The DOGE is operating in complete secrecy, speaking only on Signal and guarding against leaks. The NY Times did get some information about it, however. It’s not good.
But parts of the operation are becoming clear: Many of the executives involved are expecting to do six-month voluntary stints inside the federal government before returning to their high-paying jobs. Mr. Musk has said they will not be paid — a nonstarter for some originally interested tech executives — and have been asked by him to work 80-hour weeks. Some, including possibly Mr. Musk, will be so-called special government employees, a specific category of temporary workers who can only work for the federal government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period.
The representatives will largely be stationed inside federal agencies. After some consideration by top officials, DOGE itself is now unlikely to incorporate as an organized outside entity or nonprofit. Instead, it is likely to exist as more of a brand for an interlinked group of aspirational leaders who are on joint group chats and share a loyalty to Mr. Musk or Mr. Ramaswamy.
“The cynics among us will say, ‘Oh, it’s naïve billionaires stepping into the fray.’ But the other side will say this is a service to the nation that we saw more typically around the founding of the nation,” said Trevor Traina, an entrepreneur who worked in the first Trump administration with associates who have considered joining DOGE.
Delusions of grandeur much???? Jesus, these people …
The DOGE team, including those paid engineers, is largely working out of a glass building in SpaceX’s downtown office located a few blocks from the White House. Some people close to Mr. Ramaswamy and Mr. Musk hope that these DOGE engineers can use artificial intelligence to find cost-cutting opportunities.
The broader effort is being run by two people with starkly different backgrounds: One is Brad Smith, a health care entrepreneur and former top health official in Mr. Trump’s first White House who is close with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law. Mr. Smith has effectively been running DOGE during the transition period, with a particular focus on recruiting, especially for the workers who will be embedded at the agencies.
Mr. Smith has been working closely with Steve Davis, a collaborator of Mr. Musk’s for two decades who is widely seen as working as Mr. Musk’s proxy on all things. Mr. Davis has joined Mr. Musk as he calls experts with questions about the federal budget, for instance.
Other people involved include Matt Luby, Mr. Ramaswamy’s chief of staff and childhood friend; Joanna Wischer, a Trump campaign official; and Rachel Riley, a McKinsey partner who works closely with Mr. Smith.
Mr. Musk’s personal counsel — Chris Gober — and Mr. Ramaswamy’s personal lawyer — Steve Roberts — have been exploring various legal issues regarding the structure of DOGE. James Burnham, a former Justice Department official, is also helping DOGE with legal matters. Bill McGinley, Mr. Trump’s initial pick for White House counsel who was instead named as legal counsel for DOGE, has played a more minimal role.
What a cozy little group! I’m sure they all must be the best and the brightest.
I think most of us have known successful people who believe that because they’re good at one thing it makes them Leonardo DaVinci. I certainly came across this in the movie business where every lawyer sees himself as a director. But this is something else.
Peter Thiel is very involved in this project. He recently wrote a very, very weird, paranoid piece for the Financial Times called “A Time for Truth and Reconciliation” (a rather crude evocation of his home country of South Africa’ post-apartheid commission, which takes some real chutzpah.) He babbles about all the Red-pill conspiracies around the Deep State, Jeffrey Epstein, the JFK assassination, and COVID-19 in the kind of prose reserved for the most pretentious of Q-Anon fanatics.
“Trump’s return to the White House augurs the apokálypsis of the ancien regime’s secrets. The new administration’s revelations need not justify vengeance—reconstruction can go hand in hand with reconciliation. But for reconciliation to take place, there must first be truth.”
FFS. Edward Luce of the Financial Times was not amused:
I think this captures it perfectly:
Just read it. And pray that these ridiculous incel freaks get bored with this little project and move on to building their shopping malls on Mars or whatever other adolescent fantasy they’ve been nursing since middle school. I’m not sure any of them have the faintest idea of how bureaucracies work or understand the power of them. But I guess we’re going to see. Trump obviously doesn’t give a damn about any of it. He got his. He won and he’s going to make more money than he ever has.
I’ve never been one to hate on the pointy headed nerd types but I’m becoming converted. These people are living in another dimension.
Update: Tom had a great post the other day about Thiel’s op-ed. You just can’t make this stuff up.