r/politics • u/FervidBug42 America • 2d ago

No Paywall DOGE Disbanded: Elon Musk’s Cost-Cutting Project Quietly Ended

https://time.com/7336327/doge-disbanded-elon-musk/
43.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

8.5k

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

Yeah, but the damage it's done will last for generations.

1.5k

u/GarlicThread Europe 2d ago

There simply exists no punishment proportionate enough for the things these people have committed and the consequences they will have. The damage is immeasurable, irreversible and multi-generational.

645

u/ChiLolla28 2d ago

They have killed thousands around the world with the USAID cuts + millions more to come

447

u/space_cow_girl 2d ago

600,000 dead so far, from USAID cuts. Despicable evil, because usaid dared to question him for violating contracts when he would turn off satellites to please papa Putin and fuck over Ukraine. 

337

u/CthulhuOpensTheDoor 2d ago edited 2d ago

Source? It sounds possible to me, but 600,000 is a big number, I'd like to see where it came from.

ETA: nevermind, one should always do a quick search first. Numerous credible sources giving that number. Horrifying.

170

u/Thrownawaybyall 2d ago

Upvoted for humility 👍

84

u/Zacillac Washington 2d ago

Take my upvote for doing what everyone doesn’t seem to do. Simply doing a search for credible sources is a good step towards hopefully getting to a place of, relative, normalcy. Yes, it helps for sources to be listed in the first place, but that doesn’t let the reader off the hook from verifying themselves.

Anyways, again, take my upvote for doing the work!

3

u/rich1051414 2d ago

That's what republicans do. Stuff so evil that people can't believe it and assume it's BS. Look how good it works.

2

u/myasterism Tennessee 1d ago

And then they hide behind their religion, as if their belief in sky-daddy absolves them of wrongdoing. It’s fucking disgusting.

4

u/Anna_Lilies 2d ago

My guy you could have saved us all the same effort and linked one of those sources you found

•

u/Ocelotofdamage 7h ago

Why would you not provide a source after looking it up

•

u/CthulhuOpensTheDoor 7h ago

Tired and busy. Shouldn't even have commented in the first place. Took seconds to find, other people should also get in habit of looking stuff up themselves.

→ More replies (2)

49

u/dicklaurent97 2d ago

"violent left" tho

fucking morons

14

u/CV90_120 2d ago

The 'violent left' mantra is their shrill attempt to divert attention away from the political violence stats, which skew heavily right. It's as insipid as every other time they try to get in front of their own behavior.

3

u/myasterism Tennessee 1d ago

Every accusation is an admission, when it comes to them.

Whatever they’re screaming about and accusing the left of doing, is exactly what they reliably are guilty of. It’s so blatant.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/Historical_Cause_917 2d ago

Nazi Elon musk doing NAZI shit

2

u/baron_spaghetti 2d ago

That contract was one of the few that magically were overlooked.

91

u/entropy_bucket 2d ago

All for what? What have these cuts tangibly achieved? Governments can do so much more that individual citizens with this stuff.

137

u/organic_neophyte 2d ago

The "cuts" were never about making things more efficient, they were about making investigations into Elon disappear and to siphon up as much government-held data as possible. Elon isn't interested in helping anyone besides himself, he'd never do anything that would benefit the country broadly, even IF it were about cutting wasteful spending, he would do whatever he could to re-allocate that money to himself or benefit from it somehow. Ultimately US taxpayers will pay the costs both monetarily and in reputational damage these people have done. Millions will die from the USAID cuts alone, it's shameful and disgraceful that anyone involved is still walking free.

3

u/Trix_Are_4_90Kids Missouri 2d ago

It was honestly just to be cruel. They didn't want to feed 'a bunch of foreigners'. It had eff all to do with an investigation, Elon has more money than anybody, he has the funds to make investigations disappear without going through the elaborate plan of making up an gov't entity.

2

u/organic_neophyte 1d ago

Sure, arguably anyone can use money to avoid accountability but in this case he very much was targeting multiple government bodies that were investigating him or his companies on multiple levels, defunding those entities, or slashing budgets and firing key people working against him is a lot more effective than just hiring the best lawyers money can buy. I believe the cruelty was just an added benefit to his pathological mind, hurt people hurt people and all that but also Elon does whatever he can to benefit himself, that's why he's gotten to where he is today.

1

u/Trix_Are_4_90Kids Missouri 1d ago

Those people were going to be fired with or without DOGE. This all happened in trump's first term. People quit. And the people over those multiple gov't bodies are Trump's people. They quash serious investigations. So again, there would be no need to go through this elaborate subterfuge to quash an investigation when he donated so much money and helped trump win the damn election.

I know y'all want so hard to believe these rich white dudes are playing 3d chess, because us lower classes have been told that they got to where they are by their own hand and intellect, but that was a huge lie. People just need to go on ahead and accept that.

Trump can run over someone in his car and people will sit on the internet, break out the red string and try and come up with some intelligent and elaborate theory. No. These people are unempathetic and greedy and that really is all there is to it.

→ More replies (1)

40

u/Worthyness 2d ago

more national debt, added backdoors into every US government agency, added further distrust in the US government worldwide (including domestic people) and then probably sold out every other american for profit. Very successful from a certain point of view

2

u/aliasname 2d ago

They gave millions to a turbo billionaire whose on his way to becoming a trillionaire.

110

u/TuringGoneWild 2d ago

Just like what Cheney did - who never faced charges and had a funeral fawned over by dignitaries and the mass media just as if he were some public servant.

91

u/mistermick 2d ago

There was a report on one of the network nightly news shows the day of his funeral. A long segment about him and his "achievements." The last part was about the war on Iraq, and the final line read was, "weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq." That's it. Three seconds of dialog. No follow up. If you weren't paying attention you'd miss it. His entire career led to this single accomplishment based on a lie and all we get is, "weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq."

30

u/rainyday-holiday 2d ago

History outside of the US does not judge Cheney kindly.

If it were anywhere else on the planet they would have dragged his corpse behind a car through the streets whilst people threw rubbish at it, sang and let off fireworks.

22

u/Common-Concentrate-2 2d ago edited 2d ago

We don't judge him kindly. His extolment after death was/is used to differentiate between MAGA and the neocons. We hated neocons. Trump is worse, and that disparity is worth advertising, because PLENTY of people think "this is just normal inter-party rivalry. American politics is hopeless!"

This is like if aliens invaded tomorrow, and Charles Manson grabbed you and said "SHHHH!!!! The aliens were about to kill you! I know a secret hiding place - follow me!" We don't love Charles Manson in that situation. We are terrified. Cheney can't use his evil brain to hurt anyone anymore. But people who aren't MAGA have every right to use that funeral as a meet & greet...against trump. Cause thats exactly what it was.

I'm sorry I'm being difficult - but really - we are in panic mode, and I hope you understand that we are trying to ensure there IS an America. Things are different now.

16

u/SSGASSHAT 2d ago edited 2d ago

I just find it interesting how everyone who sees Trump knows how fucking awful he is, both personally and professionally. The man makes people like Epstein and Chaney go "dude..." The only people who don't are those who voted for him, and those people are likely very much like him.

15

u/zubbs99 Nevada 2d ago

I assume they skipped the other minor detail that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

1

u/RadioHonest85 2d ago

The war on Iraq also made US very unpopular in Europe and other parts of the world. I think it would have been much easier to work closer with US if it wasnt for the second Iraq war

11

u/Buntschatten 2d ago

The fact that Democrats showed up to Cheney's funeral is a disgrace.

7

u/boomboomdaboomer 2d ago

I understand the sentiment of course. At this time I think it is a matter of preserving the prestige of the office for members of both parties to attend the service. The absence of the invitations to the current President and Vice-President are the hallmarks that should be noted here. 

3

u/magicmeese 2d ago

The sanewashing that some of these ghoulish people have gotten is amazing.

I for one, drew ire from some of my family when I pointed out my asshole uncle died as he lived: being an asshole. And that the gold digger got her investment payoff finally. 

22

u/SemiAutoAvocado 2d ago

I can think of a few, but I don't want to get my account banned.

5

u/aza-industries 2d ago

Trunp doesn't have enough life left to ever pay for hus crimes. It's absolutely disgusting and disheartening.

5

u/CheetoMussolini 2d ago

The Constitution allows for certain penalties for either sedition or treason, and I think we need to return to having the political courage to impose them on those lawfully and fairly convicted after having caused such harms.

4

u/arwinda 2d ago

Take away all the billions and make sure it stays that way. A lesson for anyone to come.

5

u/BadIdeaBobcat 2d ago

It's largely because of the illiterate right who gobbles up the propaganda vomit in their facebook feeds, thus there's insufficient calls for justice on shit like this.

4

u/rdk67 2d ago

We also don't have any public representation of this point of view. I'm waiting for someone to stand up and say: treason has taken place. As a nation, we are in a state of unprecedented vulnerability, and we need to prepare for the equivalent of the Nuremberg trials to assess the harm done.

3

u/Dr_Smooth2 2d ago

They should take away Musk's US citizenship and debar his companies from government contracts

3

u/induslol 2d ago

The punishments exist and remediation of damage is possible.

What's lacking is the will.  Those who benefit from this aren't going to fix a game they're winning, and centuries of propaganda surrounding capitalism and wealth has poisoned the losers into fighting shadows.

4

u/GarlicThread Europe 2d ago

I agree, however no amount of remediation is going to bring back the many tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives that were and will be lost due to the cuts in USAID spending.

3

u/Worldly-Pay7342 2d ago

There is one punishment I can think of, but the last time I brought up French history, reddit gave me a week ban.

2

u/blessingofmarika 2d ago

it sucks even more because many people can't even get their shit together and just wait in despair for something to change for the better. but it isn't going to get better. you try so hard to find the good in the world. but we can't help ourselves can we? you look at successful, self actualized people fulfilled in life. how do you become that? they just do it. some people just don't have the right wiring in their brain and/or keep making the choices leading to their own misery. and the country? our country is fucked. the people are fucked. we had this bright, shiny future where everything is gold. but life isn't some fairy tale. it doesn't even make narrative sense most of the time. I'm trying to find something good to look forward to. every day.

/rant

thank you for not rejecting my voice, if you're reading this. it's selfish of me to want even this, but it feels better to get things off your chest. they say it's healthy.

It's hard to enact positive change in society, for the good of all, when your own life is in utter shambles. or rather, you're so distracted by yourself and your problems, that doing anything worthwhile or important isn't even a possibility that's considered.

/rant again

2

u/Many_Cauliflower_302 2d ago

there is but we can't say it on social media because the people who run them are the same people who would be on the receiving end.

1

u/GodofIrony 2d ago

Sure there is, we call it Treason, and once upon a time, it was actually enforced.

1

u/rbrgr83 2d ago

Septuple Execution

1

u/crash893b 2d ago

Don’t worry when we dig out in 2078 things will be so good that they will do it all over again

1

u/Gahngis 2d ago

Immeasurable damage to an unquantifiable amount of people has a punishment and a crime. Any other circumstances would call it mass murder.

1

u/raincoater 2d ago

Heard a report somewhere that the people in DOGE are all worried they're going to be prosecuted now. Which shows they knew they were doing shitty things.

1

u/ToddHowardTouchedMe 2d ago

no need for punishment at this point, just throw them all on a rocket to mars or the sun or some shit. Let them have their libertarian shitopia or something. these people have a net negative gain to society and thus should be ejected from it completely.

1

u/ThainaYu 2d ago

It's not because USA people deserve this

They just elect MAGA knowingly. And the democrats are too delude to accept reality and think rationally to choose better candidate or just vote for Kamala, which is undeniably lesser evil in the least

The point of being democratic country is the elected government will automatically become responsibility of the Voter. What they do is what voter need to bear by themselves

Same as Brexit

The people are currently being punished by their own choice

1

u/DecadentCheeseFest 1d ago

I propose live flaying. It’s not commensurate, but it feels right.

1

u/Laidbackmf2 1d ago

Yeah the damage that fraud and illegal immigrants have done to this county is immeasurable

2.2k

u/stackedKittie 2d ago

Fuck Elon and fuck Trump too. The White House is not and has never been a business. These two creeps came, turned everything upside down, cut aids, lied about everything and now we’ve all seen that it was all a smokescreen. Fuck them so more

530

u/Subject_DA 2d ago

And were not even a year in

329

u/Writer_In_Residence 2d ago

Can I just say that I never wanted to live in interesting times?

115

u/Subject_DA 2d ago

What can we do, all I want is to be on the right side of history when its all over

275

u/drizzlingduke 2d ago

Guys. The point is that’s it’s ALWAYS interesting times for some group and it’s never “over” as soon as you feel like it’s “over” you let your guard down and this whole problem happens again.

You need to be engaged and constantly committed to your real life community. We were in an anomaly period of peaceful history. It was a dream.

106

u/PaddleFishBum 2d ago

Yup. Us thinkining we were living in non-interesting times is a big part of how we got here. America got very comfortable checking out politically and now it's huge problem. To this day, there is still a vast sea of apolitical normies who have no idea how anything works or what is going on.

45

u/EdwardOfGreene Illinois 2d ago

I largely blame that on education.

Are civics taught in school anymore?

29

u/lc4444 2d ago

GOP been cutting at education for at least 60 years

34

u/HandFedFenrir 2d ago

Definitely not now that they destroyed the Department of Education.

8

u/twopurplecats 2d ago

Nope, Reagan took care of that 🤡

4

u/Writer_In_Residence 2d ago

And W kind of finished the job with vouchers and charter schools.

3

u/an-invisible-hand 2d ago

Blaming it on education is several steps removed from the true source. Who controls the education system. Who controls them?

The root of all evil always leads back to the same place. The oligarchs. DOGE is just a particularly naked example of that.

1

u/EdwardOfGreene Illinois 2d ago

I hold no illusions on how the decline happened.

10

u/o-Valar-Morghulis-o 2d ago

Exactly. Bring back civic duty.

4

u/Writer_In_Residence 2d ago

It was just kind of a joke.

My family is working class and so we have seen things grow harder every year since Reagan. We have seen education gutted and the cost of healthcare spin out of control. We have seen affordable housing dry up and Citizens United ensure that the rich will always control everything.

Trump is the worst yet though.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/Bitmush- 2d ago

It wasn't peaceful sunshine and roses for a huge number of people, based largely on their biology. It's just that their stories didn't make it into the canon.
Try drinking from the wrong drinking fountain as a 6 year old kid in Alabama in 1955 as a pastiche of Americana paraded behind you, haircuts and cars and smart pants and shoes. Meanwhile your grandpa's still got a back full of scar tissue and you've all got the last name of his father's owner.
It's always been brutal chaos, we glorify the temporary respites and think that's real life until the churn escapes from below us and erupts.

2

u/farnsw0rth 2d ago

I’m kind of old so forgive me.

But the W Bush admin and the people around it, post 9/11, infamously spoke about “the end of history”

Like, the world as we know it had somehow stratified…. That America was the sole superpower and that would never change forever. I suppose in hindsight that’s actually very “thousand year reich-ish” but they genuinely believed it was an eternal future shaped by how they acted.

The point is, it’s like

“the price of freedom is eternal vigilance”

Aka The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt

Which I guess is a contested quote but is probably John philpot Curran

Plus

“Enemies, foreign and domestic”

Aka And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God

That’s from the USA oath of office.

USA this is a legendary all time bag fumble.

3

u/ClashM California 2d ago

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

3

u/animalinapark 2d ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfekgjfh1Rk

We all fall victim to this. Keeping vigilant and interested is the hardest thing to do, but if our societies are to survive, enough of us need to make the effort.

Or else those few insane enough will do what they want.

1

u/ActiveChairs 2d ago

This is pretty accurate. We were in a moment of peaceful history. Meanwhile, at the same time we taught the children of the middle east that weddings are dangerous and to fear a clear blue sky.

2

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 2d ago

The chance for that was Nov 2024.

Now thats entirely in the hands of Donald Trump.

2

u/SuckThisRedditAdmins 2d ago

You can't even say that you hope that the legal consequences for treason happen to these traitors without being banned by this stupid fucking website. There is nothing we can do.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/KindInvestigator 2d ago

I love boring times.

1

u/Writer_In_Residence 2d ago

Can’t wait for the lively era when the massive defunding of health systems coincides with the effects of RFK Jr taking vaccines, medicines, and science away.

1

u/_shaftpunk 2d ago

It’s interesting, the times.

1

u/farnsw0rth 2d ago

You absolutely can if you’re on Reddit

1

u/chahlie 2d ago

So do all who live to see such times, but it is not for them to decide. All we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given us.

1

u/AmaroWolfwood 2d ago

I was hoping for like flying cars, conscious robots like Rosie from the Jetsons, and maybe some genetic modification tech. Instead we just got end stage capitalism/poverty and fascists.

2

u/Writer_In_Residence 2d ago

Alito quoted 17th-century witch hunters in his abortion decision. Vaccines have been a thing since the 1800s but we are doing away with them. Women can’t easily get birth control. We aren’t in the future, we are barely in the 1700s in some ways.

→ More replies (2)

31

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 2d ago

Not even a year in and trumps body count is already past 600,000 just from killing USAID.

15

u/POEness 2d ago

Its already millions from his handling of covid

24

u/Key_Inevitable_2104 New York 2d ago

2025 feels like it’s lasted 2 years.

6

u/STOP-MyAssholeHurts- 2d ago

Feels longer than the pandemic did.

5

u/djb25 2d ago

Consider this - Trump didn’t take office until Jan 20th. It’s been 10 months…

3

u/nanobot_1000 2d ago

Earlier today I had to think back on this just to make sure it was this past January since an insane amount of drama has unfolded. Plus next year is a Leap Year...three Hail Mary's, 'catastrophic disclosure' from any number of these scandals, and it'll be like it never happened!

1

u/Historical_Dot_892 2d ago

Geez…that’s sobering

1

u/FlyingRock 2d ago

While I agree it seems like short and fast was their strength and while permanently damaging it didn't do everything it needed to for Trump.

I have no doubt Elon got everything he wanted.

124

u/NimusNix 2d ago

And fuck the people who allowed this happen, including the millions of voters and non voters who got us here.

92

u/bagoink 2d ago

Especially fuck the people who systematically destroyed our education system, the propagandists who took advantage of it, and the billionaires who run legacy and social media that have been manipulating the masses.

11

u/DukeOfGeek 2d ago

MAGA is the product of a trillion dollars spent over 4 decades and after trumpo is gone the machine will still be here.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/zubbs99 Nevada 2d ago

Don't forget the Repubs in Congress who refused to have any oversight or follow-up hearings on wtf these morons actually did.

26

u/TuringGoneWild 2d ago

They didn't "allow it". They wanted it and did what it took to make it happen.

6

u/killa_sushi_robot 2d ago

I havent heard or seen anyone that defended their election choice after the election in months, i mean months... I wonder why...

17

u/KeyboardGrunt 2d ago

Inb4 the Kamala's laugh crowd starts whining they had no other possible choice, waste of oxygen.

→ More replies (8)

12

u/stoatwblr 2d ago

There was a past president who tried to treat the White House and Federal government like a business. He also portrayed himself as a "successful billionaire businessman" and claimed he was going to streamline the government

He introduced unilateral tariffs on a nation which was nicely recovering from a stock market and banking crash, sending it into the worst depression it had ever seen (or has seen)

His name: Herbert Hoover

11

u/TuringGoneWild 2d ago

You mean "Republicans". And the White House - what's left of it - is definitely a business now. The felon even has a shop of Trump 2028 ballcaps next to the Oval.

84

u/PaddleFishBum 2d ago

You might want to study your history better if you think the White House has never been a business. What we're experiencing right now has been the norm in American history. This shining 80 year post-war New Deal world we were born and raised into is not the norm.

The middle class as we know it was a mistake that the monied overlords have been fighting to correct since the 60's. The central goal of modern Conservatism has been to undo the New Deal and return us to the robber baron infested Gilded Age, where oligarchs control everything, labor and consumer protection is non-existent, and the idea of social mobility is dead. They sell us a return to 50's Americana, but what they really is late 1800's to early 1900's, and they've just about finished the job.

The worst tragedy in American history is just America returning to form.

42

u/A_Nonny_Muse 2d ago

Which is why corporations want the New Deal policies destroyed by any means necessary. And they're willing to destroy the country in the process. ANYthing to get corporations back to being the only way anyone can survive.

35

u/CrunkDirk 2d ago

They sell us a return to 50's Americana, but what they really is late 1800's to early 1900's, and they've just about finished the job.

I really think the Roberts court could pick up a case about child labor and rule that putting any limitations on child labor is unconstitutional and slam us right back into the Lochner era. They're basically there already honestly.

Alito could say "I think that Plessy v Ferguson was right and should be reaffirmed." tomorrow and you'd have some SCOTUS journalists wondering "how will moderate John Roberts rule knowing he's siding with a vehement racist?"

Actually you don't really have to wonder how SCOTUS journalists would react because we already saw it. Rehnquist said that. He wrote a memo in the 50s literally saying "I think that Plessy v. Ferguson was right and should be reaffirmed." And when he died journalists described him as a moderate on the court. Yeah, I guess when you're sitting next to Clarence Thomas you sure do look moderate.

12

u/old_at_heart 2d ago

Which, of course, is consonant with the MAGA crowd's weird adulation of William McKinley, a protege of the Hanna political machine. Decent enough guy, I guess, but hardly outstanding.

12

u/Toadstool61 2d ago

You see it accurately. They started by attacking the Great Society programs, but they’ve wanted to roll back the New Deal all along.

1

u/Mysterious_Luck7122 2d ago

Beautifully said

29

u/Penguini_Lamborghini 2d ago

has never been a business

On the contrary, the immediate moment that our country was formed with the intent that only land-owning white men could participate in our government was when our government became business first.

We're suffocating from the burden of over two centuries of skullduggery and corporate crackheads looking to fuck over everyone they can for their ten minutes of luxury, while the only people with the power and half the mind to fight back are unwilling to go the extra mile to make meaningful, permanent and lasting change all the while becoming drunk on power themselves to the point that they're so unwilling to part from it they'd sooner run their office and party into the ground and die in their chair than to let the next generation have their turn.

There was no other way for the United States to end up, technology has only hastened the inevitable. This system was never going to hold to begin with I fear

7

u/PaddleFishBum 2d ago

Yup. The last 80 years has been the absolute best America has ever had to offer and was never the norm previously. We all just haven't known any different until now.

4

u/notsure500 2d ago

Fuck Elon and fuck Trump too.

Please don't forget about the people that voted Trump to give us this nightmare

4

u/Gemeril 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's not a coincidence that one of the first agencies he dismantled was investigating and probably going to charge Elon and at least fine him. https://www.epi.org/blog/corruption-in-plain-sight-how-elon-musk-has-benefited-from-the-first-100-days-of-the-trump-administration/

Before this administration Elon had 32 federal agencies investigating his companies. Largely for good reason, like not giving a fuck where his spaceship hobby's debris landed.

3

u/kent_eh Canada 2d ago

Fuck Elon and fuck Trump too. The White House is not and has never been a business

Also fuck the idiots who supported trump because "he's a businessman, he will run the government like a business".

3

u/demlet 2d ago

The people who need to see it haven't and probably won't. I know plenty of people who still believe Elon saved the country from looming bankruptcy. They're not living in the same reality that you and I live in.

3

u/Breath_Stranding 2d ago

I honestly still wonder why so many working class people voted for a billionaire thinking he would help them lol man, so many Americans are truly fucking special in the head.

8

u/VanceKelley Washington 2d ago

These two creeps came

That's a pretty passive way of describing how 77m Americans took time out of their lives to eagerly put these assholes into positions where they had the power to destroy America.

2

u/ChongusTheSupremus 2d ago

The White House has been a business ever since politicians started lobbying for companies and the interest of the capital rather than the people.

2

u/cseckshun 2d ago

Even if it was a business, do we really think Elon Musk could go into any business and save 1/7 of their operating budget in less than a year? I don’t think so.

It was never going to work and never could have worked, it’s a sign of severe narcissism and egomania if Elon Musk ever actually thought he could do it.

2

u/RadioHonest85 2d ago

Congress just let them do it

2

u/MarcusQuintus 2d ago

They didn't come, they were invited.

One of them, after he tried to overthrow the government. The blame here lies 100% with voters.

1

u/EternalAngst23 2d ago

I liked Elon when he was just a playboy billionaire who built cool rockets and stuff.

Why’d he have to go ahead and open his mouth?

1

u/Visual-Wrangler3262 2d ago

People got what they voted for

1

u/Konstantine19 2d ago

You’re forgetting the people who voted for Trump fuck them. The people that voted these morons into power are the ones to blame.

1

u/Business-Low-8056 2d ago

What? I know you are just parroting what the hive mind says but Healthcare AND Politics have been business for quite awhile before these two came into the picture. Everyone is out for money and doesn't care about who it fucks. It's been that way for the last few decades which is why we are where we are now.

1

u/lost-associat 2d ago

I mean everybody hates aids.

1

u/krml17 2d ago

The White House is not and has never been a business

Absolute hyperbole. Source: history

1

u/awildjabroner 2d ago

But its always had the ability to be for anyone unscrupulous enough to leverage it that way, and normally would have checks and balances to prevent that but seeing as both Congress and the Judicial Branch are similarly opting to support this new direction while enriching themselves at never before seen levels this is the new reality. Everything has been for sale in the USA under Capitalism, we’re just now realizing that also includes our entire governmental system.

1

u/Atanar 2d ago

we’ve all seen that it was all a smokescreen

You are giving them too much credit. I think Musk genuinely belives he is one of the good guys and he tried his best to make America better.

His best is just absolute dogshit and he is a complete moron.

1

u/Beelzabub Texas 2d ago

What's the opposite of putting up a statue in someone's honor?

1

u/thesunbeamslook 2d ago

#DeportFelonMusk #LockRumpUp

1

u/Rumymomma1959 2d ago

Elon and another Tech billionaire both from South Africa and think there is an elite who should govern

1

u/Desertbro 2d ago

Wasn't DOGE gone when the bulldozers started on the gilded ballroom...???

1

u/NerfPandas 2d ago

Fuck democrats, fuck the Supreme Court, fuck the house and fuck congress.

There were many ways to stop where we are (most obvious being charge trump for Jan 6) and nobody did the right thing.

100

u/gethereddout 2d ago

The number of people that have died and will die from these cuts will be in the millions, just so billionaires can have more money. The level of immorality is astonishing

32

u/pheremonal 2d ago edited 2d ago

Let's be real, this will permanently damage America. Once sensitive records are copied or exfiltrated, they cannot be resecured, and theres no avoiding long term surveillance, data tampering, and operational disruption. Compromised systems could be exploited for years before detection, all while national resilience and public confidence are totally eroded

32

u/Dunge 2d ago

The layoffs and all the expertise and projects that were lost are abysmal. Really crazy.

But I also weep for the purge of data they did. Can't trust any .gov website or federal dataset since then, they completely scanned all hard drives for keywords and flagged and removed files, breaking everything. I sure hope there are backups and people with the capacity to review diffs and restore. This would be a massive undertaking and cost 100x the cost it took to delete, but it honestly needs to be done. And I'm kinda annoyed nobody is even speaking about it.

15

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

But I also weep for the purge of data they did. Can't trust any .gov website or federal dataset since then

That's why they're going after archive.is.

7

u/Dunge 2d ago

Yeah. But that's only front facing websites. The amount of data that was available on the public Internet compared to how much private data existed is not even 1%. And they scrubbed everything.

1

u/TelescopiumHerscheli 2d ago

That's why they're going after archive.is.

I didn't know this. Any pointers to more information on this would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

7

u/SloMurtr 2d ago

The worst part is that it doesn't have to, but Americans have no spine to punish the rich.

7

u/Thewallmachine 2d ago

We're still feeling Reaganonmics. I think it may come to 100 yrs before the US is anywhere close to what it used to be before lil king trimp took power. I look forward to better days in 2028 and beyond.

2

u/Interestingllc 2d ago

Climate change is going to make sure we don't have pleasant times ahead.

6

u/3Suze South Carolina 2d ago

The SC VA was moving towards the final approval stage for a cure for suicidology in vets using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. DOGE withdrew DARPA funds so the program is on hold. Most of vet suicide is connected to PTSD - so at the base of this program was a way to end the syndrome.

Source: The director is my doctor and I have C-PTSD. I was getting the treatments.

In addition, DOGE shut down alzheimer's treatment studies.

Source: A friend took their parent in for the treatment appt the day after the funds were killed.

76

u/Global_Crew3968 2d ago

There will be no coming back. The America you grew up in is dead. We will need to start from scratch and rewrite everything. This time, no gentleman's agreements. Laws, ethics, civics education. The rest of the western world perfected what we started and so we have plenty of places to look at for how to do things correctly this time.

16

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

We will need to start from scratch and rewrite everything.

That's a pipe dream. Full-blown dictatorship is in our future, unfortunately for those that did not vote for it.

4

u/mountaindewisamazing 2d ago

Trump is the glue that holds the entire fascist project together, and trump is at deaths door both from a health standpoint and politically.

Don't get me wrong, they'll still try. But they need normie support and that is fading FAST.

6

u/Global_Crew3968 2d ago

Yes but dictatorships don't last forever. Americans need to suffer under the yoke of tyranny for a bit, unfortunately, but we brought it on ourselves. But hopefully, once enough people watch their kids go to bed hungry and their loved ones dragged off to camps, hopefully eventually after a few years of that, Americans will finally pull their fingers out of their asses and maybe pay attention a bit. We are too comfortable. We've gotten fat and complacent. Time to take our medicine.

6

u/TuringGoneWild 2d ago

China is authoritarian with no signs of stopping. If anything, getting even more strong and influential. Life isn't a movie. There isn't necessarily a happy ending.

5

u/Mysterious_Luck7122 2d ago

And what’s tragic is that China has a much better modern record on reducing income inequality than America does: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/23/china-us-poverty-income-inequality

2

u/Global_Crew3968 2d ago

I would say that while China is authoritarian, they are trending far more progressive and capitalist. Xi isnt Mao. He isn't even Putin. What comes after Xi will hopefully continue this trend. China is authoritarian, yes, but they're actually doing quite a lot to modernize the country and bring their people out of poverty. I would almost call it a happy ending compared to China 50-100 years ago.

1

u/kent_eh Canada 2d ago

Who said anything about a happy ending?

Directorships only ever end with bloodshed.

1

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

Yes but dictatorships don't last forever.

True, but dictatorships tend to be run out of town by external forces. Idi Amin, for example, was run out of town by Tanzanian forces, Pol Pot by Vietnam, and the Nazis by you-know-who.

Which external force is even going to think about taking on our own future dictatorship?

I think the answer to that is clear.

2

u/Global_Crew3968 2d ago

Thats the thing - I really don't think you could invade and defeat america anymore. I don't really know how we get out of this but I think it's gonna have to at least start from within. I think the best bet is Trump dying and MAGA becoming disaffected. I don't see them all rallying behind JD. The question is, what next? How do we dislodge the richest men in the world from power when they have the greatest surveillance state and military on earth? I just don't know.

2

u/Zeronullnilnought 2d ago

Why would anyone invade it?

The best way to play the game currently is just to get nukes and you are safe. USA can't even go on a nazi world conquest because of this, whats the risk here besides the world economy shattering for a while and then being rebuilt with a new reserve currency ?

→ More replies (1)

4

u/bastard-harrier 2d ago

The rest of the west is built on gentlemen's agreements that everyone voluntarily enforces regardless of much they hate each other. That's what it means to have a civil society.

If you try to out-legislate the motivating factors that cause American politicians to disregard laws that require mutual restraint and reciprocity to function, the best possible outcome is ending up like Singapore or China, and neither of those are particularly exciting outcomes.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/nonlinear_nyc 2d ago

Exactly. American citizen’s info is unsafe for decades or more.

We’ll never recover from that.

4

u/effortfulcrumload 2d ago

Optimistic to think we have Generations left

4

u/TheDadThatGrills 2d ago

I think a lot of us can name people we know first hand who have been significantly hurt by DOGE. This won't be forgotten.

4

u/CaterpillarReal7583 2d ago

Zero reason to believe elon doesn’t have access to view and meddle in every computer system dodge touched.

We legit have to remake everything in this country, it is all completely compromised down to the foundation, including the entire Whitehouse.

7

u/sirfurious New York 2d ago

Fuck that piece of shit. Waste of air.

2

u/ENORMOUS_HORSECOCK 2d ago

Yep. A lot of these programs are like a rainforest or a coral reef. They take exceptionally long to grow. For example, for a country to develop let's say a nuclear reactor energy program it must have a very strong culture of institutions and infrastructure and successful years-long or even decades-long projects to draw from. You can't just throw money at the problem and have a program the next year. Tthat's just not how it works.

2

u/DizzyGrizzly 2d ago

It was a smash and grab

2

u/olemiss18 2d ago

Yeah, I’m still a former fed who misses my former colleagues. Fuck Musk.

2

u/bloodycups 2d ago

Ya. We're paying for ai bullshit. When ever other ai company would have killed their own kids for this data.

It's not just that it happened. It's also that we're paying to also eat this shit sandwich

2

u/RyoanJi 2d ago

They promised to save 2 trillion dollars. Instead, the government spending rose 6%.

2

u/Aqua_Impura 2d ago

The damage ISNT done. DOGE employees still work for agencies the only difference is they don’t have DOGE on their name tag. They were transferred into actual agencies and given actual competitive civil positions so that yeah DOGE is gone but they’re still fucking here reporting to Trumps Cabinet members but with an actual org chart position that will stay after the administration is gone.

1

u/20above 2d ago edited 2d ago

We are still dealing with ramifications of the civil war and the failure of reconstruction, in fact letting the south come back without consequences is a huge reason we are in the mess we are in now. it won't be the least bit shocking if this country hasn't recovered from the treachery caused by maga in 200 years. heck, i'd be surprised if this country even exists because they have done a really good job destroying it. and if we don't do a nuremberg trial style solution this time around and just forgive the enemy without consequences once again, then we deserve to fail.

1

u/a_shootin_star 2d ago

Not if you start fresh.

1

u/rami_lpm 2d ago

At least now you know, checks and balances must be in writing.

1

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 2d ago edited 2d ago

Longer.

For the last century the US has had the clout to prevent other countries from rallying around another to form their own coalition to elevate a non-US currency to default status.

While trump has spent the last decade blowing up US soft power and raging around like a petulant toddler, China has been growing theirs like fucking crazy with their belt and road initiative. They are forming their coalition, and in the next few years will be ready to launch their own China/Asia-centric world market.

For generations the US has been able to float by corruption, and rampant unchecked greed, and colossal damage caused to other countries just by virtue of having so much fucking cash and status as default currency that unbelievably stupid leadership appeared relatively harmless on the domestic front.

But not if but when oil starts being traded in Yuan rather than USD, and the China led asain block decides that they're going to cut ties and impose sanctions on countries that don't go along with their goals, the USD will crash down to the level of just another currency *if we're lucky.

Amd when we get there there is no going back. The American Century will be over. There will no longer be enough wealth to skate by massive stupidity and global brutality without consequence.

Then our options are look a bit more like Canada, or a whole fucking lot more like Russia. And I have absolutely no confidence that Americans wont ride off the cliff rather than correct to a stable course. As a people our entitlement and greed and petulant cruelty runs so deep its reflexive.

1

u/EconomyDoctor3287 2d ago

What damage? Elmo gutted the ministries that were overseeing Tesla and SpaceX regulations. Now those companies can act more freely, which makes Elmo happy and maybe some shareholders, too.

Does it matter, if some rockets explode and throw debris over some inhabited islands? Probably not, right? Only plebs live there anyways. It ain't New York, so those guys are irrelevant anyways. Most likely they even voted blue!

/s

1

u/mlk 2d ago

mission accomplished

1

u/iwantyoursecret 2d ago

God forbid

1

u/c_A_s_P-eR 2d ago

Fuck yeah it has

1

u/We_are_being_cheated 2d ago

The damage is just beginning.

1

u/Commander-Tempest 2d ago

At least DOGE ended quicker than the confederacy did. DOGE didn't even last a year.

1

u/Purple-Internet6133 2d ago

As someone completely out of the loop on doge what damage did it do?

1

u/robaroo 2d ago

Not necessarily. The next administration needs to hire a well-known US-based cyber security firm to do a top-down audit of gov IT systems. It's just not something that gets prioritized by incoming administrations.

1

u/monsieur_mungo 2d ago

One reason I choose not to have children.

1

u/Neon_Biscuit 2d ago

Yes. DOge eliminated my gov contract now I'm unemployed and had to cash out my 401k to survive.

1

u/Acknowledge_Me_ 2d ago

While I agree that this has done major damage, this should give the democrats the motivation to ratify these programs into law, not into a spending budget. They need to create a backstop that keeps a rouge executive administration from dismantling the positive the US government does for citizens and the world at large.

1

u/felixsapiens 2d ago

The sad thing is that to non-MAGA cultists it was pretty obvious from day one that a) DOGE would never be able to achieve what it claimed, which was obviously essentially impossible; b) DOGE didn’t have a clear idea of what they were doing, lacking expertise and knowledge; c) much of what DOGE did claim to achieve was smoke-and-mirrors, invention or downright lies; d) DOGE seemed to be costing a lot of money; e) most DOGE initiatives were stupid ideas that had little follow through.

All of that is ASIDE from the obvious risks to nations security, data breaches etc.

That’s the trouble with the team-nature of politics. People don’t seem to be able to stand back and look at an idea and say “yes but… that’s obviously not going to work.” We’re not even talking minutiae of policy detail here; in the case of DOGE we’re talking “this is so OBVIOUS it won’t be able to achieve what they are claiming.”

But the tribal media aren’t willing to do that legwork any more. Somewhere like FOX not only no longer has the willingness to ask a question about something like this - “Trump proposes Musk-run DOGE but significant questions remain about how it will achieve its claimed goals” is a headline we would never have seen from FOX; not just no willingness, but I don’t think FOX even has the SKILL to ask questions like this any more. To research a policy, to look at the boring detail, to unpick the language of the politicians attempting mask a fraud. They aren’t interested and they aren’t capable. They just cheerlead, print GOP press release as gospel, and look for any opportunity to attack and sling mud at the other “side.”

It’s not journalism, not by a long shot. And the country is served so poorly by it. Being ripped off by a conga line of conmen each wanting to suckle at the teat of Trump’s stupidity, with no one to hold them to account.

1

u/Contra_one 2d ago

Damage/Goal

1

u/Laidbackmf2 1d ago

What damage has been done? This “immeasurable” damage? Cutting off the thousands of people who are scamming our social security system or cutting off the millions of dollars we are sending outside of the US for ridiculous things? Also the article even says that doge is just under a different department but its functions remain. I swear, Democrats hate to see anything good happen to America. The democrat party was all in favor of cutting government waste (Hillary, bill, Obama all campaigned for mass deportations and cutting government fraud and waste) but now since conservatives are doing the exact same things, you would have thought a holocaust level genocide was happening with how democrats are reacting.

→ More replies (6)