During his bid to reclaim the White House, President Trump pledged to pare down the federal government and said Elon Musk would play a role in that effort. The Democrats evidently expected this project to go the way of the ineffectual Simpson-Bowles and Grace Commissions. Consequently, they were less than pleased when Trump rebranded the United States Digital Service (USDS) as the United States DOGE Service and promptly sicced it on the bureaucratic leviathan. The public differs with the Democrats, however. According to Newsweek, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that “61 percent of U.S. adults support Trump’s plan to downsize the federal government.”

The Democrats perversely responded by staging rallies and holding press conferences to denounce Elon Musk and all his wicked works. On February 3, Senate Democrats appeared before the cameras and claimed, “An unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government.” This nonsense was soon followed by a press conference called by House Democrats who characterized the DOGE audit as a “data breach” comparable to a hack perpetrated by a hostile foreign power. As it happens, Musk and his team are operating under the auspices of an entity created by the Obama administration. As author and attorney Tom Renz explains:

The USDS was an Obamacare office created to make government software better. They were essentially software development for the bureaucracy. Trump renamed the United States Digital Service (USDS) the United States DOGE Service which even kept the acronym the same. Not only did repurposing an appropriate existing department allow Trump to ensure there was funding for DOGE without having to fight with Congress — he also ensured its legality.

Nonetheless, in addition to the antics of the Democrats, the corporate media is contributing to the hysteria. Their general tone is obviously meant to evoke images of the zombie apocalypse. NBC News, for example, ran an article on Saturday with the following title: “Inside DOGE’s takeover of the Education Department.” The New York Times ran an equally absurd piece under this headline: “Young Aides Emerge as Enforcers in Musk’s Broadside Against Government.” PBS ran a story with this ominous title: “Protests erupt as Elon Musk moves to gut government agencies.” It’s little wonder that public trust in the corporate media has hit a record low and confidence in the federal government has also reached rock bottom.