I disagree. Elon could only remain until 5/20 without having to divest .. do you think he would do that? I think they're still working. I think those in DOGE did the low hanging fruit first, to make a splash. They're onto much harder stuff now. Patience.
No serious reining in of the budget was ever remotely possible without a massive Republican majority in Congress...which we don't have any prospect of. So it was always about greater bureaucratic efficiency.....and maybe a bit of Trumpist creative destruction (including some positive mayhem) too. Any serious change to ANYTHING in the Western 'democracies' also depends massively on a no-holds-barred attack on the Lefty lawyer caste who currently hold far more real power than elected politicians. You would for example need to be able to (shock horror) tear up the contractual security of tenure of useless bureacrats and sack them anyway - contract or not.
I had this bizarre thought recently: it would be at least POSSIBLE for an AI bureacracy to be an efficient one.....maybe Elon's next project!
Whereas human bureaucracies can never be anything BUT stupid (with as many competing/conflicting personal agendas as employees). As I wrote here: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/take-me-to-your-experts "Advanced societies are just stuck with their modern equivalent of Dickens’ Circumlocution Office. Nobody really has any idea how to run an advanced urban society without it. What could realistically be done about the general Kafkaesqueness of the interface between us as individuals and The System?"
Of course it would still come back to who was pulling the AI levers.
I agree wholeheartedly that the " budget" will need to wait until after midterms. When was the last one passed, anyway? Inept politicians instead of statesmen is what in part at least made it ungovernable- at least by people whose only talent is running for office and grifting.
Why do you think some important stuff is being slow walked? For grins? Giggles? You don't really understand we're watching a game being played and the outcome is already foretold. We'll get together then and compare notes.
Agree much is theater and never expected anything from Thune or Johnson BUT people in their states, and other states with Republican Senators can make their voices heard and tell their Senators to get on board or else. Complain about Congress but guess who puts them in office?
Hmmm... very sci-fi of you. Unfortunately, the more efficient gov gets, the greater their idle hands, and unless they can get smaller, the more evil they get. Just saying. 🤷♂️
I agree with you. The favored narrative is that Musk lost and he is leaving. He’s actually staying on twice a week indefinitely and they have much work and successes still ahead.
It’s actually about $160B that they saved so far. Initially he was aiming to slash 1T by July 2026. (2T over the entire Trump term.) Well let’s do some math. Thats 55.5B per month on average that needs to be saved. Given that 160B was saved after only 75 days actually doing the work, (first two weeks was getting people in place, etc) then that equates to about 64B per month. He’s done better than expected. That also becomes 1.2 Trillion by July 2026 if they kept up the same pace.
Elon hasn’t failed at all in the past three months. He’s right on schedule. The libs are desperate to repaint the truth.
Not true. Elon has put a system in place that will continue to operate. He ded the same thing with X. Full time for a short time. But keeps his fingers on the pulse
I’m sad to see Elan Musk go! He is a great sidekick to our great President Trump! They got lots done in a short period of time. The corruption in Washington though is greater and more horrific than we thought, BUT now we know our enemies!
Elon has done a great service by exposing the rot in congress and government in general. For our congress and our government to operate the way it does is an utter embarrassment. If congress does not pick up the mantle and continue to clean out this rot it will be the biggest missed opportunity of our lifetime.
"If congress does not pick up the mantle and continue to clean out this rot"
-----------
Do you see 60 votes in the Senate for this bc I sure don't. So... not gonna happen. Sorry to disappoint you.
As I see it, the best that we can hope for is that w respect to: deficit spending, wasteful spending and outright fraud and corruption> the rate of increase in all that will have been decreased for a short period of time.
I agree and disagree all at once. Yes, he hit roadblocks, and the Tesla attacks were beyond the pale, which even for the violent left were unexpected. Musk would have been a bit wiser to understand the politics of public perspective when he was tweeting, but overall, the exposure he brought, so quickly, to so many people of what the government actually has been was terribly important.
DOGE has provided the roadmap - but now it will be up to the budget process to be fulfilled - so that Trump can with congressional blessing blow up the rest of it. Yes, it does rest on Congress, and while I think Johnson can get a bill through, I am not sure Thune can. It is quite possible that your dire prediction, and DOGE's ultimate failure will mean our last best shot has escaped us, and we must hope the growth side of the equation can bail us out. My fear, is the the leviathan that is DC will find a way to swallow that up.
Fear only serves losing and benefits Dems. That's why they generate so much fear. Never give up. Never stop fighting. Rufo does us a major disservice with this article. He used to be a determined fighter. If anyone has given up, it's Rufo, not Musk
I was making the same argument with a friend just the other day. They were almost mocking that DOGE came up short. My response was the identified savings are there. But the budget process is now the key. Congress must pass a bill crafted in such a manner that allows Trump to execute the rest of what DOGE found. Otherwise it will all fill back in.
You are NOT hard enough on the politicians, particularly the Republicans. They will not even attempt rescessions. Even Trump mostly chickened out, given his stance on Medicaid, a program rife with fraud and abuse.
DOGE can do much with the federal payment system, if the court (gasp, ridiculous) so permits. A deep dive into the NGOs could save us billions. Trump, or Vance must spearhead the effort going forward. We, the people, must apply the needed pressure.
Agreed. But able bodied adults age 18-54 without dependents receiving Medicaid is also a problem. I am not advocating abolishing Medicaid. I want to save it for the truly needy.
My brother is 61 and never paid into the system his whole life is on Medicaid. Says it’s his right as an American citizen. And now he wants SSDI because he says he has PTSD from living on the streets. He was supposedly displaced after a hurricane a few years ago.
He’s a leftist. It’s always been this way. He made fun of me for working and paying into the system. He did this for years. Once he told he that he owned a guitar and would never work again, not as long as he owned a guitar.
It’s a maddening situation. He has a Chinese girlfriend that is supporting right now. She’s feels badly about his on going health issues.
Right now, he’s demanding the government take care of him. The government he refused to participate in his whole life.
It actually is the Federal government that said his time was limited to ~125 days. His position is time limited as it is not a position in the regular government or a position that requires Senate approval.
Well, it's just that three months is hardly sufficient time, especially for something of this magnitude. It would take at least that time to even identify problems, much less start finding solutions.
DOGE was always going to be a disappointment. The important task is to keep this pressure to reform the bureaucracy going. That requires a lot more than simply trimming government. It will require reforming universities, reducing the privilege and power of credentials, and returning power to towns and families and local organizations, away from national agencies and nonprofits.
i can’t agree. i not sure what your exoecowas. the rot in washington is expansive and wont just disappear but the veil that musk removed was historical and effective.
It is comedic to presume the media/left/progressives beat Elon. He will likely continue to consult with DOGE and Trump despite this "stepping down". Are the media so stupid that they think they've won?
It is about perspective Chris. For you and I, defunding woke was an amazing success. And 100B+ annual savings is IMHO a great start. We have 1000+ days left. I ask; what can we do to pick up the DOGE ball. Elon got the ball rolling. Now it's our turn. Chris, got some inspirational ideas?
I totally agree with your comment that the problem is political. Potomac fever is real and we must force our elected officials to change or hold them accountable.
Trump's highest priority, bar none, is to dismantle the Democrats' criminal money-laundering machine. His second-highest priority is to dismantle their criminal election fraud machine. If he cannot accomplish these two things, we are toast.
Not to worry. To match what the Democrats have now would require decades of concerted effort. Beyond that, I don't think the Republicans have even one person on their side who's clever enough to do it. "Trump could have been the Soros of the Right (but he isn't)": https://daveziffer.substack.com/p/trump-could-have-been-the-soros-of
Scott Bessent worked for Soros for years and knows his gift. As does Musk. Soros not the God you think he is. He is an Emperor without clothes thanks to Musk and Trump
Musk and Trump are flashes in the pan. With a dedicated team of hundreds of professionals, it would take decades to dismantle Soros' machine. Read my article. Better yet, read the book to which my article refers.
Maybe now Vivek can have a crack after all. He might suit the next phase of locking in gains and making incremental improvement better. As a (now) politician, he might also be available to stick around longer.
Remember who paid for his education: George Soros. Careful how much faith you put in Vivek. His companies products never came to fruition either. He is a smooth talker but is self serving. A major rider on the Trump train to self glory
Until power is restored to "the people", the unchained corruption will continue.
I think DOGE, all things considered, having to work in the belly of the beast, swimming upstream the entire time, has accomplished great things, not the least of which is shining a bright light and exposing the rat and roach infested sewer of DC.
But, until such time that we can withhold our tithing to the church of globalist waste, and as long as they can enforce the collection of their "taxes", this waste, fraud and abuse will fester on.
I disagree. Elon could only remain until 5/20 without having to divest .. do you think he would do that? I think they're still working. I think those in DOGE did the low hanging fruit first, to make a splash. They're onto much harder stuff now. Patience.
No serious reining in of the budget was ever remotely possible without a massive Republican majority in Congress...which we don't have any prospect of. So it was always about greater bureaucratic efficiency.....and maybe a bit of Trumpist creative destruction (including some positive mayhem) too. Any serious change to ANYTHING in the Western 'democracies' also depends massively on a no-holds-barred attack on the Lefty lawyer caste who currently hold far more real power than elected politicians. You would for example need to be able to (shock horror) tear up the contractual security of tenure of useless bureacrats and sack them anyway - contract or not.
I had this bizarre thought recently: it would be at least POSSIBLE for an AI bureacracy to be an efficient one.....maybe Elon's next project!
Whereas human bureaucracies can never be anything BUT stupid (with as many competing/conflicting personal agendas as employees). As I wrote here: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/take-me-to-your-experts "Advanced societies are just stuck with their modern equivalent of Dickens’ Circumlocution Office. Nobody really has any idea how to run an advanced urban society without it. What could realistically be done about the general Kafkaesqueness of the interface between us as individuals and The System?"
Of course it would still come back to who was pulling the AI levers.
I agree wholeheartedly that the " budget" will need to wait until after midterms. When was the last one passed, anyway? Inept politicians instead of statesmen is what in part at least made it ungovernable- at least by people whose only talent is running for office and grifting.
Disagree completely. House will go to Dems if history any indication and then it will be obstruction, obstruction every minute of every day.
Why do you think some important stuff is being slow walked? For grins? Giggles? You don't really understand we're watching a game being played and the outcome is already foretold. We'll get together then and compare notes.
Agree much is theater and never expected anything from Thune or Johnson BUT people in their states, and other states with Republican Senators can make their voices heard and tell their Senators to get on board or else. Complain about Congress but guess who puts them in office?
Corrupt elections put them in office especially here in California
...and impeachment (because Trump).
Hmmm... very sci-fi of you. Unfortunately, the more efficient gov gets, the greater their idle hands, and unless they can get smaller, the more evil they get. Just saying. 🤷♂️
You seem to have missed my meaning. In my sci-fi scenario, total number of bureaucrats employed would drop from, say, 6 million (or whatever) to 60!
I agree with you. The favored narrative is that Musk lost and he is leaving. He’s actually staying on twice a week indefinitely and they have much work and successes still ahead.
It’s actually about $160B that they saved so far. Initially he was aiming to slash 1T by July 2026. (2T over the entire Trump term.) Well let’s do some math. Thats 55.5B per month on average that needs to be saved. Given that 160B was saved after only 75 days actually doing the work, (first two weeks was getting people in place, etc) then that equates to about 64B per month. He’s done better than expected. That also becomes 1.2 Trillion by July 2026 if they kept up the same pace.
Elon hasn’t failed at all in the past three months. He’s right on schedule. The libs are desperate to repaint the truth.
Thsnkyou for your verification
100 percent
I hope you're right.
I pray you are right. The Uniparty scares the hell out of me.
Trump just got Iran to cave. The thing we are watching is not haphazard. It's a battle plan.
Not true. Elon has put a system in place that will continue to operate. He ded the same thing with X. Full time for a short time. But keeps his fingers on the pulse
Let’s hope so.
I’m sad to see Elan Musk go! He is a great sidekick to our great President Trump! They got lots done in a short period of time. The corruption in Washington though is greater and more horrific than we thought, BUT now we know our enemies!
Elon has done a great service by exposing the rot in congress and government in general. For our congress and our government to operate the way it does is an utter embarrassment. If congress does not pick up the mantle and continue to clean out this rot it will be the biggest missed opportunity of our lifetime.
My hope is high, but my expectations are low.
Unfortunately Congress is the ring leader in the corruption racket.
"If congress does not pick up the mantle and continue to clean out this rot"
-----------
Do you see 60 votes in the Senate for this bc I sure don't. So... not gonna happen. Sorry to disappoint you.
As I see it, the best that we can hope for is that w respect to: deficit spending, wasteful spending and outright fraud and corruption> the rate of increase in all that will have been decreased for a short period of time.
Well the recision package only needs a simple majority. Hopefully we can at least get that.
I agree and disagree all at once. Yes, he hit roadblocks, and the Tesla attacks were beyond the pale, which even for the violent left were unexpected. Musk would have been a bit wiser to understand the politics of public perspective when he was tweeting, but overall, the exposure he brought, so quickly, to so many people of what the government actually has been was terribly important.
DOGE has provided the roadmap - but now it will be up to the budget process to be fulfilled - so that Trump can with congressional blessing blow up the rest of it. Yes, it does rest on Congress, and while I think Johnson can get a bill through, I am not sure Thune can. It is quite possible that your dire prediction, and DOGE's ultimate failure will mean our last best shot has escaped us, and we must hope the growth side of the equation can bail us out. My fear, is the the leviathan that is DC will find a way to swallow that up.
Fear only serves losing and benefits Dems. That's why they generate so much fear. Never give up. Never stop fighting. Rufo does us a major disservice with this article. He used to be a determined fighter. If anyone has given up, it's Rufo, not Musk
I’m not giving up, I’m just giving a mid-run assessment. Congress needs to step up now.
I was making the same argument with a friend just the other day. They were almost mocking that DOGE came up short. My response was the identified savings are there. But the budget process is now the key. Congress must pass a bill crafted in such a manner that allows Trump to execute the rest of what DOGE found. Otherwise it will all fill back in.
Voters need to step up next year and terminate the RINOs along with the Dems.
You are NOT hard enough on the politicians, particularly the Republicans. They will not even attempt rescessions. Even Trump mostly chickened out, given his stance on Medicaid, a program rife with fraud and abuse.
DOGE can do much with the federal payment system, if the court (gasp, ridiculous) so permits. A deep dive into the NGOs could save us billions. Trump, or Vance must spearhead the effort going forward. We, the people, must apply the needed pressure.
Medicaid FRAUD is the problem, not Medicaid.
Agreed. But able bodied adults age 18-54 without dependents receiving Medicaid is also a problem. I am not advocating abolishing Medicaid. I want to save it for the truly needy.
My brother is 61 and never paid into the system his whole life is on Medicaid. Says it’s his right as an American citizen. And now he wants SSDI because he says he has PTSD from living on the streets. He was supposedly displaced after a hurricane a few years ago.
He’s a leftist. It’s always been this way. He made fun of me for working and paying into the system. He did this for years. Once he told he that he owned a guitar and would never work again, not as long as he owned a guitar.
It’s a maddening situation. He has a Chinese girlfriend that is supporting right now. She’s feels badly about his on going health issues.
Right now, he’s demanding the government take care of him. The government he refused to participate in his whole life.
rescissions?
Three months? That's it? Good grief. No one can expect something this big to be fixed in three months.
Edit: Just to clarify my own comment, my point was not just to others expecting miracles in three months. It was the fact that he gave up so quickly.
He didn't give up. He is in Saudi Arabia right now. He left a great team in place. He can do more in the shadows
@Mo- He didn't give up. He said at the start he could only stay a certain amount of time.
It actually is the Federal government that said his time was limited to ~125 days. His position is time limited as it is not a position in the regular government or a position that requires Senate approval.
Well, it's just that three months is hardly sufficient time, especially for something of this magnitude. It would take at least that time to even identify problems, much less start finding solutions.
@Mo- here's to hoping he will hand it off to someone equally capable
I guess we will see!
He is a Special Government Employee, meaning he can work for the Government no more than 130 days in a 365-day period.
Interesting, thanks.
DOGE was always going to be a disappointment. The important task is to keep this pressure to reform the bureaucracy going. That requires a lot more than simply trimming government. It will require reforming universities, reducing the privilege and power of credentials, and returning power to towns and families and local organizations, away from national agencies and nonprofits.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/leviathan
i can’t agree. i not sure what your exoecowas. the rot in washington is expansive and wont just disappear but the veil that musk removed was historical and effective.
It is comedic to presume the media/left/progressives beat Elon. He will likely continue to consult with DOGE and Trump despite this "stepping down". Are the media so stupid that they think they've won?
Chris, you can only achieve great things if you think big.
In fact, if people aren't laughing at your goals you aren't thinking big enough.
Just four years the dream of a massive MAGA revival seemed impossible. Yet here we are on the verge a total political realignment.
Go figure.
Rock on my friend!
It is about perspective Chris. For you and I, defunding woke was an amazing success. And 100B+ annual savings is IMHO a great start. We have 1000+ days left. I ask; what can we do to pick up the DOGE ball. Elon got the ball rolling. Now it's our turn. Chris, got some inspirational ideas?
I totally agree with your comment that the problem is political. Potomac fever is real and we must force our elected officials to change or hold them accountable.
Trump's highest priority, bar none, is to dismantle the Democrats' criminal money-laundering machine. His second-highest priority is to dismantle their criminal election fraud machine. If he cannot accomplish these two things, we are toast.
Voter ID more vital than anything. Tough to fix outside of federal elections. Tougher still to get states like CA to comply
It’s not just the Democrats Republicans are money laundering as well! Be fair
Agree. Very important!
His third priority should be primarying all RINO candidates prior to the midterms.
And replace them with his own.
Not to worry. To match what the Democrats have now would require decades of concerted effort. Beyond that, I don't think the Republicans have even one person on their side who's clever enough to do it. "Trump could have been the Soros of the Right (but he isn't)": https://daveziffer.substack.com/p/trump-could-have-been-the-soros-of
Scott Bessent worked for Soros for years and knows his gift. As does Musk. Soros not the God you think he is. He is an Emperor without clothes thanks to Musk and Trump
Musk and Trump are flashes in the pan. With a dedicated team of hundreds of professionals, it would take decades to dismantle Soros' machine. Read my article. Better yet, read the book to which my article refers.
Maybe now Vivek can have a crack after all. He might suit the next phase of locking in gains and making incremental improvement better. As a (now) politician, he might also be available to stick around longer.
He's running for Gov of Ohio...
ah! that would make him a busy man then.
Remember who paid for his education: George Soros. Careful how much faith you put in Vivek. His companies products never came to fruition either. He is a smooth talker but is self serving. A major rider on the Trump train to self glory
Until power is restored to "the people", the unchained corruption will continue.
I think DOGE, all things considered, having to work in the belly of the beast, swimming upstream the entire time, has accomplished great things, not the least of which is shining a bright light and exposing the rat and roach infested sewer of DC.
But, until such time that we can withhold our tithing to the church of globalist waste, and as long as they can enforce the collection of their "taxes", this waste, fraud and abuse will fester on.