Matthew Chapman
March 6, 2025
RAW STORY
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency task force have the goal not just of rooting out waste in government, but of combating the supposed "deep state" that President Donald Trump has long blamed for ruining his vision for America
But Musk should look no further than a mirror to see DOGE's sworn enemy, Brian Barrett wrote in a scathing analysis for Wired.
"It seems fair to ask: If a bunch of shadowy, unelected figures, many with shared business interests and connections, took over government functions at the highest levels and directly contravened the will of Congress, what might you call that?" Barrett wrote. "How about … DOGE?"
"Secretive? The so-called Department of Government Efficiency has never provided an org chart, did not have a publicly documented leader until last week, and refused to reveal the identities of its young staffers in early internal meetings. Check," he continued. "Unelected? Self-evidently so. Check."
Meanwhile, he continued, Musk is a walking poster child for conflicts of interest.
"DOGE is inarguably the Elon Musk extended universe. Current and former employees from X, SpaceX, the Boring Company, and Tesla currently control or are deeply embedded in countless government agencies, including the ones they’re ostensibly regulated by," said Barrett.
These conflicts have already caused a firestorm of controversy, from Musk's move to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while planning to add financial products to his X platform, to his potential role in giving SpaceX the contract to rebuild the nation's air traffic control systems.
DOGE also faces questions about whether it is serving its basic mission, with the group being forced to delete its so-called "wall of receipts" of canceled wasteful contracts after reporters dug and realized the math didn't add up.
All of this taken together, Barrett noted, means "DOGE is the thing it claims to fear the most."
"Elon Musk is the problem he purportedly wants to solve," wrote Barrett.
Furthermore, he added, "The impacts of DOGE’s cuts are increasingly impossible to ignore, or to confuse with any greater good. Whether DOGE loses control will depend, though, on if anyone in power can see that it’s the very thing they’ve warned against. Or if they can bring themselves to care."
March 6, 2025
RAW STORY
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency task force have the goal not just of rooting out waste in government, but of combating the supposed "deep state" that President Donald Trump has long blamed for ruining his vision for America
But Musk should look no further than a mirror to see DOGE's sworn enemy, Brian Barrett wrote in a scathing analysis for Wired.
"It seems fair to ask: If a bunch of shadowy, unelected figures, many with shared business interests and connections, took over government functions at the highest levels and directly contravened the will of Congress, what might you call that?" Barrett wrote. "How about … DOGE?"
"Secretive? The so-called Department of Government Efficiency has never provided an org chart, did not have a publicly documented leader until last week, and refused to reveal the identities of its young staffers in early internal meetings. Check," he continued. "Unelected? Self-evidently so. Check."
Meanwhile, he continued, Musk is a walking poster child for conflicts of interest.
"DOGE is inarguably the Elon Musk extended universe. Current and former employees from X, SpaceX, the Boring Company, and Tesla currently control or are deeply embedded in countless government agencies, including the ones they’re ostensibly regulated by," said Barrett.
These conflicts have already caused a firestorm of controversy, from Musk's move to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while planning to add financial products to his X platform, to his potential role in giving SpaceX the contract to rebuild the nation's air traffic control systems.
DOGE also faces questions about whether it is serving its basic mission, with the group being forced to delete its so-called "wall of receipts" of canceled wasteful contracts after reporters dug and realized the math didn't add up.
All of this taken together, Barrett noted, means "DOGE is the thing it claims to fear the most."
"Elon Musk is the problem he purportedly wants to solve," wrote Barrett.
Furthermore, he added, "The impacts of DOGE’s cuts are increasingly impossible to ignore, or to confuse with any greater good. Whether DOGE loses control will depend, though, on if anyone in power can see that it’s the very thing they’ve warned against. Or if they can bring themselves to care."
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