Morning in America or the DOGE’s Breakfast?
How Musk’s Arrogant Self-Interest, Cruel Lies and Surprising Ineptitude Sabotaged DOGE
Welcome to the Civic Way journal, our quick take on the relevance of current events to America’s future governance. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience improving public agencies.
Anyone consider that maybe Elon’s mission, is for Elon to get what he wants, rather than the country to get what you voted for? – Mark Cuban
Introduction
That didn’t take long. Its been only six weeks since the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began work under Elon Musk’s mercurial leadership. The jury is in.
The Trump administration has been anything but transparent about Musk’s authority and mission[i]. As staffers offer empty assurances, the unelected, unconfirmed Musk has been more co-President than advisory commission chair. Illegally infiltrating secured databases, terminating civil service employees without cause, and devastating programs he dislikes, all without accountability.
Since President Trump took office, DOGE has generated a flurry of claims, threats, firings, re-hirings and illegalities. DOGE and its team of neophytes have breached security protocols, issued illegal orders and brought anguish and anxiety to millions. The gap between Musk’s promises and DOGE’s achievements grows larger every day. Its time take a sober look at what DOGE has wrought, and what we should do.
Musk’s Bipolar View of Government
Of one thing we can be sure. Musk’s supposed “genius” does not extend to government. In fact, he has thus far displayed a shocking degree of ignorance about the federal government, its programs and its value to ordinary Americans. This may be because he views government through two very different lenses—contempt and greed.
On one hand, he views government with contempt and condescension. He sees government as easier to run than business (it is not). He thinks government should be run like a business (a fool’s errand). He assumes that disruption carries similar risks for government and business (tell that to the millions of federal employees, contractors and beneficiaries devastated by his reckless tactics).
On the other hand, Musk sees government as an investment. He can use his position to expand federal contracts, evade (or suspend) federal regulations, leverage tariffs against competitors, use public data to facilitate expansion plans and stop federal litigation against his firms. When Musk accused federal workers of “getting wealthy at taxpayer expense, he was exhibiting considerable self-awareness.
DOGE’s Surprising Incompetence
In six weeks, DOGE has written the textbook on how not to conduct an efficiency project. Mistaking all-nighters for productivity and headlines for results, Musk’s blunders compound daily:
Hiring an unqualified, inexperienced team of aides, interns, dropouts and loyalists and failing to disclose its recruitment process or selection criteria[ii].
Acting rashly without regard for rules or regulations[iii], taking extreme risks on the assumption that any errors—no matter how damaging—can be fixed later.
Relying on lazy gossip and intimidation rather than careful, professional analysis.
Seizing access to government systems (including sensitive files), locking out employees, jeopardizing the private data of US citizens and making federal systems less secure.
Stopping authorized payments and cancelling legal contracts[iv] and state grants.
Downsizing—if not crippling—agencies that generate revenues (e.g., IRS), identify waste, fraud, and abuse (e.g., inspectors general) or protect working people and their families (e.g., CFPB, Education and HUD).
Terminating leases and conducting a fire sale of federal office space.
Eliminating regulations[v] and resurrecting any that were improperly or inappropriately killed.
Avoiding the most promising for cost cutting opportunities altogether (e.g., tax loopholes and lobbyist-friendly departments with glaring waste like Defense[vi]).
As a Manhattan Institute senior fellow said, “USAID, DEI grants and education … are more culture war targets than centerpieces of a true deficit reduction agenda.” Unless DOGE addresses the big federal debt drivers, DOGE will be little more than a conduit for redirecting billions of tax dollars from the workers to the rich.
Government efficiency projects require thorough fact-finding, careful analysis and hard work. No one can make the sweeping—and enduring—changes the federal government needs without input from those who know federal programs best. Making cuts without this input is sloppy, lazy and harmful. One public sector expert, Donald Kettl, noted, “A clumsy fix is worse than no fix at all.”
Musk’s Strange Callousness to Humans
Terminations can be necessary—even overdue—but they should never be easy. They should be based on painstaking analysis and carried out as gradually and humanely as possible. For example, President Clinton’s administration reduced the federal workforce by about 20 percent, but unlike DOGE, its cutbacks were justifiable and gradual. And Clinton balanced the budget.
In contrast, Musk seems to relish firing people. Of course, firing people is a lot easier when you don’t care about them or their families, and you are wholly unaccountable. To that end, Musk has found multiple ways to separate people from their livelihoods. For instance, he:
Required some employees to return from remote work, embrace new—and ill-defined—performance standards and promise loyalty (to whom or what we cannot be sure).
Issued a return-to-office mandate to employees even though some agencies lacked sufficient space for all returning workers (e.g., Homeland Security).
Evicted other employees from their offices to force them to work remotely or at another site.
· Sent an email to all federal workers entitled “Fork in the Road” offering eight months of pay through the end of the fiscal year in exchange for their acceptance of immediate termination[vii].
Terminated about 200,000 federal employees on “probationary status,” including relatively new hires and veteran employees with new probationary periods due to job transfers or promotions.
Abruptly dismissed hundreds of employees performing vital functions (e.g., those safeguarding nuclear weapons or working on containing the H5N1 bird-flu outbreak).
Sent some employees an email asking what they did at work during the prior week on and then warning that a failure to respond would be taken as a resignation.
Changed email settings for some employees thereby subjecting them to crude or threatening spam emails and phishing threats.
The dismissals continue at most federal agencies with DOGE’s now familiar sloppiness. Firing the wrong people. Issuing error-riddled notices (e.g., wrong job titles or incomplete forms) or none at all. Dismissing employees for cause without any cause. Asking fired employees to return.
When Musk isn’t firing people, he exhibits other disturbing behavior. Announcing that Social Security pays benefits to 21 million people aged 100 or older (there are 86,000). Accusing Treasury officials of “breaking the law every hour of every day.” Charging USAID with funding COVID-19’s creation as a “bioweapon.” Befriending Germany’s neo-Nazi party. Not surprisingly, concerns about Musk are growing. According to The Wall Street Journal, “executives and board members at [Musk’s] companies” have grown increasingly concerned about his drug use and bizarre antics.
Overpromising and Underdelivering
Initially, many had high expectations for DOGE. Trump called Musk a genius and, until recently, many Americans agreed. However, Musk’s cruelty and daily torrent of weird posts have changed many opinions about this extremely wealthy (and ideological) immigrant from South Africa.
Musk flaunts his “move fast and break things” approach. His firms have often survived existential crises. Tesla’s chronic car failures and fiscal troubles. SpaceX’s dance with bankruptcy. Starship’s many rocket explosions. But, unlike most federal employees (and beneficiaries), Musk has been insulated from such risk by his massive wealth.
Vivek Ramaswamy, former DOGE co-leader, praised Musk’s draconian staff cuts at X as a template for downsizing federal government. However, Musk’s firings at X were more cautionary than inspirational. After buying X in 2022 (then Twitter), Musk terminated over 75 percent of its 8,000 workers. The result? Alarming technical glitches, massive revenue losses and an 80 percent drop in X’s value.
At the outset, Musk pledged that a “balanced budget is going to happen” (given his approach, it will not). He promised he would cut the federal deficit in half by eliminating "waste, fraud, and abuse" (no way). He promised the deferred resignation plan would yield $100 billion in savings (only $10 billion). After reviewing DOGE’s record thus far, one has to be delusional to believe such promises.
Slashing jobs has generated the headlines Musk craves and created the illusion of traction, but it won’t reduce the federal debt. First, the savings will only amount to about one percent of the budget for every 25 percent of federal jobs cut (benefit checks matter more). Second, the Trump agenda will increase the debt far more than any DOGE cuts will reduce it[viii].
In desperation, DOGE has continually inflated the value of its cost savings. Yet, every week, most of DOGE’s cost savings claims are debunked. For example, DOGE:
Posted $55 billion in unsubstantiated savings on its “wall of receipts” (many since deleted).
As reported by Forbes, publicized DOGE’s “discoveries” ( many were later retracted).
Claimed it cancelled federal contracts with $16 billion in savings of which half was attributed to a single $8 billion contract which was worth only $8 million.
Claimed savings for several contracts that were fully or partially paid or double-counted.
Took credit for Biden administration savings (e.g., closing two National Archives centers).
According to several media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, only a fraction of DOGE’s reported savings has been independently verified. Musk flippantly dismissed DOGE’s miscalculations, “Nobody’s going to bat a thousand. But we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”
DOGE’s Wake of Destruction
The Musk Twitter/X playbook will be exponentially more damaging to the nation than it was to X. Like X’s former employees, dismissed federal employees will face uncertain futures. But DOGE’s victims will include so many others—the poor, the working class, consumers, the sick, the disabled, children, veterans, seniors and taxpayers. DOGE’s anticipated havoc is just coming into focus:
Uncertain benefit payments (e.g., Social Security and disability benefits).
Harsh restrictions for low-income programs (e.g., Medicaid and SNAP).
Public health threats (e.g., less research, fewer inspections, high drug prices and poor outcomes).
Less reliable service (e.g., tax filing, passport renewal and weather predictions).
Longer wait times at national parks, military parks and monuments.
Crippled tax audit capabilities and lower tax revenue.
Diminished crisis management and post-disaster reconstruction capabilities.
Economic instability (e.g., destabilized home mortgage market).
We have seen enough. Like others who won’t “legitimize DOGE’s actions,” Congress must stop DOGE before it inflicts any more damage to the nation. It should replace DOGE with a credible bipartisan debt commission and get serious about eliminating the federal debt. Before it’s too late.
Thanks Bob, another remarkably informative and articulate post.
PS. I've started a billboard campaign to have you be the new head of DOGE. Coming to a roadside near you soon. BTW I took some photoshop liberties, hope that's cool.
You set out the facts very well. The conclusion, another commission, is as poor of a recommendation as establishing DOGE. Unfortunately, Congress is the only institution that can deal with the debt and reorganize the federal government. It must do its work, no matter how tedious, time-consuming, and frustrating. It's their job. WLK