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There are no clear details about what DOGE will alter. All the information we have so far amounts to outrage-bait one-liners. Where and how are they deciding to

There are no clear details about what DOGE will alter. All the information we have so far amounts to outrage-bait one-liners. Where and how are they deciding to make cuts, and which agencies are they planning to change? Cutting is not intrinsically a good or bad idea, but everything I’ve read about this so far makes DOGE seem anti-intellectual.

nickthegreek 2y ago
They wont alter anything, as they are a presidential commission and not a department of the government.
- dpkonofa 2y ago
  You say this as if Trump will also not be in control of both sides of Congress. All it takes to make this a department of the government is a vote in Congress.
  - sundaeofshock 2y ago
    And most of the members of congress (all of the house, 1/3 of the senate)will be up for election in 2 years. Let’s see if they are up for cutting social security and medicare when they have to face the voters just two years later.
    - red-iron-pine 2y ago
      two years is long enough to make deep cuts. there will be no big collapse, no big catastrophe. there won't be a 1991 Berlin Wall event. things will just get shittier and more expensive, and people will go out less, buy less, travel less, have fewer kids, etc.
      - sundaeofshock 2y ago
        Let’s break this down. Payments on the debt (10% of budget) are already off the table. SS, Health Insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, ACA, etc) and defense represent about 58% of the budget. If we eliminate everything else, we are going after things like welfare, the VA, and veterans benefits, as well as subsidies to a variety of businesses. Bottom line, even if there wasn’t an economic impact, there will be some very pissed-off powerful constituents. At the end of the day, this whole process shows that Musk and Ramaswamy are clowns.
015a 2y ago
Well, its a department that literally does not exist yet because the regime that wants to build it isn't in power yet. So, maybe have a bit of patience before breaking out the name-calling.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  I think DOGE does exist, it just is a non-government entity advising the incoming administration with a deceptive name that makes it sound like a government agency rather than a privileged private lobbying group.
  - MichaelZuo 2y ago
    Aren’t there already millions of ‘non-government entities’ directly advising every administration, or indirectly advising the advisors, etc…?
    - dragonwriter 2y ago
      Most of them aren't named like government entities, given a verified-government-entity greycheck on Twitter, have their leadership announced by the incoming President elect, recruit on the explicit premise of being part of Administration policy, and have public confusion as to whether they are a government department or something else.
      - MichaelZuo 2y ago
        You’ve listed indicators that suggests it has a higher probability of becoming a formalized office of some kind, higher likelihood that key decision makers truly believe in establishing it, etc. Therefore…?
relaxatorium 2y ago
Unless I have missed something (always a real possibility to be fair) there are also no clear details about what DOGE is, what its powers or lack thereof are, what its staffing is, or what its actual processes will be. We’ll find out more when the actual Trump administration starts I guess, but so far it seems like a broad concept that two guys can use for tweets.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  > there are also no clear details about what DOGE is, what its powers or lack thereof are It's (edit: going to be after Innauguration Day) a Presidential Task Force Presidential Task Forces have zero power, as they can only give recommendations. All this hyperventilating over DOGE is distracting from actual issues to worry about - like the upcoming showdown between Senate GOP Leadership and the Executive Branch over a number of confirmations.
  - dragonwriter 2y ago
    > It's a Presidential Task Force It can't be a Presidential Task Force in the present tense because Trump isn’t President and Biden didn't establish it.
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.
  - dpkonofa 2y ago
    >All this hyperventilating over DOGE is distracting from actual issues to worry about It's not hyperventilating. It may start as a task force but it can easily and quickly be upgraded to a full-on department of the federal government by Congress.
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      > it can easily and quickly be upgraded to a full-on department It cannot easily be converted. The house margin is razor thin now that Gaetz and Stefanik gave up their seats for nominations, and filibuster-able. And Senate leadership is status quo GOP with Sen Thune as Senate Majorty leader, and his allies Grassley and Cornyn, as well as shakey Senators like Collin and Murkowski reducing that majority, and the Senate is still filibuster-able as well. And given the amount of controversy over a number of Secretary choices, it'll take 6-9 months alone just to go through the Senate Confirmation backlog.

nickthegreek 2y ago

They wont alter anything, as they are a presidential commission and not a department of the government.

dpkonofa 2y ago
You say this as if Trump will also not be in control of both sides of Congress. All it takes to make this a department of the government is a vote in Congress.
- sundaeofshock 2y ago
  And most of the members of congress (all of the house, 1/3 of the senate)will be up for election in 2 years. Let’s see if they are up for cutting social security and medicare when they have to face the voters just two years later.
  - red-iron-pine 2y ago
    two years is long enough to make deep cuts. there will be no big collapse, no big catastrophe. there won't be a 1991 Berlin Wall event. things will just get shittier and more expensive, and people will go out less, buy less, travel less, have fewer kids, etc.
    - sundaeofshock 2y ago
      Let’s break this down. Payments on the debt (10% of budget) are already off the table. SS, Health Insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, ACA, etc) and defense represent about 58% of the budget. If we eliminate everything else, we are going after things like welfare, the VA, and veterans benefits, as well as subsidies to a variety of businesses. Bottom line, even if there wasn’t an economic impact, there will be some very pissed-off powerful constituents. At the end of the day, this whole process shows that Musk and Ramaswamy are clowns.

015a 2y ago

Well, its a department that literally does not exist yet because the regime that wants to build it isn't in power yet. So, maybe have a bit of patience before breaking out the name-calling.

dragonwriter 2y ago
I think DOGE does exist, it just is a non-government entity advising the incoming administration with a deceptive name that makes it sound like a government agency rather than a privileged private lobbying group.
- MichaelZuo 2y ago
  Aren’t there already millions of ‘non-government entities’ directly advising every administration, or indirectly advising the advisors, etc…?
  - dragonwriter 2y ago
    Most of them aren't named like government entities, given a verified-government-entity greycheck on Twitter, have their leadership announced by the incoming President elect, recruit on the explicit premise of being part of Administration policy, and have public confusion as to whether they are a government department or something else.
    - MichaelZuo 2y ago
      You’ve listed indicators that suggests it has a higher probability of becoming a formalized office of some kind, higher likelihood that key decision makers truly believe in establishing it, etc. Therefore…?

relaxatorium 2y ago

Unless I have missed something (always a real possibility to be fair) there are also no clear details about what DOGE is, what its powers or lack thereof are, what its staffing is, or what its actual processes will be. We’ll find out more when the actual Trump administration starts I guess, but so far it seems like a broad concept that two guys can use for tweets.

alephnerd 2y ago
> there are also no clear details about what DOGE is, what its powers or lack thereof are It's (edit: going to be after Innauguration Day) a Presidential Task Force Presidential Task Forces have zero power, as they can only give recommendations. All this hyperventilating over DOGE is distracting from actual issues to worry about - like the upcoming showdown between Senate GOP Leadership and the Executive Branch over a number of confirmations.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  > It's a Presidential Task Force It can't be a Presidential Task Force in the present tense because Trump isn’t President and Biden didn't establish it.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.
- dpkonofa 2y ago
  >All this hyperventilating over DOGE is distracting from actual issues to worry about It's not hyperventilating. It may start as a task force but it can easily and quickly be upgraded to a full-on department of the federal government by Congress.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > it can easily and quickly be upgraded to a full-on department It cannot easily be converted. The house margin is razor thin now that Gaetz and Stefanik gave up their seats for nominations, and filibuster-able. And Senate leadership is status quo GOP with Sen Thune as Senate Majorty leader, and his allies Grassley and Cornyn, as well as shakey Senators like Collin and Murkowski reducing that majority, and the Senate is still filibuster-able as well. And given the amount of controversy over a number of Secretary choices, it'll take 6-9 months alone just to go through the Senate Confirmation backlog.