In a surprise twist that nobody saw coming, Trump is attempting to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and guess who’s loving it? None other than tech mogul Elon Musk. The Senate recently voted to block the CFPB from overseeing digital payment platforms, paving the way for Musk’s X Money, because what better way to keep things ‘innovative’ than by letting fraud run wild?

Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff wasted no time in calling this a blatant gift to Musk, who apparently deserves a golden “get out of jail free” card. The lawmakers pointed out that with the CFPB’s oversight on the chopping block, consumers are left painfully exposed to potential fraud and privacy violations. In case you forgot, digital payments surged amid the pandemic, and with fraud rates increasing, the CFPB was the last line of defense for protecting those innocent digital transactions.

What triggered this meltdown? Oh, just a standard Republican claim that the CFPB has “expanded its authority,” as if asking companies to not scam consumers is such an outrageous request. As if that weren’t enough, Trump went on record saying that the CFPB “destroys people”. Uh-huh. Sounds like someone’s taking a page from the villain handbook on how to justify gutting consumer rights.

Warren and Schiff even put in a request to the Office of Government Ethics to probe Musk’s financial benefits from these policies. You know, little things like how dismantling the CFPB would put an extra dollar in his pocket, especially since he’s also the guy who’s looking to launch his digital payments platform. They claim Musk has a blatant conflict of interest. But, who cares about ethics when it’s the rich and powerful at play, right?

The senators compared the CFPB’s role to a superhero protecting consumers from malicious scams, while Trump’s gang seems hell-bent on turning it into a villainous specter. As the CFPB ceases investigations into consumer complaints, with claims of billions lost to fraud, the situation is starting to resemble a bad horror flick.

Musk, meanwhile, is painting this as an opportunity for “innovation” in digital payments, clearly dismissing the looming threats to consumers as mere inconveniences. Can we please give the guy a trophy for being the lord of disruption?

In an era when protecting consumers should be a top priority, it’s alarming to think that the fight isn’t just about regulating payments anymore; it’s about ensuring that the average person doesn’t get trampled while rich corporations play financial Twister with our money. The CFPB might be on its last leg, but let’s hope this isn’t the finale of a really bad reality show.

Stay tuned for more on how the dollar signs may drown out the voice of reason, because if there’s something worse than straight-up stealing, it’s pretending it’s completely above board while doing it.