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🏛️ DOGE Days Ahead

Musk and Ramaswamy pitch their vision for a leaner, meaner government.

December 09, 2024

The Flag


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Right: What Biden’s Lawfare Has Wrought, Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal

Right: Biden and Beltway Media Deserve Each Other, Tim Murtaugh, Washington Times

Left: Trump's Picks Are Groveling, Subservient Yes-Men, Robert Reich, The Guardian

Left: Trump’s Disdain for Transition Process Is Ominous, Editorial Board, The Washington Post

GOVERNMENT

DOGE Days Ahead

Today’s Top Story: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are pitching sweeping reform proposals for President-elect Donald Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE, including drastic federal workforce cuts, a $2 trillion spending reduction, and the elimination of agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Reporting from the Right: Hill Republicans get to know DOGE — and the business titans running it (Washington Examiner)

Reporting from the Left: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy meet with Republicans to talk spending cuts. They face a steep climb. (NBC News)

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Citizens Back on Top

The Top Argument From The Right: The Great DOGE Reversal, Daniel Henninger, The Wall Street Journal: “[DOGE] is a needed reordering of how Americans think about the relationship between government and their own interests. … One then may ask: Why spend so much political capital and effort on the Musk-Ramaswamy DOGE project, which appears to be mostly about Washington, similarly distant from the interests and concerns of these voters? If they’re moving allegiance toward the private economy, why not bank the politics and let Washington spin its wheels? Reducing ‘government’ is a longtime conservative goal. Its original popularizer was Ronald Reagan, who spoke of it constantly. …the idea became normalized that a very powerful national government and business could coexist. That coexistence has never been challenged successfully. A primary purpose of DOGE is to reverse this relationship, to make government again the subordinate partner in the daily life of citizens. … The message sent by lower-income voters who transferred their support to Mr. Trump is that they no longer believe in a way of life defined and led by the public dole—i.e., government. But the long-term economic opportunity they desire—for themselves and for their own children moving into adulthood—will be thwarted unless government’s limitless growth and spread is capped now.”

Honorable Mention #2: Hemingway: Congress Is DOGE’s Biggest Obstacle To Success, The Federalist Staff, The Federalist

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

All Hype, No Substance

The Top Argument From The Left: Elon Musk's harassment of federal employees proves DOGE is weaker than he pretends, Amanda Marcotte, Salon: “Despite all the hype, there were immediate signs that this effort may not be as serious as Musk and Ramaswamy implied with their relentless chest-beating about ‘cuts’ and ‘deleting’ entire agencies. The name — Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — sounds super-official, but it's just a reference to a dumb meme that Musk is obsessed with, despite being about four decades too old for it. … More importantly, it's not a real department. It's a ‘presidential advisory committee,’ which may sound like a real thing but comes with no salary and no real power. These committees have a long history of being used to create the appearance of ‘doing something’ while doing nothing. … Musk has been harassing individual federal employees, by name, in X posts. These mostly seem to be women, chosen at random because he finds their job titles annoying. … Musk knows that DOGE has no power to fire people. It probably won't have much hold on Trump's limited attention span. … Federal employee salaries are a small fraction of the U.S. budget, so it was always false to claim that slashing the workforce would save money in any meaningful way. … This is the equivalent of cutting a dollar a month out of your grocery budget and congratulating yourself for being thrifty.”

Honorable Mention #1: There’s a rude awakening in store for the DOGE bros, Allison Morrow and Matt Egan, CNN

FLAG THIS

Americans and the Role of Government

According to a 2023 survey from the Pew Research Center, Americans have varied opinions on government size, spending, and priorities, with sharp partisan divides:

  • Government size and role: 49% prefer bigger government, 48% favor smaller. 52% say government should do more, while 46% see it as overreaching.

  • Military spending: 43% want increases (up 6 points since 2021); Republicans (62%) and older adults show more support.

  • Aid and taxes: 43% favor more aid to the poor; 65% back higher taxes on corporations, and 61% on incomes over $400K, mostly Democrats.

  • Deficit: 57% see reducing the deficit as a top priority, up from 45% in 2022, led by Republicans (71%).

Do you believe that DOGE could improve government efficiency?

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WATERCOOLER

Texan Takeover, Tableware Tensions, Illegal Lotto

On This Day in 1835, inspired by the leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texan Army took possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico.

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