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DOGE exists to help the extraction class disguise corruption, cronyism, and the brutal dismantling of consumer protection, labor rights, and the social safety net as as "innovative efficiency reforms" and from everything I've seen the U.S. press is super keen to help support the illusion

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social

I think journalists, policymakers and good govt types are struggling to understand DOGE because their mental model is that it is a government reform commission, operating like previous ones. Maybe. But it might be better to start thinking about it as a hostile takeover of the govt by oligarchs.

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If any journalists are struggling to understand this it's because they've either been long conditioned to reflect the interests of the media ownership class, they're still too easily bedazzled by affluent bullshitters, or they're simply not very bright (maybe all three)

There is going to be nothing innovative or efficient about DOGE. It's a lazy pseudo government PR construct designed to try and convince the plebs that getting mercilously fucked by corporate power is actually good for the collective whole

I think a lot of it is just American Exceptionalism. Far too many idiots have convinced themselves that the worst things we’ve seen develop in other countries under far milder conditions simply “couldn’t happen” in the USA, because… reasons.

Well and that's tethered to the American lie that if you're rich (musk, Ramaswamy) you must be intelligent and exceptional in some way

DOGE is yet another distraction to obfuscate the crumbling conditions in our country (massive debt, healthcare affordability, housing affordability, climate preparedness, education decline, job losses, etc.) for which Trump & his billionaire buddies HAVE NO SOLUTIONS!

DOGE is the morbidly wealthy's attempt to strip every last cent of federal spending that does not directly benefit them. Of course, they'll be mystified when the bomb-throwing anarchists and motorized bandits come back because they're stupid and historically illiterate.

Same story with “efficiency” measures they take in their C-suite roles at corporations. If we can get ppl to understand that it’s just a euphemism for “austerity for you, golden parachute for me,” that would be a win. But I think many in the press are intentionally misunderstanding this bit.

it's a short step from lapdog media to attack dog and they sure as hell won't be biting the hand that feeds them and holds the leash

The billionaire owned media is all corrupt. It has to be. Regulatory capture. A democracy cannot truly exist without a free press at the core. Any system without a free press is some form of dictatorship.

As a disguise, though, it’s about as subtle as wearing a t-shirt that says “no controlling legal authority says this is illegal.” But the press seems eager to grant it all the legitimacy it lacks

The fuckin pod save guys and Ro Khanna are talking about "wasteful govt spending" in relation to DOGE, unlikely to see any serious Dem opposition to their actual mission you described above either.