4 ms·

I don't expect the "DOGE" to ever be part of the government in any legal or official sense. I expect it to operate like a think tank or lobby, giving suggesti

I don't expect the "DOGE" to ever be part of the government in any legal or official sense. I expect it to operate like a think tank or lobby, giving suggestions/orders to Trump.

zo1 2y ago
I agree with this take. It also has the unique property of causing a lot of drama and sound-bites in the media on both sides of the left/right spectrum. One side applauds it for getting things done finally, while the other bemoans the end of democracy due to "collusion" between the president and non-elected private-sector rich billionaires that supposedly seek to make a profit out of all this.
- forgetfreeman 2y ago
  That they stand to profit seems fairly uncontroversial given their willingness to participate. What other motive could possibly exist?
  - AnimalMuppet 2y ago
    The motive of actually caring about the country you live in could possibly exist. Possibly. I don't say that I think that's what's actually the motive.
  - BurningFrog 2y ago
    A lot of people care that the country is governed well and lives within its means. To me it's obvious that some of those people may be billionaires. I also find it weird when people assume billionaires only care about getting more money. They are the people who can care least about money!
    - forgetfreeman 2y ago
      Whereas it seems obvious to me that zero of those individuals would be billionaires given their mere existence is proof that governance is malfunctioning. Moreover it's quite literally impossible to get valuable input from an individual who's day-to-day existence is so thoroughly divorced from reality that they couldn't tell you what a stick of butter costs.
      - BurningFrog 2y ago
        Elon's primary day-to-day activity, and maybe biggest cause of his success, is organizing his companies for maximum productivity. This is very relevant for organizing government organizations for the same goal.
        brokenmachine 2y ago
        Elon is a con man who has somehow fallen upwards through luck of birth and government subsidies. He didn't start any of "his" companies, I'm convinced has little to no real engineering input into them, and only remains relevant through going viral for his brain dead takes on social media, which is incidentally one of the ridiculous "investments" that he is now running into the ground. Have you seen his vacuum train idea? I think that says it all about his engineering expertise. Full self driving using only cameras is another one. Colonizing Mars? The surface temperature of Mars is from −110°C to 35°C, with a mean of -60°C. A rocket would take 9 months to get there. A Snake Oil salesman of the highest degree. Quite similar to another person I won't mention.
        munksbeer 2y ago
        I thought his primary day-to-day activity was playing Diablo?
        BurningFrog 2y ago
        I believe that's night time!
        forgetfreeman 2y ago
        1. Neither of us have any idea what Elon Musk's day to day activities look like. 2. If Tesla had been organized for maximum productivity they would have skipped the decade-ish rolling clusterfuck of engineering faceplants, manufacturing bottlenecks, bullshit software issues, and gross body fitment problems by nothing more complex than actually taking a while to learn how cars are made by companies with multi-generational pools of experience to draw on. It's not like cars had just been invented and major R&D was required to debug the process. 3. Feel free to explain this: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article264451076.html https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article26445107... How certain are you his primary contributions aren't column inches based on uncritical coverage of hyperbolic bullshit he said near a microphone?
    - FactKnower69 2y ago
      [dead]
clumsysmurf 2y ago
"Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy delivered a warning to Republicans who don’t go along with their plans to slash spending as part of Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency." Sounds like he is going to use his PAC to fund challengers in primaries that don't go along with his / Trump's plans. https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-politics-trump-7e26c829af224a1f9d67c27cea085e68 https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-politics-trump-7e26c829...
- snowwrestler 2y ago
  So, just like everyone else with resources and political opinions. (Endorsing and funding challengers has been a standard political tactic for decades.)

I don't expect the "DOGE" to ever be part of the government in any legal or official sense. I expect it to operate like a think tank or lobby, giving suggestions/orders to Trump.

zo1 2y ago

I agree with this take. It also has the unique property of causing a lot of drama and sound-bites in the media on both sides of the left/right spectrum. One side applauds it for getting things done finally, while the other bemoans the end of democracy due to "collusion" between the president and non-elected private-sector rich billionaires that supposedly seek to make a profit out of all this.

forgetfreeman 2y ago
That they stand to profit seems fairly uncontroversial given their willingness to participate. What other motive could possibly exist?
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  The motive of actually caring about the country you live in could possibly exist. Possibly. I don't say that I think that's what's actually the motive.
- BurningFrog 2y ago
  A lot of people care that the country is governed well and lives within its means. To me it's obvious that some of those people may be billionaires. I also find it weird when people assume billionaires only care about getting more money. They are the people who can care least about money!
  - forgetfreeman 2y ago
    Whereas it seems obvious to me that zero of those individuals would be billionaires given their mere existence is proof that governance is malfunctioning. Moreover it's quite literally impossible to get valuable input from an individual who's day-to-day existence is so thoroughly divorced from reality that they couldn't tell you what a stick of butter costs.
    - BurningFrog 2y ago
      Elon's primary day-to-day activity, and maybe biggest cause of his success, is organizing his companies for maximum productivity. This is very relevant for organizing government organizations for the same goal.
      - brokenmachine 2y ago
        Elon is a con man who has somehow fallen upwards through luck of birth and government subsidies. He didn't start any of "his" companies, I'm convinced has little to no real engineering input into them, and only remains relevant through going viral for his brain dead takes on social media, which is incidentally one of the ridiculous "investments" that he is now running into the ground. Have you seen his vacuum train idea? I think that says it all about his engineering expertise. Full self driving using only cameras is another one. Colonizing Mars? The surface temperature of Mars is from −110°C to 35°C, with a mean of -60°C. A rocket would take 9 months to get there. A Snake Oil salesman of the highest degree. Quite similar to another person I won't mention.
      - munksbeer 2y ago
        I thought his primary day-to-day activity was playing Diablo?
        BurningFrog 2y ago
        I believe that's night time!
      - forgetfreeman 2y ago
        1. Neither of us have any idea what Elon Musk's day to day activities look like. 2. If Tesla had been organized for maximum productivity they would have skipped the decade-ish rolling clusterfuck of engineering faceplants, manufacturing bottlenecks, bullshit software issues, and gross body fitment problems by nothing more complex than actually taking a while to learn how cars are made by companies with multi-generational pools of experience to draw on. It's not like cars had just been invented and major R&D was required to debug the process. 3. Feel free to explain this: https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article264451076.html https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article26445107... How certain are you his primary contributions aren't column inches based on uncritical coverage of hyperbolic bullshit he said near a microphone?
  - FactKnower69 2y ago
    [dead]

clumsysmurf 2y ago

"Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy delivered a warning to Republicans who don’t go along with their plans to slash spending as part of Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency." Sounds like he is going to use his PAC to fund challengers in primaries that don't go along with his / Trump's plans. https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-politics-trump-7e26c829af224a1f9d67c27cea085e68 https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-politics-trump-7e26c829...

snowwrestler 2y ago
So, just like everyone else with resources and political opinions. (Endorsing and funding challengers has been a standard political tactic for decades.)