Post

@mmasnick.bsky.social Fingers crossed they learn empathy before March.

voodoo economics without the economics

those smug mugs tell the greed & cronyism tale 😳

The fact someone called them 'doggie' is giving me life

Even Republicans see this as only affecting "tiny, low-hanging fruit"!

I imagine Musk doing what he did at Twitter-- immediately summoning senior leadership of departments to explain to him what he can cut. But the senior leadership that understands doesn't work for him and the ones Trump installs won't know anything about their departments.

It’s of course naive to think our representatives are exactly that

Fuck them to death.

I heard someone call them DOGEbags recently and each time I see a new headline I increase the odds of the neologism taking off.

You can't run a country like a private company.

“Dilemma” = Reality

Sigh.

I’m shocked, shocked that a kiddie-table, redundant budgeting entity with two egomaniacal co-heads is careening headlong to a cluster.

When you have to say a word out loud that you've only previously encountered on the page

...and then reject it.

I don't know if I would call Elon 's work at Twitter or Space X 'thoughtful' or 'deliberate' but maybe I just don't enjoy calling people r_d .

Republicans have a problem, it's called reality.

Where stupid rhetoric meets the numbers. No doubt the people to suffer will be the poorest, and large powerful organizations will not be cut.

Republicans used to be able to handle simple math-- what happened?

It’s merely unethical to deny science, but you can’t “deny” math.

If they’re serious about *all* federal workers, including members of Congress and the tops of the executive branch, I could be convinced to support this. But somehow I’m guessing their definition of “worker” isn’t very broad

Since there is not much waste fraud and abuse below the level of appropriations they have to cut services. Services more people than billionaires depend upon. 2 trillion cuts there? Yeah. That outta do it. That'll put people into the streets.

Honestly, I think nothing actually is going to happen. Musk will walk about a while, tweet a lot of rubbish, trying to look cool, take selfies on planes eating burgers with Trump and then in early 2026 proclaim the job is done and how they saved America from bankruptcy. But actually: do nothing.

They could start by killing Medicare Advantage programs. Plain Medicare costs government less money and doesn’t deny treatments.

I love all the quotes from Members of Congress saying that surely Trump won’t go around us lol.

GOP math is claiming victory as the status quo settles after a bout of saber rattling.

They’re not a government agency. They only have power if republicans let them influence their votes.

Not even sworn in, already saying the number one issue in the election is “never mind”🤦‍♂️

‘House Republicans…have raised concerns, over how to put in practice conflicting parameters being set at the direction of…Trump now that the excitement around the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency has begun to settle.’ What⁉️ No‼️ What⁉️⁉️

or looking at defence because so much could be cut there actually, the budget is way out of line with needs but then those defence manufacturers in red areas cutting jobs etc. Remove money from any economy and consequences ...

So, I get to spend my golden years being hungry and homeless, and then being arrested for it and shipped off to some detention camp while Trump and other billionaires dine at Mar-a-Lago with white supremacists.