Summary
Elon Musk’s DOGE faces mounting pressure to show achievements amid criticism. Staffers, under pressure from Trump administration officials, seek public relations wins to counter negative headlines.
Cuts to federal offices led to mass layoffs, and efforts to modernize government services have been chaotic. DOGE prioritizes speed over security and protecting sensitive information.
Trump has distanced himself, stating agency chiefs, not Musk, control department cuts, preferring a “scalpel” over a “hatchet” approach. Public opinion has turned against DOGE, with 48% disapproving versus 34% approving, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
With limited time before their tenure ends, DOGE officials are desperate to show results.
That’s the kind of middle ground with fascism the Democratic party is engaging in…
You can make compromises, you can find a middle ground. But that ground has to be stable, it can’t be compromised from the get go - that’s how you get Obamacare, a payout to insurance companies that has a few positives baked in
If it’s compromised from the start, you haven’t done anything positive - you’ve just opened the floor to bastardize it further
I guess I’m just stuck in the 90’s mindset of trying to find compromise. I know that idea was on the decline then, but I still, maybe foolishly, hold on to it.
I mean, the 90s are what got us here…
You can’t try to meet the opposition halfway, especially not when they’re ideologically opposed to your goals. Especially when they’re dishonest. Especially when they stretch and exploit the rules to get their way.
Even if their strategy wasn’t to rig the system and manipulate the game, they are oppositional on near everything.
It just ends up in you starting the negotiation halfway, before they compromise 75% in their favor, and they might squeeze another bit here and there
The 90s were not a good time politically - it was a civil time. It was also constant pull to the right, we dismantled our social safety nets, we let worker protections get whittled down, we let corporations grow too powerful to reign in. We even removed banking regulations that allowes the 2008 recession, and it all culminated in citizens united.
Our problems now are because of that attitude… Congress used to occasionally erupt into fist fights, and it was better for it. You need the push and pull, or you get the uni party the GOP and Democratic party became - two faces squabbling over social issues as they cooperated to sell out the people