We're also told Trump has called Musk "50% genius, 50% boy" or perhaps it was "90% genius, 10% boy."
Musk clashed with senior White House officials, as he made dramatic government cuts without consulting others, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and senior officials in the communications office, aides said. For several weeks, top Trump aides regularly learned from news reports or cabinet secretaries what DOGE was doing—even when the cost-cutting department laid off hundreds of people or sought sensitive data from agencies, according to the aides. He also clashed with personnel aides over vetting of some of his staff, some of the people said, believing the White House shouldn’t control his team at DOGE....
I assume that's a misplaced participle and that the phrase beginning with "believing" modifies "He." Don't they have AI to fix things like that?
Anyway, the person who could promise to cut $1 trillion was the person who envisioned himself with vast, unchecked power. Was it all bullshit? Not if you let him do it. Then it wouldn't be bullshit, though it might be crazy. Even on Trump's scale of sane to crazy.
Let me cherry-pick this:
Trump grew irritated in April when he learned Musk was getting a top-secret briefing at the Pentagon on China.... He said Musk getting the briefing was a conflict of interest, two administration officials said. Trump told aides that Musk, who has space contracts, shouldn’t be working at the Pentagon....
And here's some interesting material about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election:
White House aides were... dismayed at how involved Musk became in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, because they believed Brad Schimel, who was backed by Musk and the state’s Republican party, wasn’t going to win, and the race was becoming a referendum on Musk and Trump. Musk was dismissive of those concerns, saying the polling he commissioned showed Schimel had a chance. Trump became annoyed after doing a town hall with Schimel, telling advisers that he was done with him because Schimel couldn’t answer questions cogently about abortion, according to people familiar with the matter....
Of course, Schimel lost.
పోస్ట్లు
55 కామెంట్లు:
Musk had access to the pentagon because that’s where the waste is. It would be easy to find $1 trillion to cut from the budget without harming service for anyone except the people using that money for nefarious purposes. Politicians on either side can’t allow it to happen- Republicans because government spending counts towards gdp and democrats because they need bribe money to survive as an opposition party…
"...some of the people said."
What kind of "reporting" is this?
Propaganda media invites us to believe the government budget is too sophisticated and complex for anyone to understand except ‘experts’ but there was a high school science project back in the 90s that did a thorough audit back when the government published actual numbers that allowed the public to conduct a review../
Always anonymous, never identified. I think I’m feeling the tiniest bit of interest in this… I… no… that was just a little gas from last evening’s burrito.
I agree with rejahm about the Pentagon being where the big money is. Bipartisan graft and political propaganda operations. USAID was a pittance. Listen to Mike Benz.
Half genius/half boy could be a compliment, like "the president is about six years old."
JSM
There was bound to be friction regarding any cuts. Trump might’ve greased some of it if he directed Musk to only work in departments with a confirmed Secretary, forcing them to work together on the related cuts. Live and learn.
DOGE shouldn’t be doing more than make recommendations that Trump and congress can act on, or not. A free-wheeling operation like that should never have had actual power.
Cut the billions we are sending to Netanyahu and Zelensky. Let them find a way to "win" on what we've spotted them. Bibi wants more, to expand his religious state. He's not about getting the IDF to rescue hostages. Some think Bibi and the IDF let the "terrorists" in on Oct 7, so they could "fight back" just like Bush/Cheney did attacking Iraq ("whoopsie!") after 9-11. Of course, your boomer mindset accepts what the gubmint tells you. Kennedy was killed by Oswald and only Oswald, and the "bad guys" took down the towers... while people were drinking coffee and three of my bestest friends had to contemplate, jump or burn jump or burn? oh... which do I choose..."
Silly girls. It's early for you to be puddin heads than to think about the state of the world today, I guess. Hey, is that a dangling participle I spotted??? (wtf is a participle anyway? a misplaced comma?)
He said Musk getting the briefing was a conflict of interest, two administration officials said. Trump told aides that Musk, who has space contracts, shouldn’t be working at the Pentagon....
Oh, it's the WSJ. My first thought was, how did a double sourced report, that Trump might be ethical, make it to print?
"Half genius/half boy could be a compliment...."
He carried a little boy around on his shoulders. Was Elon the father or was he using the boy as his alter ego?
He's so big on having as many children as possible. Is that to be understood as a boy's idea of improving the world or is that fatherly thinking? He's a father of many children, genetically, but where is the real father — what percentage?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/opinion/elon-musk-doge-trump.html
I suspect that if Trump said "Was it all bullshit?" it was because Musk had challenged him with something like "This is all bullshit unless you give me the power to do what I alone have the nerve to do."
I suspect that if Trump said "Was it all bullshit?" it was because Musk had challenged him with something like "This is all bullshit unless you give me the power to do what I alone have the nerve to do."
Under what theory of U.S. law or the Constitution does the president have the power to allow Musk "to do what [he] alone have the nerve to do"?
Could Trump have been referring to USAID?
Again unnamed sources with paraphrased quotes. "WHite house aides" and "administration officials". Fantasy. Remember "White house aides" in the NYTs that said Trump tried to wrestle the wheel from the SS driver?
I have no doubt two egositical successful men like Musk and Trump would disagree and do it loudly.
There was a post on X last week that really hammered me: Matt Von Swol initially wrote:
“…73% of Americans say they support cutting government waste.
Trump brought in the smartest man on earth to do it…
…the Left destroyed Elon for it.
…the GOP won’t vote on this.
I can’t believe this.”
The reply from Musk that cut through my armor:
“Did my best.”
Trump stood strong under unceasing law-fare and relentless attacks, took a frikking bullet, and hit the ground running upon re-election.
Musk took on Nazi slander and financial fire-bombing to get things done.
For one wonderful month we voters were actually getting what we voted for.
Then — poof! — it seems we have slipped back into his first term, and all that implies.
Bondi: nothing. Patel: nothing. Congress Republicans: nothing. Democrats: waiting until midterms, to be followed by the endless inevitable inquiries and impeachments that will be ushered in through their victories, in no small part due to disheartened voters on the right who won’t bother returning to the election booth. Charlie Brown, Lucy, football.
All momentum, to be washed away.
I keep reading variations on ‘we need to give it time’.
We gave it time 2016 through 2019.
It’s been four months of term two. When the Democrats most likely take Congress in the next mid-terms it ain’t gonna take them more than four WEEKS to get their malicious plans in full action…
We have an asteroid heading our way, the Democrats declare it an oppressed non-binary migrant Maryland Dad, the Supreme Court says we can’t deport the thing, anyway, and the Republicans will water down a resolution meekly condemning the rock.
But then, the gut-punch: Trump, in April, saying “there'll be a point at which the secretaries will be able to do this work...with the scalpel, and that's what we want…”
Scalpel? A fucking scalpel, Donald?
That time is long gone. We need barbaric Civil War battlefield surgery with a bone saw. We need John Glover Roberts Jr’s misbegotten pride tested on a Catherine Wheel. We need Thune and Johnson under withering uncompromising Presidential fire, each and every damned day, explicitly explaining what they are NOT doing. We need Samson collapsing the pillars of the corrupt temple of Government.
Short version:
Musk has calculated that he has a better chance of living on Mars, than America now being saved from catastrophic failure. I think his numbers add up.
I didn’t vote for fucking Bill Bixby, I voted for The Hulk.
Hulk don’t use no damned scalpel. Hulk smash.
I am Laslo.
The Republicans in Congress have been very disappointing. Doge and the idea of radical efforts to stop waste fraud and abuse are one of the most popular initiatives in history. I don't understand why the Republican don't take advantage of that.
The position of the Dems seems to be that the government can spend any amount of money on anything even though they have to borrow it, the government can give any amount of money to anyone any time they want. But once they start, no one can ever stop the spending or the giving for any reason.
Good to have you back Laslo. You brightened my day.
Freder: "Under what theory of U.S. law or the Constitution does the president have the power to allow Musk "to do what [he] alone have the nerve to do"?"
If the President has the power to do something, she has the power to deputize someone to do it for her.
There's specific statutes for special government employees (18 USC 202 among others), which Musk appears to have followed to the letter.
And most of what Musk did was bring stuff to the attention of the 'real' appointees and civil servants in those departments for further action. Or just to the attention of the public for pressure on their elected representatives.
Now you can challenge whether Trump himself had the power to do what he had Musk do. But claiming Musk can't do them is just a distraction.
JSM
"Under what theory of U.S. law or the Constitution does the president have the power to allow Musk "to do what [he] alone have the nerve to do"?"
Ah! A supporter of the unitary executive theory!
I'm taking the implication of your rhetorical question seriously — as a rhetorical question.
I don't like the way you presumed I said something I didn't say, so how do you like the table turned?
The American system of government has led us to this point - the country fractured, non-citizens eating out our sustenance like so many locusts, ridiculous debt, endless ill-conceived social experimentation and a monstrous unaccountable bureaucracy that cannot be reduced or controlled. It’s over folks. On the bright side, Grok doesn’t see economic collapse for another 10-15 years.
Laslo: It's not that bad.
DOGE itself: lots of the deep state fired/pressured into resigning. Gravy train for Dem shadow government largely shut off. Money not going to anti-American programs abroad.
Immigration: New immigration shut off. Serious movement toward getting the previous invaders out.
Trade: Everyone is on notice that they're dealing with Crazy Ivan. Crazy about rebuilding American industry, that is.
De-weaponizing government: The last regime's victims are the ministers of this regime. And Trump is getting good at offensive lawfare himself. See, eg, Harvard.
All of these will have long-term repercussions.
Even if the courts reverse some/all of these actions, a certain amount of people won't want to go through all that and will just figure out how to avoid conflict with Trump. The whole process/punishment thing.
The budget thing is frustrating. But it has been frustrating our whole lives. I would rather add debt for pro-American programs than live in a Dem (non-)workers' paradise with a surplus.
The danger of one or both houses under Dem control is real, but it is much less than in the 45 term. Trump and his direct reports don't give a rat's ass about norms. They won't respect any of the nonsense anymore. Trump will instantly pardon any new Navarros or Bannons the committees try to screw with. If there is any R majority at all in the Senate, removal won't happen, because they will be afraid of getting primaried. Even if the Dems have both houses, they won't remove Trump because a certain amount of them will believe their own hype about insurrection. Will they remove Vance, too? No Dem Speaker will want to take office and step into those crosshairs.
So it could be better, but it already is much, much better.
I am Mosby.
It was never ever going to work, Elon Musk and Donald Trump. It's like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Sean Penn and Madonna. Or Billy Ray Cyrus and Elizabeth Hurley (currently together but destined to fail eventually).
DOD and Medicare are where the cuts need to be. The DOD cannot produce an audit, in its entire history. Not one ! Medicare disability gaming has been endemic for over 2 decades now, as the system has been used to secure long term disability in the place of Social Security. Strictly speaking I think it's fraud, except that people are encouraged to exploit it, so a process of reassessment is merited.
Audit the DOD and keep cutting the budget 10% each time it fails to audit until it passes, each audit being triggered by the report from the preceding one. This will develop mission focus. Eliminate Medicaid for able bodied people.
It was never ever going to work.
It can't work. The reason it can't work is twofold:
1) DOGE was finding all kinds of fraud in the federal budget with no-bid contracts for bullshit going out to the wives and girlfriends of Senators and Reps. These, of course, are the payoffs to get them to vote a certain way on various things throughout the years. The problem is that fraud is a crime. And it became increasingly evident that although there is fraud everywhere you look in the federal budget, Trump's DOJ head Pam Bondi wasn't arresting anybody for fraud. That stuck out like a sore thumb.
2) Once Republicans pass a budget, then it's the Republican budget. Any fraud found in it is Republican-approved fraud. So no fraud can be found going forward.
They had to get rid of Musk. He served his purpose, which was to allow Trump to upend USAID's hornet nest of Democrat opposition funding. Of all the efforts Trump has made to stick it to the Democrat Party, defunding USAID was the most significant by a huge margin.
The key drivers of the debt are Social Security and Medicare. When there is a consensus among 95% of the politicians that they cannot be touched there is nothing that can be done about the debt.
If DOGE’s only accomplishment is the elimination of the funding of Democrat related NGOs it will have been a success.
My first thought was, how did a double sourced report, that Trump might be ethical, make it to print?
Mine too.
except those programs are underfunded, on the issue of question of liabillities in part because of the Waste,
Treasury is no longer sending money out without proper expense coding. That alone makes auditing possible. Also I believe several/most computer systems are being overhauled, updated, and consolidated, which is better for security catching crap in real time.
In the end, we do need to return to the regular order budget process. And a few Dems who can see the light re reducing spending.
Musk's main failing was arrogance coupled with no evidence that he, his DOGE staff, or Trump had any idea where and why federal money is spent. They squandered the best opportunity in at least 50 years to fix stuff.
1. GAO has documented all sorts of federal waste for decades, but Congress aggressively ignores it. They want marketing topics for every election campaign, they want to reward their friends (left and right), and they fear backtracking on proven bad ideas. No outcome data for you!
2. Musk had access to GAO's documents, but chose to ignore them. His ignorant staff fed him silly, silly, silly interpretations of data and "findings." They literally didn't understand how to read federal databases, nor the routine workarounds employed by people with a few months of experience. Trump and Musk revealed this complete ignorance publicly and were made fools.
3. As a cocky "special government employee," Musk-rat had zero appreciation for the power hierarchy and payback system of D.C. Elected people demand to be at the top, even though they see the world with cartoonish naïveté. Those confirmed by the Senate demand to put in roadblocks and toll booths for every action.
4. As several people mention above, a HUGE percentage of waste happens in the Department of Defense. The easiest employees to cut with no impact on federal operations would be the veterans hired through Veterans Preference, but Congress (especially Republicans) wants to give handouts to their closest friends. Education, DEI, and other domestic programs are a budgetary footnote relative to Defense.
5. Federal IT systems are routinely out of date and broken, as "knowledge is power" and elected people don't want to make anything transparent or easy to spot. They love smoke, mirrors, and vagueness, as this facilitates speaking with forked tongues. For example, they present raw numbers (e.g., total white vs. black crimes committed,) when the only numbers that matter compare crime to the group population (e.g., standardized numbers make blacks look very very bad).
Bullshit? Arrogance = pride + ignorance. Arrogant people are too blind to check themselves, and this is exactly what happens with speculative bullshitting followed by action. Yes.
Dunning Kruger claims Musk-rat.
Treasury is no longer sending money out without proper expense coding. That alone makes auditing possible. Also I believe several/most computer systems are being overhauled, updated, and consolidated, which is better for security catching crap in real time.
All of this. I'm disappointed but unsurprised that the immediate impact is as - well, geez, if I say I'm "unsurprised," should I say "whelming" rather than "underwhelming" here? But I remain hopeful that DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, will have the long-term effect of increasing government efficiency (and improving data security and reducing the lacunae for fraud and so on). And if it also discourages kids from going into careers in government bureaucracy, all the better.
Enigma, you're being enigmatic (which frankly isn't typical): your claim is that Musk was doing it all wrong, and you're defining "all wrong" as "not respecting the almighty status quo," while at the same time laying out the status quo in... less than complimentary terms, as if you agree that it needs to be changed. Do you think that DOGE should have accepted "the routine workarounds employed by people with a few months of experience," for instance? When (for example) somebody hard-codes a number in a spreadsheet instead of figuring out where that number is pulled from and coding it properly, does an organization whose purpose is to improve efficiency let that stand? When a quantity is misleadingly called X when the word X has a specific meaning that this instance of X doesn't meet, should the efficiency organization let that terminology stand?
How is an efficiency organization supposed to identify and change inefficiencies (to say nothing of areas where the government is vulnerable to fraud and gross error) without upending "workarounds" and rice bowls and special preferences?
John Mosby is right: glass half full. Congressional Republicans, get off your asses. Literally.
"Then it wouldn't be bullshit, though it might be crazy."
Imagine we had a balanced budget, no debt, with both Social Security and Medicare safe and sustainable, and then someone came in and wanted to put us 40 trillion in debt and all those programs in peril by sending out money with no transparency, auditing, or controls. We called that a "return to normalcy". In an asylum, the sane person looks crazy. Did anyone on the Titanic suggest slowing down? Probably lots of reasonable people around after it sunk.
If nobody powerful goes to jail, then powerful people will just figure out new ways to game the system. Grift is like rust. It never sleeps and it ruins everything eventually. We would be a lot better off as a country if the public disdain for racism was focused on government grift. We actually have a deep supply of grift to dig through, while the racism stock is getting low.
First thing out of this article is bull. "For several weeks, top Trump aides regularly learned from news reports or cabinet secretaries what DOGE was doing—even when the cost-cutting department laid off hundreds of people " Musk could not fire ANYONE. Not one single person, none, nada. This is fake. Everything else is bull as well if you are going to push this crap. Of course Musk ruffled feathers, especially none cabinet members. He will have done great work just by making sure every expenditure has a reason, until it doesn't by some republican.
As far as schimmel? WTF was the RNC, Trump, etc. You either fight to win or do a mcconnell and refuse funds to lose.
john mosby said...
Freder: "Under what theory of U.S. law or the Constitution does the president have the power to allow Musk "to do what [he] alone have the nerve to do"?"
If the President has the power to do something, she has the power to deputize someone to do it for her.
Freder supported the Biden Regime where Biden wasn't even competent enough to delegate.
His opposition to musk/trump here is no supported by any principle other than power for his tribe.
Freder is an evil dishonest person with evil dishonest intentions.
Sally327 said...
It was never ever going to work, Elon Musk and Donald Trump. It's like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Sean Penn and Madonna. Or Billy Ray Cyrus and Elizabeth Hurley (currently together but destined to fail eventually).
This is stupid and silly and juvenile.
Trump and Musk are both busy people with a lot going on.
Musk built a framework that makes the government more transparent to the people.
Now that we can see what our money is being spent on it is only a matter of time before this spending gets curbed. It will either happen democratically or undemocratically.
Musk under Trump's authority put a damn in the river and changed the course of our federal leviathan. These effects will be felt for decades.
Bullshit calling others' efforts bullshit is pretty much the definition of modern news media.
Yea, yea, yea.. Musk squandered this, ,musk squandered that. Go straight to hades. The dude literally risks his life to try and do something, we've seen the leviathan that is our federal government chew up any and all disrupters. They tried hard to murder Trump. They will again. Elon Musk is one of the great patriots of our country and certainly our generation. I sure as **** didn't see anyone else stepping up and taking the heat. Nope, they all ran to the media and snipped, like on comment boards. Republicans did what they always seem to do, nothing.
"bagoh20 said...
Bullshit calling others' efforts bullshit is pretty much the definition of modern news media."
Comment sections as well.
Fair enough, but why are media bullshit artists paid so much more. I have anonymous sources too.
anonymous sources smell of elder berries,
ever since Mark Felt did his coup with Woodward's help,
we can go back further with Halberstam parroting a vietcong
propagandist, which gets us to the Diem coup
Enigma said...
Musk's main failing was arrogance coupled with no evidence that he, his DOGE staff, or Trump had any idea where and why federal money is spent. They squandered the best opportunity in at least 50 years to fix stuff.
LOL. "Opportunity"
This is so pathetic and whiny. Go do something. Anything.
I didn’t vote for fucking Bill Bixby, I voted for The Hulk.
Hulk don’t use no damned scalpel. Hulk smash.
I am Laslo.
Don't worry Laslo. If Trump is too nice and he lets the traitors and criminals skate just wait for the 2028 primaries.
We have always known that Trump is a softy and a nice person in general. This is his greatest weakness in DC.
Someone is going to promise jail time and executions. This will not stop until the traitors hang and the criminals are in jail.
The base is going to support whoever promises to be the second coming of Pinochet. Everyone else will follow and try to pretend they were for executing the traitors all along. Nobody will believe them. The Commies are going to get what is coming to them.
do we have the luxury of time, it's not at all clear, with only three seats to spare, in the House, the Progs can come back on their avenging angels, and make it plain we can't do another adhoc exercise again as the have done to durov, and other figures,
Schimel wasn't the target; Voter ID was the target. That passed, the lib was destined to win the court seat. The vote drive was to get enough conservatives who would vote on both things to beat out the prog driven voters who would only vote for the court seat.
Can’t beat “The world’s richest man is about to get a free public education.”
Compared to Musk's other work, government work is just taking out the trash and cleaning up after the dog. I doubt he enjoys it, but wants to fix it. He's obviously a fix it type by nature. He won't miss it for a second.
Earnest Prole said...
Can’t beat “The world’s richest man is about to get a free public education.”
Over the next few years I put my money on Elon winning this fight.
Good luck if you are in leviathan. The problem with Leviathan is it attracted mediocre people who can only do make work jobs.
This press conference is the actual story.
Ann starts these posts off with NYT's bullshit because she has some sort of fetish with trash propaganda.
People like Asmongold are forming the new political meta.
Someone is going to promise jail time and executions. This will not stop until the traitors hang and the criminals are in jail.
So, approximately how many traitors hanging and criminals in jail are enough to sate your appetite for retribution and revenge? Are we talking a minor purge (say a couple thousand) or are we talking about Hitler and Stalin level mass murder, or just something in between? Murder on a mass scale usually starts out small (we are just protecting the purity of the Aryan race) and ends up badly.
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