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During his appearance Tuesday, standing next to a seated and mostly silent Trump, Musk, whose young son was sitting on the floor, fielded questions about the plans his agency is enacting or might enact, along with whether he had the authority to enact them.

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,� he said. “That’s what democracy is all about.�

First off, that’s rich, coming from a South African who inherited tremendous wealth from his father, an Apartheid emerald mine profiteer.

Second, and more importantly, no one elected Elon Musk to do anything. He donated a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump’s campaign and is essentially acting as a shadowy co-president, sending his minions into government agencies to look for “fraud and abuse� (supposedly) with no one knowing if Musk’s goons are even permitted to do so.

During Tuesday’s news conference, Musk said his agency has found fraud and abuse within the federal government, estimating that it could be as high as $1 trillion. He offered no proof for any of his claims. He did, at least, admit he was incorrect about a recent false claim he made that the U.S. is sending millions of dollars worth of condoms to Gaza.

Americans should be concerned about Musk, the role he’s playing, his disdain for federal employees and the power he seems to be able to wield, even over the attention-hungry Trump, who rarely likes anyone else taking the spotlight.

Musk has been very successful with his electric car company, Tesla, and his SpaceX program (though it’s ironic Musk wants to cut federal spending when SpaceX receives nearly $5 billion in government subsidies). But Musk is more hype-man than genius, and he’s been spiraling down a dark hole after he purchased Twitter, which he renamed X, for $44 billion. Musk has become a paranoid conspiracy theorist, a friend to white supremacists and Nazis, and an unfettered narcissist ever since he bought the social media platform.

What’s worse is Musk has started to believe, because he is rich and good at some things, he’s good at everything. Incompetence coupled with that sort of confidence is dangerous and, apparently, not just limited to podcasters.

It’s difficult to see how this will all play out. With more and more Republicans going against their own party to protect their interests back home, and more courts intervening, it’s possible Musk’s ridiculous rampage can be held in check. It’s also possible Musk will try to weaken the judiciary or event ignore it. A very real possibility exists that Trump will tire of Musk and kick him to the curb, though the bombastic president looked oddly cowed during Tuesday’s bizarre presser.

Fraud and abuse within federal government certainly exist, though whether it’s to the tune of $1 trillion is certainly debatable. Regardless, Musk is unelected and unqualified for the job, and Congress needs to stand up to him before he does irreparable harm to things like cancer research, food aid at home and abroad and public health grants that deliver millions of dollars to state agencies and universities.