CAN TRUMP CANCEL SPACEX CONTRACTS BECAUSE HE'S MAD AT MUSK?

Trump is now saying that he is mad at Musk and will cancel their government contracts. Needless to say, I am no fan of Musk, but Trump has no more right to cancel a SpaceX contract at whim that he did originally to award it at whim. The government does have the right (which does not routinely exist for contracts among private parties) to terminate a contract “for convenience” — that is because it decides it doesn’t want the contract anymore. But there are pretty detailed rules about what contractor costs must be paid out in the event of such a cancellation.

Trump is obviously unaware of all this, and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in terms of legal challenges, but this is not even close to how our procurement system is supposed to function. I have always been an advocate of less bureaucracy in government procurement and more ability of government officials to make the best decision that they believe in, but this is to put it mildly the wild west.