.
Más tarde, la isla fue colonizada por Juan Ponce de León, quedando durante cuatro siglos bajo dominio español, hasta la invasión estadounidense de 1898.
Debido a que otros municipios se atribuyen el desembarco de Colón, el pueblo de Aguada encabeza las celebraciones bajo el lema ‘Por Aguada Fue’.
El alcalde de Aguada, Christian Cortés Feliciano, invitó este martes a la población a participar de las actividades culturales en la plaza Cristóbal Colón, donde habrá comida típica y artesanías.
El Gran Desfile del Descubrimiento reúne este año a más de 30 carrozas, comparsas y grupos musicales, mientras que a la cabalgata acuden caballistas de toda la isla, según el comunicado.
Aguada se estableció como pueblo en 1508, con el nombre de San Francisco de la Aguada, y recibió el título de Villa en 1778.
Elon Musk escucha al presidente electo de EE. UU., Donald Trump, durante una reunión con los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes en el Hotel Hyatt Regency, en Washington (EE. UU.). (Foto: EFE/ALLISON ROBBERT)
Elon Musk ha conseguido que el presidente electo de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, le encargue «desmantelar» del aparato burocrático del país y recortar «al menos 2 billones de dólares» del presupuesto del Gobierno. Muchos se preguntan si es posible y si su repentina estrecha relación sobrevivirá a sus egos.
«Estoy encantado de anunciar que el gran Elon Musk, junto con el patriota estadounidense Vivek Ramaswamy, liderará el Departamento de Eficiencia Gubernamental (DOGE en inglés)», declaró el pasado 12 de noviembre Trump en un comunicado.
A lo que Musk añadió: «esto será una sacudida al sistema y a cualquier implicado en el despilfarro gubernamental, que es un montón de gente».
El nombramiento de Musk como «zar» a cargo de recortar billones de dólares del gasto público es la culminación de una alianza fraguada entre los dos empresarios en los últimos meses y que ha transformado al hombre más rico del mundo en un fervoroso promotor del trumpismo.
No hace tanto, Musk y Trump ni se podían ver. En julio de 2022, Musk escribió en la red social entonces denominada Twitter: «No odio al hombre pero es el momento de que Trump cuelgue su sombrero y se dirija hacia el ocaso».
Elon está en todas las fotos
Trump, fiel a su estilo, no tardó en contraatacar: «Elon Musk vino a la Casa Blanca a pedirme ayuda para todos sus muchos proyectos subvencionados, ya sean autos eléctricos que no recorren lo suficiente, autos autónomos que se estrellan o cohetes que no van a ningún sitio. Sin los subsidios no valdría nada».
Dos años después, Musk se gastó más de 150 millones de dólares en apoyar a Trump en las elecciones presidenciales, apareció junto a él en mítines y tras la victoria del republicano, aparece en todas las fotos (literalmente) y se ha convertido en una especie de vicepresidente no electo en la sombra capaz de influir al futuro 47 presidente del país.
Musk cree que EE. UU. necesita recortar drásticamente el gasto público estadounidense (2 billones de un presupuesto anual de 6,1 billones en 2023) para evitar la «bomba» que representa la deuda de 35,7 billones de dólares que acumula el país.
Eso supone un 30 % del gasto público del Gobierno federal. Más fácil de decir que de hacer.
Según las cifras de la Oficina Federal Presupuestaria, 3,8 billones de dólares de los presupuestos son gastos obligatorios establecidos por la ley: seguridad social, Medicare, Medicaid y otros programas sociales.
Unos 1,7 billones son gastos discrecionales que el Congreso controla anualmente. Gastos como el presupuesto de defensa (874.000 millones de dólares), transporte (137.000 millones de dólares), educación y otros. Y 0,7 billones es el coste anual en intereses de la deuda.
La motosierra de Milei
Aunque Musk quiere utilizar la motosierra que el presidente argentino Javier Milei (a quien ha apoyado públicamente y con quien se ha reunido en numerosas ocasiones) ha usado en Argentina para cortar un 50 % del gasto público, lo va a tener más difícil.
Y las muestras que la cuenta de DOGE en la red social X utilizó el lunes para ilustrar los gastos superfluos a los que Musk apunta no parecen suficientes para llegar a los 2 billones de recortes: 100.000 dólares en un estudio (hecho en 1975) para determinar si el tequila hace más agresivos a los peces luna o 1 millón de dólares para determinar si las codornices son más promiscuas tras consumir cocaína.
Para muchos, si alguien lo puede hacer es Musk. No en vano, el empresario compró Twitter por 44.000 millones de dólares, lo renombró como X y despidió a un 80 % de sus empleados. Al mismo, los ingresos publicitarios de X han caído un 84 % desde que el empresario se hizo cargo de la compañía. También cuenta como recorte.
Pero no todos, incluso en el entorno de Trump, están satisfechos con el papel que Musk está asumiendo en la transición.
Fuentes cercanas al líder republicano señalaron a NBC News que Musk «se está comportando como si es co-presidente» y que está presumiendo de que gran parte de la victoria de Trump es fruto de su trabajo.
«Está intentando que el presidente Trump se sienta en deuda con él. Y el presidente no le debe nada a nadie», añadieron las mismas fuentes.
Incluso Trump ha bromeado sobre la constante presencia del dueño de X a quien incluso su nieta Kai Trump le ha otorgado el título de «tío».
«Elon no se quiere ir. No me puedo librar de él», bromeó Trump ante un grupo de congresistas republicanos la semana pasada.
