这是一次内阁会议，表明伊隆·马斯克本人就是内阁
【中美创新时报2025 年 2 月 26 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）埃隆·马斯克不是内阁成员。但当他在特朗普的会议上发表讲话时，真正的权力掌握在谁手中就一目了然了。《波士顿环球报》记者詹姆斯·平德尔对此作了下述分析报道。
特朗普总统第二任期的第一次内阁会议上，真正讲述故事的不是说了什么，而是非语言暗示。
任何观看过过去总统内阁会议的人都会熟悉这一场景。特朗普坐在桌子中央，右边是国务卿马可·卢比奥，左边是国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯。副总统 JD Vance 坐在特朗普对面，背对着媒体，这是长期以来的惯例。其余主要机构负责人（其中一些人尚未得到参议院的批准）都填上了表格。
但接下来发生的事情可能比其他任何事情都更能揭示特朗普回归仅一个月后华盛顿的真正权力结构。
在几句开场白之后，特朗普把发言权交给了埃隆·马斯克。由于马斯克不是内阁成员，所以他没有坐在桌子上。但当他站着向大家发表讲话时，真正的权力就很明显了。
每位内阁部长都由参议院任命和批准，负责管理各自的部门。在任何政府中，这些官员的影响力通常取决于他们机构的规模和范围，以及他们所关注的问题领域在任何时候对总统的优先程度。
此外，他们管理部门的权力——雇用和解雇人员，制定符合总统愿景的政策——本质上是他们工作的核心。
但任何关注华盛顿近几周动态的人都知道，在能源部，最有影响力的人不是部长克里斯·赖特，而是马斯克。他是该机构官员在做决定时真正考虑的人，因为特朗普授权他不仅重塑能源部，还重塑每个部门，并让工作人员遍布政府各处。
从商业顾问的角度来看，特朗普实际上已经将马斯克“层层”地安排在他的内阁之上，而马斯克却没有任何真正的责任。
当然，马斯克淡化了自己的角色，他在讲话开始时坚称自己只是政府的“技术支持”——这几个字写在他的衬衫上以增加亮点——帮助更新过时的计算机系统。他还承认他的团队犯了一些错误——比如错误地取消了一个旨在遏制东非埃博拉疫情的项目，后来又恢复了它。哎呀。
尽管马斯克没有正式参与管理一个政府项目，但他可以取消和恢复它，这说明了很多问题，目前看来马斯克就是内阁。
在会议开始前，形势已经很明朗。上周末，马斯克向所有联邦雇员发送了一封电子邮件，要求他们回复上周完成的五件事——否则就有丢掉工作的风险。国防部和国务院指示员工忽略这条信息。后续电子邮件澄清说，回复是“自愿的”。
如果在内阁会议期间对马斯克有任何反击，那不会在镜头前发生。在特朗普当天早些时候在 Truth Social 上发帖定下基调后，情况尤其如此：
“所有内阁成员都对埃隆非常满意。媒体将在今天上午的内阁会议上看到这一点！！！”
在会议上，特朗普几乎敢于挑战马斯克。相反，他们尽职尽责地鼓掌，肯定马斯克可以做任何他想做的事情——即使是对他们自己的直接下属。
这是美国历史上前所未有的一幕。
虽然赫格塞斯、万斯、商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克和卫生与公众服务部部长罗伯特·肯尼迪都发表了简短的讲话，但会议室里最引人注目的人物也许是卢比奥。
他没有说一句话。但在幕后，他做了一件了不起的事情——以某种方式说服马斯克不干涉他的许多人。就连特朗普也公开承认了这一点。
“现在，有些机构，比如马科在国务院里的人，现在正在做非常机密、非常保密的工作，我们知道我们已经谈过了，你知道，我们正在更加谨慎。马科自己也在做很多事情，”特朗普说。
卢比奥的策略可能成为其他寻求驾驭新权力结构的人的蓝图。
当然，马斯克在政府中的过大角色很可能是不可持续的。
但就目前而言，这是近年来华盛顿最明显的权力展示之一。
题图：政府效率部负责人埃隆·马斯克在 2025 年 2 月 26 日在华盛顿特区白宫举行的特朗普总统内阁会议上发表讲话。Andrew Harnik/Getty
附原英文报道：
Elon Musk is not a Cabinet member. But as he addressed Trump’s meeting, it was clear where real power resided.
By James Pindell Globe Staff,Updated February 26, 2025
Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, speaks during a Cabinet meeting held by President Trump at the White House on Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Andrew Harnik/Getty
It wasn’t so much what was said during President Trump’s first Cabinet meeting of his second term, but rather the nonverbal cues that truly told the story.
The scene was familiar to anyone who has watched past presidential Cabinet meetings. Trump sat at the center of the table, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his right and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on his left. Vice President JD Vance sat across from Trump, his back to the press, as has long been customary. The rest of the major agency heads — some of whom had yet to be confirmed by the Senate — filled out the table.
But what happened next may have revealed more about the true power structure in Washington, just one month into Trump’s return, than anything else.
After a few opening remarks, Trump handed the floor to Elon Musk. Since Musk is not a Cabinet member, he did not have a seat at the table. But as he stood addressing the room, it was clear where real power resided.
Every Cabinet secretary was appointed and confirmed by the Senate to run their respective departments. In any administration, the influence of these officials is typically measured by the size and scope of their agencies and by how much of a priority their issue area is to the president at any given time.
Further, their authority to manage their departments — to hire and fire personnel and set policy in alignment with the president’s vision — is essentially the core of their job.
But anyone paying attention to Washington in recent weeks knows that when it comes to the Department of Energy, the person with the most influence is not Secretary Chris Wright, it’s Musk. He is the one the agency’s officials are truly considering in their decisions, as Trump has empowered him to reshape not just Energy but every department, with staff embedded across the government.
In business consultant terms, Trump has effectively “layered” Musk over his Cabinet, without Musk having any real accountability.
Musk, of course, downplayed his role, opening his remarks by insisting he was merely the government’s “tech support” — the words written across his shirt for extra flare — helping to modernize outdated computer systems. He also acknowledged that his team had made some errors — like mistakenly eliminating a program aimed at containing an Ebola outbreak in Eastern Africa, only to later restore it. Oops.
That Musk could both eliminate and reinstate a government program, despite having no formal role in running it, spoke volumes and at this moment suggests Musk is the Cabinet.
Heading into the meeting, the dynamic was already clear. Over the weekend, Musk had an email sent to all federal employees demanding they reply with five things they had accomplished the previous week —or risk losing their jobs. The Defense and State Departments instructed their employees to ignore the message. A follow-up email clarified that responses were “voluntary.”
If there was going to be any pushback against Musk during the Cabinet meeting, it wasn’t going to happen on camera. That was especially true after Trump set the tone earlier in the day by posting on Truth Social:
“ALL CABINET MEMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ELON. The Media will see that at the Cabinet Meeting this morning!!!”
At the meeting, Trump all but dared anyone to challenge Musk. Instead, they dutifully clapped, affirming that Musk could do whatever he wanted — even to their own direct reports.
It was a scene unprecedented in American history.
While Hegseth, Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. managed to get in brief remarks, perhaps the most intriguing figure in the room was Rubio.
He didn’t say a word. But behind the scenes, he had done something remarkable — somehow convincing Musk to spare many of his own people from interference. Even Trump publicly acknowledged it.
“Now, there’ll be some agencies, like Marco has people within State that are right now doing very classified, very confidential work, and we understand that we’ve talked and, you know, we’re being a little more surgical. And Marco is doing a lot of things himself,” said Trump.
Rubio’s strategy might serve as a blueprint for others seeking to navigate the new power structure.
Of course, Musk’s outsized role in the administration is likely unsustainable.
But for now, it was one of the starkest displays of power in Washington in recent memory.
