Elon Musk Chief Nerd's Elaborate $1,000 Troll Scam
Among Elon Musk's nerd army is trolling his brand-new fans by charging $1,000 to check out a manifesto about why he signed up with DOGE - just to find the post is blank.
Gavin Kliger, 25, is among six baby-faced young boys with little-to-no government experience handpicked by the 'First Buddy' to plant havoc in the civil service.
He was the one who sent a company-wide email sent out to staff members at USAID telling them not to come into the agency's Washington DC headquarters on Monday.
Kliger sent out the guideline from a USAID email address he was supplied with as part of high-level access to its systems, in addition to fellow DOGE nerd Luke Farritor.
While the personnel were kept home, DOGE gained access to the company's IT system, constructing security, and classified products, and started dismantling it.
Just hours before he sent the email, Kliger made a post on his Substack page titled: 'Why DOGE. Why I provided up a seven-figure wage to save America.'
Unlike the rest of his Substack, the post was 'customer only' with a $1,000-a-month fee - or $10,000 for an entire year - to access a single word of it.
However, those who wondered sufficient to cough up the remarkable cost found there wasn't even that - the post was totally blank.
Gavin Kliger, 25, is one of 6 baby-faced kids with little-to-no federal government experience handpicked by Elon Musk to sow havoc in the civil service
Kliger made a post on his Substack page titled: 'Why DOGE. Why I quit a seven-figure income to conserve America'. Despite a $1,000 paywall, it is totally empty
'Poetically blank, please reevaluate your life choices,' one talk about the post read.
Kliger furthered his intricate trolling with a strange voicemail welcoming that pointed anybody who called his registered telephone number to the post.
'I just wrote a lovely Substack on this, the Weekly Byte, if you just go there, it lags the paywall, but I think it will respond to that concern for you ... it's quite excellent,' he said.
The one-minute greeting was an extended variation of the prank where the owner of the phone pretends to address, but it is in fact taped.
Kliger first pretended he was driving through a tunnel and having difficulty hearing the call, then ultimately exclaiming, 'They said what? No, no, I don't think that's right.'
The taped message then made its pitch for the caller to read his Substack.
Despite its name, the Substack was not upgraded weekly, and just has two other posts - both of which are free to check out.
Despite its name, Kliger's Substack was not updated weekly, and just has 3 posts
Unlike the rest of his Substack, the post was 'subscriber only' with a $1,000-a-month cost - or $10,000 for an entire year - to access a single word of it
They are both strident defenses of Donald Trump's most questionable cabinet elections - Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth.
Gaetz was nominated for attorney-general but withdrew after a damning House report found he paid for sex with 17-year-old woman and various other misconducts.
Kliger's post entitled 'The Curious Case of Matt Gaetz: How the Deep State Destroys Its Enemies' depicted Gaetz as an innocent victim who was 'framed'.
His other post, 'Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense: The Warrior Washington Fears', was an enthusiastic defense of the former Fox News host's election filled with frequent Trump-ally talking points.
Hegseth was narrowly verified by the Senate in spite of his history of alcoholic abuse and claims of sexual assault and harassment.
Kliger's claim that he left a 'seven-figure job' to sign up with DOGE is also dubious as his private sector work history didn't include such a function.
His newest task, according to his LinkedIn, was as a 'senior software application engineer' at Databricks, a cloud computing firm in San Francisco, from May 2020 to last month.
Salaries for that position at Databricks vary from $102,000 to $308,000 a year according to Certainly, while Glassdoor puts the leading end at $321,000, consisting of perk.
Kliger was the one who sent out a company-wide email sent out to staff members at USAID informing them not to come into the firm's Washington DC headquarters on Monday
The Berkeley graduate apparently advised all workers at the firm not to return to Washington head office on Monday
Kliger finished from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2020 and interned at Twitter in 2019 - well before Musk's takeover in 2022.
Musk last month designated him a special adviser to the director for details technology at the Office of Personnel Management, where many other Musk lackeys were installed.
The Tesla owner has essentially taken over the OPM, in addition to the General Services Administration, through his management of DOGE.
Kliger's now-deleted Github from his time at Berkeley claims he is an Eagle Scout, National Merit Scholar, National AP Scholar, a black belt first dan in Taekwondo, and drapia.org an accomplished pianist.
'I want to do work that will influence the future,' it read.
'Whether that means developing software, investigating system implementation, or operating in some other sphere, I understand that I will contribute insight and creativity towards meeting the obstacles I face.
'In my extra time, I enjoy playing the piano and clarinet and going to music performances at Berkeley. One of my preferred pastimes is playing online blitz chess.'
Kliger's father, Larry Kliger, is president of Lawrence Allen & Associates, an industrial realty company.
Musk last month appointed Kliger an unique adviser to the director for details technology at the Office of Personnel Management, where numerous other Musk lackeys were installed
Who are Musk's other nerds?
Musk employed a troupe of 19 to 25 - 3 of whom are thought to still remain in college - to fill high-powered engineering roles and cut expenses.
At simply 19, Edward Coristine is the youngest of the fresh-faced bunch taking on corporate America and longstanding federal government organizations.
According to WIRED, he's been dubbed an 'professional' in his field, and specifics about his role aren't yet clear.
Akash Bobba, 21, Ethan Shaotran, 22, and Luke Farritor, 23, along with Coristine, have supposedly been given A-suite level clearance for their work, indicating they can work out of the company's top floor with access to all physical areas and IT systems.
Musk's DOGE has actually been quickly growing in power and broadening its remit, most just recently protecting clearance to access to limited parts of the General Services Administration buildings and IT systems.
These systems keep sensitive data consisting of social security numbers, addresses and contact details.
Elon Musk employed a performers of young guys aged 19 to 25 - 3 of whom are thought to still remain in college - to fill high-powered engineering roles and cut costs
Finally, Gautier Cole Killian has actually been named for his role with DOGE, which is supposedly on a 'volunteer' basis at this phase.
After prevalent criticism about the guys's youth, Musk launched a declaration about the appointments.
'Time to admit: Media reports saying that DOGE has some of world's best software application engineers remain in truth true,' Musk composed on X.
Luke Farritor, 23
Luke Farritor has a known link to Musk currently, having interned for SpaceX prior to landing his new gig.
Farritor, left of the University of Nebraska in order to start working for Nat Friedman, the Silicon Valley business owner behind GitHub.
Friedman explained Farritor as 'a national treasure' after his consultation with DOGE was revealed.
He won part of a $700,000 reward in 2024 after using AI technology to assist understand a 2,000 years of age file - part of the Vesuvius scrolls from Pompeii - which scientists had been attempting, and failing, to fix for centuries.
The charred scroll was believed charred beyond acknowledgment.
Luke Farritor has a recognized link to Musk currently, having actually interned for SpaceX prior to landing his brand-new gig
Edward Coristine, 19
The youngest of Musk's elite squad is simply 19 and a trainee at Northeastern University in Boston.
Coristine apparently interned at Musk's Neuralink for 3 months last summertime, after finishing high school.
Little is known about Coristine's function at DOGE, however he is noted as an 'expert.'
WIRED mentioned sources declaring Coristine has been performing calls with staff in the department and making them 'review code they had actually composed and validate their jobs.'
Employees were presumably puzzled by his addition in the meetings, and later on expressed issues that they were not appropriately briefed on his identity or role, even throughout the call.
Coristine's dad, Charles, is the primary executive of popcorn empire, LesserEvil. Coristine once worked as a team member for the brand.
Up until recently, Coristine apparently used a social media deal with called '@EdwardBigBaller.'
The youngest of Musk's elite team is simply 19 and a trainee at Northeastern University in Boston
Akash Bobba, 21
Bobba is another 'expert' within the department still studying at the University of California, Berkeley.
According to a former LinkedIn account, which has actually considering that been deleted, Bobba was an investment engineering intern at a hedge fund.
He had actually also previously interned for Meta and Palantir - who was established by 2016 MAGA donor, Peter Thiel.
Just 6 years back, Bobba was the organizer behind the Princeton Junction, New Jersey, local design United Nations. His daddy is a scholastic in computer science.
Bobba spoke at his graduation event from West Windsor-Plainsboro South High School in July 2021, informing his schoolmates to 'appreciate the intricacy in life'.
" We live in an age where simplicity rules supreme, where 30-second TikToks and 280-character tweets pertain to define our identities,' he said.
'This increasing desire to simplify even the most complex stories into spectacular bits, perpetuates misinformation and at the same time divides the communities, households, and relationships we treasure.
'What's the service, you might ask? Seek pain.'
Bobba is another 'professional' within the department still studying at the University of California, Berkeley
Ethan Shaotran, 22
Shaortran founded Energize AI - a scheduling assistant for experts. The startup earned a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023.
The 22-year-old said in September he was a senior at Harvard University, and was operating in the school's computing lab on self-governing cars.
Musk is famously trying to establish self-driving automobiles at his Tesla head office.
Shaortran is part of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and worked as a scuba divemaster in Hawaii over a gap year.
He likewise has a link to Musk, having actually participated in his xAI 'hackathon'. He and his team were runner ups after they used xAI's Grok to develop possible responses from X fans to a hypothetical concern.
Shaortran founded Energize AI - a scheduling assistant for specialists. The startup earned a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023
Gautier Cole Killian, 24
Killian was working as an engineer at Jump Trading, which concentrates on high-frequency financial trades and algorithms.
Now, he is supposedly working as a 'volunteer' with DOGE, although in what capacity remains uncertain.
The 24-year-old finished McGill University.
Killian was working as an engineer at Jump Trading, which focuses on high-frequency financial trades and algorithms
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Musk's DOGE boasts sweeping power
Musk is leading an amazing civilian evaluation of the federal government with Trump's agreement.
'It emerged that it's not an apple with a worm it in,' Musk said in a live session on X Spaces early Monday.
'What we have is simply a ball of worms. You have actually got to generally get rid of the whole thing. It's beyond repair.'
Musk just recently hinted he was also the mastermind behind Trump's decision to purge federal employees by posting a symbolic image on X harkening back to his infamous Twitter cleanse.
At the time, he sent a letter to personnel entitled: 'A Fork in the Road.' The very same title was utilized in Trump's recent email proposing generous lay-off plans
Musk later shared on X that he commissioned an art work of a massive fork standing in the roadway, suggesting it was all connected.
Musk does not hold elected workplace, however on Monday was formally selected a 'special government employee' by the White House.
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