I guess I’m feeling cynical about just about everything right now, so perhaps my point of view isn’t realistic. But my immediate reaction to this is that it’s a fool’s game and will just legitimize our shadow president Elon Musk:
Billionaire Elon Musk’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is attracting interest from an unlikely corner: the left.
Progressives aren’t likely to support much of what Musk and his partner, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, are aiming to do with DOGE — cut some $2 trillion from the federal government, which could include critical programs for Americans.
But Musk has been critical of wasteful spending at the Pentagon and of overbudgeted programs helmed by defense contractors, potentially aligning DOGE with progressive lawmakers who have long called to slash a defense budget that is approaching a trillion dollars per year.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) drew headlines when he said Musk was “right” about defense spending, because the Pentagon has “lost track of billions.”
“Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That must change,” Sanders wrote on the social platform X.
Other progressive lawmakers have also backed the opportunity to potentially work with DOGE on the Pentagon budget.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a progressive lawmaker who has long pushed to reduce the Pentagon’s budget, said he was unsure if DOGE was a “complete joke” or a “play toy” for Musk.
“Elon Musk is somewhat more of a colorful figure than an expert in government funds,” he said, but “if they actually give them some staffing and put in some responsible efforts and they seek bipartisan input, like I said, I’m more than willing to try to work with them on things, but especially on the defense budget.”
There’s a part of me that thinks this is worth trying since Musk does seem to be open to defense cuts (for the moment.) But I do not believe there is any chance that the GOP congress will do this and even if they do, the price for their cooperation would be something completely unacceptable to Democrats. It feels like a trap.
I find it hard to believe that Donald Trump has an appetite to cut the military budget. Last time he bragged endlessly about raising it. He likes to pretend that he is some kind of peacenik but the whole thing is based on spedning vast sums on the military “so we never have to use it.” It’s about being so big that everyone in the world will be afraid of the United States.
I do not trust Elon Musk’s “populism” because that’s completely absurd. He is the richest man in the world and his agenda is self-serving and obscure at best. I just can’t believe that legitimizing his DOGE advisory board is worth any of this. My instinct is to resist it altogether.
This whole thing is probably going to fall apart sooner rather than later. Musk and Trump are going to lock horns and this relationship is going to fall apart before too much longer. Two narcissists at this scale cannot work as a team. It’s against their nature. So why give this process even the slightest bit of legitimacy? It just doesn’t track for me.
But I could be wrong…