Everyone is still howling about DOGE. Although with as many seemingly good things and astonishing finds coming out of them, it looks to be harder and harder for the opposition to come up with objections that will work anyone up into a lather over what the teams are doing.
For instance, the acting head of the Social Security Administration stepped down after butting heads with a DOGE team and a request for access to information she would have rather not granted.
The top official at the Social Security Administration, Michelle King, stepped down from her position this weekend after she refused a request from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access sensitive government records at the agency, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
The agency oversees the management of payments for more than 70 million Americans. President Donald Trump has vowed not to enact cuts to retirement benefits.
One of the sources familiar with the situation, Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works, a left-leaning group focused on protecting and expanding Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, told NBC News she learned of the situation after speaking with several current officials at the agency. Altman said some of the information involved in the dispute included Americans’ bank information, social security numbers, earnings records, marital statuses, dates of birth and in some cases, medical records if a person has applied for disability benefits.
Ah, another principled freedom fighter vanquished, as the various news reports are painting it. Keeping the snoopy DOGE noses out of information they have no business being in.
King resigned the day after Musk revealed his team had found some 20M dead Social Security recipients still on the roles. A few of them were almost 200 years old, and according to a whacked and ancient SS dataset, some of them might still be getting checks - but who knows?
Supplements - I tell you. Is there anything they can't do?
But he never said they were receiving benefits...
— Cardio NP (@CardioNP) February 18, 2025
cc @WelbornBeege pic.twitter.com/cyHI29NoIo
Not only that, but an Inspector General's report came out about the same time, and, as this gobsmacked MSNBC crew admits, the $72B+ in waste they found without using high-tech forensic accounting skills kind of makes the case for what DOGE is doing.
It ain't chicken feed - and that's only in one department. One!
MSNBC is making the case for DOGE even though they can't stand Trump and Elon Musk...
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) February 18, 2025
An audit of Social Security found that they made over $71.8 billion in improper payments over 8 years.pic.twitter.com/s083RqiOll
Still, the kicking and screaming about the DOGE teams, security clearances, and billionaires rummaging through your personal information, fed by hysterical elected Democrats...
My refund was delayed last year because someone filed taxes with my wife’s social security number, something you said doesn’t happen.
— Dr Strangetweet or How I Learned to Love the RT (@lone_rides) February 13, 2025
I’ll take my chances with Elon. https://t.co/7yqEhcRxzl
...and hyperventilating 'news' personalities is just out of control. Ermagerd - do they ever listen to themselves?
ELON'S HENCHMEN
That includes so-called 'experts' who say the daffiest, damndest things.
...The breakneck upheaval of federal agencies spearheaded by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has needlessly politicized the issue and could make it harder to enact the real changes needed to root out improper spending, five good-government experts said.
“Elon Musk is saying we’ve got shocking amounts of fraud, and you’re right, we do. No one’s really cared until now,” said fraud prevention expert Linda Miller, a former senior staff member for Congress’ independent Government Accountability Office during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
“But the examples they’re bringing are silly, made-for-TV red meat, made for people to be amazed and horrified and shocked,” Miller continued, pointing to some diversity, equity and inclusion-related arts projects on the White House’s list of objectionable U.S. Agency for International Development programs, some of which weren’t actually funded by the agency. “It makes the government sound like it’s a mockery.”
None of that made any sense. The only word missing was 'weaponization.'
I have noticed a subtle dig in many of the stories online lately that is a dead giveaway to the author's political leanings and/or the site it's published on. It's a sly delegitimizing of the DOGE efforts, even as an article might grudgingly report on either a successful result or a court victory.
Somewhere in the body of the piece will be buried the phrase:
DOGE is not an official government department
Like this example:
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has caused uproar almost since its inception.
Despite its name, DOGE is not an official government department. Only Congress can create new departments. But DOGE is an effort by President Trump and Musk to radically reform and reduce the size of government.
Musk once suggested it was possible to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. More recently, he has indicated that half of that figure would be more realistic.
But even accomplishing $1 trillion in cuts would require massive cuts to government services and its payroll.
Here's one today about a court order that went DOGE's way about student loan info. Well, yes, the author says, the court did say there wasn't any proof of harm to students so far, but then, you know, DOGE isn't really real either...
A US judge temporarily refused on Monday to block Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing Education Department student data, in a minor legal victory for the world’s richest man in his blitz on public spending.
The drive by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash outgoings deemed wasteful or contrary to US President Donald Trump’s policies has run up against multiple legal challenges.
The University of California Student Association had sought to block DOGE from accessing students’ data including social security numbers, loans and tax information.
But federal Court Judge Randolph D. Moss said in his order on Monday that potential harm to students was “entirely conjectural” and that their lawsuit “provides no evidence beyond sheer speculation” that Musk’s team would “misuse or further disseminate this information”.
The order allows both sides time to gather more evidence about Musk’s handling of the data, before Judge Moss rules on whether to allow the lawsuit to advance.
DOGE is not an official government department but has sought to access data from several federal bodies.
See how they're doing this? Just the News has a piece on that same court decision and, oddly enough, treats DOGE as any legit government entity going about its business.
A judge on Monday evening ruled not to block the Department of Government Efficiency from gaining access to data from the Department of Education on student borrowers.
The request to the court to block the department was made in a lawsuit by the University of California Student Association that argued DOGE having access to such data would be a violation of privacy laws.
Judge Randolph Moss, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled the plaintiff failed to show sufficient irreparable harm to receive such immediate relief.
DOGE is not an official government department is this week's version of the 'constitutional crisis' from last week and 'the price of eggs' the week before that.
You'll notice you haven't heard much about those in the past few days.
The sad fact for detractors is that DOGE is very real and very legit. As attorney Tom Renz laid out in an epic thread I will excerpt here, the Trump team had their ducks in a neat little legal row when they renamed an already existing, funded Obama-era executive agency 'DOGE.'
You see Trump has power to set priorities for Executive branch departments but there are limits. In the case of DOGE, Trump clearly had a team of lawyers looking at ways to accomplish this goal legally.
— Tom Renz (@RenzTom) February 5, 2025
USDS was already there and funded for the specific purpose. 44 USCS Chapter… pic.twitter.com/mDdj2FtLYq
...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.
That isn't the only thing the order did. To bring in Elon and Vivek, Trump referenced a statute giving the executive branch authority to 'create a temporary organization.' That covers Elon's group for 18 months legally and provides cover from lawsuits (Xweet below).
...To do this Trump referenced another law 5 USC 3161. This law governs the creation of and staffing for what is known as a “temporary organization” in the government. This group will focus on pushing the DOGE agenda and will exist for 18 months (though their work will survive). By including this group as temporary, Trump dodged several potential lawsuits as he may not have been able to create his own new administrative entity on a permanent basis without Congressional approval.
Besides reorganizing USDS as DOGE, the EO also mandated that DOGE employees/teams were to become members of every administrative branch department. They are to become kind of in-house active watchdogs.
Trump also ordered that DOGE teams be hired in every administrative branch agency. These teams are to include a team lead, a lawyer, an HR person, and an engineer. These teams work for USDS (DOGE) but work with and within various agencies. While all this is part of a “software… pic.twitter.com/eCVgDbTPfb
— Tom Renz (@RenzTom) February 5, 2025
...Trump also ordered that DOGE teams be hired in every administrative branch agency. These teams are to include a team lead, a lawyer, an HR person, and an engineer. These teams work for USDS (DOGE) but work with and within various agencies. While all this is part of a “software modernization initiative,” looking at the software and how things are managed is a great way to find out where there is waste - particularly when part of the mandate it to ensure efficiency.
So sadly - but not unsurprisingly - for the theme of the week...
DOGE is not an official government department
...it appears that DOGE is very much an official government department, no matter how often they say it's not.
What's worse for them is the more the American people see those "silly, made-for-TV red meat, made for people to be amazed and horrified and shocked" examples that the different DOGE teams keep finding, the more they warm up to Big Balls and his buddies rifling through the receipts.
Elon Musk is bringing receipts to substantiate his claims of large-scale fraud in the American government, undermining claims from detractors as he rides a wave of popular support for President Donald Trump and a government overhaul.
...Over the first month of the Trump presidency, DOGE has torn through federal agencies seeking instances of fraud, waste, abuse and other non-necessary expenditures hoping to dramatically reduce the scope of the federal government. The department has yet to post a comprehensive list of savings, but its website currently promises “receipts coming over the weekend.” So far, however, the department has already shown hard documentation of apparent fraud and waste via its X account.
...DOGE has embraced the notion of a popular mandate for its efforts, highlighting on its website that “the people voted for major reform.” Indeed, some data seems to suggest that the public backs DOGE as part of the Trump administration’s efforts. A recent Trafalgar/InsiderAdvantage poll found that 49% approve of Musk’s performance at DOGE while 44% disapproved.
A recent Newsweek focus group, moreover, found overwhelming support among participants for the new department’s efforts. "These swing voters are delighted by Musk's Trump-endorsed government housecleaning. The prospects of a looming constitutional crisis is completely inconceivable to them,” Engagious President and focus group moderator Rich Thau said.
And the more we can expect the Democratic freak to continue and continue to ask, 'How can they be so frickin' dense?'
NOW - Palantir CEO on DOGE: Critics of Elon Are Fighting Progress—And It Will Destroy Them |
— Overton (@overton_news) February 18, 2025
"I just view this as yet another example of the progressive left boxing themselves in into a suicide dance."
Alex Karp, CEO of American software behemoth Palantir, is taking aim at… pic.twitter.com/ScG5L1AsP1
But we are delighted they are.
DOGE literally has individual websites listing what they've found for every department. No underwear drawer was left undumped on the national floor in front of God and everybody.
Now that the DOGE website is filled with receipts, the Democrat Party looks like complete and total morons.
— Farzad (@farzyness) February 18, 2025
Even the staunchest Democrat supporter going through that website will feel their blood boiling.
Absolutely terrible strategy to go after Elon and DOGE.
We probably should start a book on what next week's wig-out phrase will be.
Although, honestly - it's hard to make this any more fun than it already is.
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