Now That DOGE Has Failed, Musk Admits the Truth

They were apparently just humble advisers that were fully accountable to other branches of government after all

I hate writing about DOGE, because it doesn’t actually exist. It is basically a data piracy scheme run by a random person, who was inexplicably and illegally allowed to break into, and steal data from, several federal government computer systems.

But it’s treated as a legitimate quasi-agency for the purpose of generating news cycles for the media. So I guess “news” sometimes is generated from it and should be commented upon.

And the latest news is worthy of note: Elon Musk—the random guy referred to earlier—is leaving DOGE….at least to the extent one can leave a non-existent entity. And he had some things to say about it that don’t quite match up to his original justifications for its operations.

From Bloomberg:

In a Bloomberg interview at the Qatar Economic Forum last week, Musk walked back his pre-election claims that DOGE would cut “at least $2 Trillion from the federal budget. Permanent spending reductions would depend on approval from Congress and the executive branch, he said.

“We are simply advisers,” Musk said. “In that context, we’re doing very well. We cannot take action beyond that because we’re not some sort of imperial dictator of the government. There are three branches of government that are to some degree opposed to that level of cost savings.”

I suppose 10 years of watching Trump make contradictory statements, cavalierly flip-flop on issues, and deny things he said that can be easily verified should have rendered me a bit blasé about such U-turns in rhetoric. But the egregious turnaround in these Musk statements is hard to accept.

I don’t know, maybe it’s hard to understand how he is suddenly admitting to other branches of government having power after weeks of posting to millions of his followers on his social media platform X that activist judges should be impeached for ruling against his DOGE data-piracy activities. Plus, there is him going as far as doxxing judges and their families, surely only for the purposes of informational transparency (NOT to encourage intimidation or violence, of course).

Or perhaps it’s his admission that DOGE is "simply advisers”, after publishing a web site detailing their cost-slashing accomplishments via contract cancellations and halting of Congressionally approved appropriations outlays, all while tallying up the dollar amounts of such “savings”.

Or maybe it’s his offering that DOGE is “not some sort of imperial dictator” after breaking into various federal department buildings, overpowering the employees to gain entry using vague armed federal and/or local law enforcement agencies as muscle.

It’s just kind of weird because these are the actions of someone that might think they are not “simply advisers”, but are “imperial dictators”, unaccountable to other branches of the government.

So why would he say such things now?

It’s hard to know what is motivating him at this point. But needless to say, he’s definitely crashing from the euphoric election—and immediate post-election—highs.

Remember when he was on the political rally stage, jumping like a child with his bellybutton exposed in front of thousands of loud MAGA fans?

The candidate he funded in unprecedented amounts had won the presidency, and Musk was guaranteed a spot in the new government to work his will. And he took full advantage, wielding his metaphorical chainsaw while acting as an online professor emeritus on constitutional government, giving us lessons about how the branches should work together; or, rather, how the other two branches should work for the executive branch due to an election victory.

Now, his pet cost-savings project has failed, mired in the realities of government bureaucracies that are there to protect government programs from the very activities he engaged in. And he’s been forcibly summoned back to his contractually obligated duties to lead his private companies, that have been sliding into bankruptcy due to his distracitons.

This sort of thing would humble anyone.

But, then again, there is the fact that—as I said at the beginning of this writing—DOGE was really a data piracy scheme.

Could it be that the “government efficiency” rhetoric driving DOGE was really a front for something else? And that Musk got what he wanted out of it? And there’s no more need for the public bravado?

Yes, it most definitely could be. And he likely will continue getting what he wants out of it. He’ll just have to be less public about the whole affair.

This is, after all, how a proper oligarchy is supposed to work.