Who Let The DOGE Out?

Who Let The DOGE Out?

By

Leonard Zwelling

The level of consternation on the left side of the aisle is unprecedented. It’s not been seen since the days of Richard Nixon. That’s because it was Richard Nixon who last tried to remake the Presidency into the sole organ of the federal government. In essence, with the blessing of the voters, Mr. Trump is trying to do exactly that.

Mr. Musk and his young minions are simply the vehicle by which Trump is attempting to alter the executive branch to encompass or outright swallow the other two branches of government.

How do I know?

In past years, appointees like Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would have been laughed out of any Senate hearing like the alcoholic John Tower, the non-tax paying Tom Daschle, or even Mr. Clinton’s choice for Attorney General, Zoe Baird, who had an illegal immigrant caring for her child. Even Mr. Clinton had some sense of shame. Not The Donald. What’s worse is that his MAGA crowd sees nothing wrong with these nominations. I have seen the result of appointments like these at my home academic institution. It never turns out well.

But let’s focus on DOGE.

Mr. Musk is very busy firing federal employees, buying them out, or doing away with entire agencies. It is impossible for him to have done the necessary homework to know what these agencies do, where exactly the waste, fraud and abuse is, and who is responsible. But Mr. Musk is famous for firing everybody first and asking questions later. But he is also famous for doing really great things efficiently and economically, like Space X. And he is also famous for getting billions of dollars in federal money for his projects and even getting billions from other countries for StarLink, his satellite system.

In one way Elon is the right guy for the job of cleaning up the Executive branch, He is, after all, a master of cost control and efficiency. In another way, he is now overseeing the precise organs of government that send him billions of dollars. Can you say conflict of interest? Does anyone really care? I guess some Democrats, but they no longer seem to matter. In the rush by the Democrats under Joe Biden to use the power of government to achieve social goals that did not resonate with the majority of Americans, they have managed to marginalize themselves.

Even Richard Nixon didn’t have a Congress as weak kneed as the current crop. Whatever Mr. Trump wants out of them, he is likely to get—until it’s too late and Congress is no more.

And as for the courts, the branch of government so key to bringing down Mr. Nixon, the recent decisions by the Supreme Court which amount to carte blanche for a President to do anything and get away with it suggests that Mr. Nixon would never have had to resign under the current Court. As far as I can see, Trump has clear sailing to putting a throne behind the Resolute Desk and a crown on his golden head with Musk with his son on his shoulders taking charge.

Personally, I am watching the birthright issue. If this Supreme Court overturns the current right of any child born in this country to be a citizen, a direct violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, then we know that there is now only one branch of government and that the Constitutional structure is no more.

Even if I agree with some of Mr. Musk’s conclusions, particularly about the waste in USAID, there is a right way to go about making changes. You get a bipartisan, blue ribbon panel to look deeply into the agency, write a report to Congress, and deal with the fallout accordingly with appropriate legislation. But Mr. Trump was elected to cut through all of this red tape and Mr. Musk is his rapier.

Many blog readers are telling me that they are thrilled with the early days of the Trump Administration, his choice of appointees, and the free rein given Mr. Musk. Just say for me beware of getting what you want. Make no mistake about it. Donald Trump is trying to undo the makeup of this Constitutional republic. In just a few short weeks, he is making great progress in that direction.