Elon may be gone, but DOGE isn’t. And SCOTUS just decided in their favor to get access to Social Security information. That and the ones in the IRS worry me the most. I would bet they’re still unobtrusively loyal to Musk. Sooooooo, what’s he going to *do* with all this information from everywhere in the government? I can’t even imagine. From NPR:
The Department of Government Efficiency effort is entering a new phase, shedding its high-profile and controversial leader, Elon Musk, while its remaining operatives embed more permanently in government. Far from it ending, the Trump administration views DOGE’s work as central to its vision of remaking the federal bureaucracy in the president’s image. Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget and himself a proponent of slashing government spending and bureaucracy, told a House Appropriations Committee hearing earlier this month that a goal would be to have DOGE “far more institutionalized at the actual agency” level moving forward. “Many DOGE employees and [full-time employees] are at the agencies, working almost as in-house consultants as a part of the agency’s leadership,” he said. “And I think, you know, the leadership of DOGE is now much more decentralized.”
I would think “decentralized” would be a bad thing. They have no leader. So, who looks at` the big picture? They have a whole bunch of kings (ha) but no one to report to, no Supreme Leader. Is it El Presidente Imbécil now? Because that’s damn disturbing. I can’t even *think* about what Agent Orange would do with that information. Maybe he would fire anyone who isn’t a loyalist. That would create an even bigger mess, considering the federal government has had to re-hire people.
Since January, DOGE staffers have been detailed across the federal government, leading efforts to fire workers, cancel contracts, and obtain access to sensitive data. Now, many of them have been converted to permanent jobs within the government, and agencies are embracing DOGE’s mission, according to NPR’s review of personnel movements and interviews with federal employees who requested anonymity because they fear retaliation from the Trump administration for speaking about internal matters. “President Trump and the entire Administration will continue the important mission of cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from our federal government on behalf of taxpayers,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, in part, in a statement responding to NPR’s questions about the future of DOGE.
Right off the bat, here, we know KKKaroline lies like a rug. She’s wearing that out! How she can say things with a straight face is impressive. Just look at all she’s done with the “TOTAL OBLITERATION” for the bombs that failed. May I remind you of what Denis spoke about, that it cost us half a BILLION dollars. That’s a “lotta” money that could have been used for better things. A lot better things. Say, towards Medicaid because people on it are going to get screwed by the Republicans in the bull$hit “One Big Beautiful Bill”. But I digress.
Months later, Musk’s bombastic plan to slash the bureaucracy has been blunted by a flurry of legal challenges that allege DOGE overstepped its authority, circumvented privacy laws, and disregarded protocols for shrinking the workforce. Several agencies have backed off demanding weekly email updates from staff. Cabinet secretaries are taking the lead on further mass job cuts — and in some cases are re-hiring to fill DOGE-driven departures that they feel went too far. DOGE has also fallen short of Musk’s initial promise to cut $2 trillion in federal spending, and even the $180 billion it’s claimed to save has been dogged by inaccuracies, errors, omissions, and overstatements.
One software developer who worked for DOGE at the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year told NPR he was surprised “at how efficient the government was.” “I did not find the federal government to be rife with waste, fraud, and abuse,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR’s All Things Considered. “I was expecting some more easy wins.”
Now isn’t that interesting? It shows that the BS about “fraud, waste, and abuse” is just that – BS. Just like saving 2 trillion bucks. The bad part is that DOGE is staying. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what comes out after they’ve faded away in the news. By the way, there’s a lot more information in the article I used. Link is at the top. Thanks for sticking with me!
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As I have said before, it’s not about cutting “waste, fraud, and abuse”.
If it was, start at the Pentagon, a target-rich environment. Pun intended.
It’s about Elon getting to cut to the front of the line for government contracts and getting his grubby paws on our data.