In Defense of Elon Musk and DOGE

The pace of Donald Trump’s first 100 days has been dizzying, and he still has 25 days to go! The two boldest initiatives have been his actions (and threats) on tariffs and creating DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, in whom the President has vested unprecedented power and authority. The tariff issue has been in constant flux, so the media coverage of it has also been in flux, but the legacy media have settled in on how they should treat the DOGE story: paint Elon Musk as an unelected, reckless madman, directing a crew of twenty-something techies with no understanding of government, heartlessly slashing America’s most revered institutions and programs.

It has been hard to find positive coverage of DOGE at any of the major media until last week, when Fox News host Bret Baier interviewed Elon Musk and 7 of his top aides. The interviews are available on YouTube, and I recommend you watch it in full. While it’s undeniably a friendly interview, it isn’t nearly as one-sided as most of the critical coverage or the made-for-TV comments from some Democrat Members of Congress and the Senate. Let’s zero in on just one, Social Security.

These are verbatim quotes. First, Texas Democrat Member of Congress Greg Casar: “I’m 100% certain that Elon Musk is looking for an excuse to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”  A few days later, he said “It’s absurd that Elon Musk is trying to eliminate billions of dollars from Social Security.” Now, careful parsing of his inflammatory rhetoric will reveal that he is not actually accusing Musk and his team of cutting Social Security benefits. Musk has promised to protect benefits, but to cut waste and fraud. Surely, Congressman Casar doesn’t mean to imply that he’s against cutting waste and fraud.  His remarks are therefore disinformation, pure and simple. Then New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan said in a televised Senate hearing, quote, “Elon Musk and President Trump have set their sights on cutting Social Security.” Close quote. Note that she too was more careful in phrasing her outrage than the average listener would intuitively detect. She doesn’t actually claim that Musk and Trump have set their sights on cutting Social Security benefits, does she? But it’s clear what she intended to convey. Similarly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this, quote: “Their goal is clear: destroy Social Security from within.” Unquote.

None of these three can be assumed to be uninformed, so the only alternative conclusion is that all three were intentionally dishonest and deceitful. And since all three obviously intended to provoke emotional responses, all of three comments can be rightly labeled demagoguery. Shameful. The proposed cuts are in reducing duplication, inefficiency and even fraud, not benefits. Musk even makes the point that their reforms will actually enhance benefits, both in the present and for the future, by identifying inefficiency and fraud.

That’s not to say that Elon Musk and the DOGE team are all perfect. Musk made a parody of himself when he cavorted with a chainsaw on stage at the CPAC conference.  He admits that there have been some mistakes, and he claims that when they’re identified, DOGE tries to correct them swiftly.  But the 90-plus percent of American voters who did not watch the Bret Baier interview of Musk and his team have never heard their side of the story. I urge all listeners to American Radio Journal, even those who saw it the first time, to go to YouTube and watch the entire interview.

There are indeed two sides to the story of what Musk is trying to do through DOGE, and we should acquaint ourselves with both sides. The anti-Musk side is easy to find. It’s ubiquitous in the major print media, broadcast television, cable television, radio and podcasts.  The Musk side is harder to find, no question about that, but it’s not that hard to anyone who has access to YouTube.  Simply search for “Bret Baier Musk interview.” Click on the full 38 minute version first, and then the 13 minute Part Two that aired the following day.

All bureaucracies tend to grow, in size, scope and inefficiency. As one of the DOGE team memorably put it, government rachets in only one direction. Correction requires some breakage.