Elon Musk is making the most of his vague but powerful role in Trump's administration, but conservatives are upset that his cronies and hatchetmen—the "Department of Government Efficiency"—are being publicly named. Such is the price of being a public official responsible for firing thousands of people.
Former Newsmax employee Breanna Morello posted on X that identifying the individuals working for the White House was somehow "putting the lives of DOGE employees at risk."
"You'll notice they have no problem detailing the individuals cutting fraud and wasteful federal spend, while hiding the names of the so-called reporters who worked on this hit piece," Morello continued, outing herself for not finishing the article, where the bylines of some 15 Times reporters are listed.
But despite DOGE's mandate, some experts believe that the organization's haphazard work chopping the government into nonfunctional bits will actually add to the deficit. On Tuesday, The Atlantic's Jonathan Chait argued that DOGE's "inflated" savings thus far had amounted to little more than a "rounding error" and that the group's decision to take a metaphorical chain saw to the IRS had effectively decimated the government's ability to collect revenue (taxes)—moves that could actually increase the nation's debt.
They want to do it in secret, to avoid accountability. They can't, and the authoritarian types hate that. Some of the DOGE guys are realizing that they won't be taken care of, either, if it doesn't work out.
Previously:
• 21 DOGE staffers ditch Elon Musk in mass resignation
• Office of the Special Counsel finds DOGE firings illegal
• Hiding its 'wall of receipts' DOGE retreats into the shadows
• 'Be kind' desk sign deemed contraband by Musk's DOGE enforcers
• DOGE upending child safety and human trafficking programs
