Summary
Elon Musk’s DOGE faces mounting pressure to show achievements amid criticism. Staffers, under pressure from Trump administration officials, seek public relations wins to counter negative headlines.
Cuts to federal offices led to mass layoffs, and efforts to modernize government services have been chaotic. DOGE prioritizes speed over security and protecting sensitive information.
Trump has distanced himself, stating agency chiefs, not Musk, control department cuts, preferring a “scalpel” over a “hatchet” approach. Public opinion has turned against DOGE, with 48% disapproving versus 34% approving, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
With limited time before their tenure ends, DOGE officials are desperate to show results.
I have been approaching this from a middle of the ground standpoint. Basically I know that a large enough percentage of Americans would reject this as “evil socialism” so putting caps on the government industry at first would be a Trojan horse to get a footing and get society comfortable with the idea.
Ultimately I would like to see companies have to compete with government offered products and services, but I just don’t see it being feasible in our current political climate. Sadly I think it will either take generational change to get it done, or a more kinetic change that would harm the country and take far longer to recover from.
Honestly, I don’t think the middle path works. At least, not when it comes to major turning points in society. Elon is chainsawing our social security, just to run up his high score. I think people will be ready for a different way, now that the billionaires have been mask off. In my opinion, people prefer clear leadership over something ambiguous. They want to feel confident in their leaders, which is why Trump, despite being evil, took the lead against a deteriorating Biden and a weathervane Harris. Pit him against someone of greater conviction like Bernie or AOC, and I expect they would take the lead of any conversation.
In any case, we will see within 5 years what way the wind blows. Hopefully towards a better place than where we are headed right now.
I honestly don’t think even bold leadership would work at this point. Washington has spent so much time brainwashing the public to fear socialism that any bold leader on the left who suggests a plan like that without first kneecapping it would be killed in the polls because someone on the right would scream socialist and enough of the population would turn on them. And no amount of reminding the public about public roads, police, firefighters, libraries, ect. would change their minds. In my option it will take generational change to get past that mindset.