Summary

Elon Musk announced plans to double DOGE staff from 100 to 200 employees during a Fox Business interview on Monday.

He stated DOGE is working in “pretty much” all federal agencies despite growing opposition from courts, Democrats, and some Trump Cabinet members.

Musk repeated debunked claims about Social Security fraud and indicated he plans to stay in government another year, despite his temporary “special government employee” status limiting service to 130 days annually.

Meanwhile, Tesla shares have dropped 15%, and protests have targeted Musk-owned businesses. He also claimed, without evidence, that a cyberattack on X originated from Ukraine-based IP addresses.

  • caffinatedone@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    They’re installing them into the agencies to act as comisars to enforce political purity and root out dissent.

    It’s a pretty obvious next step after them gaining control of the treasury payment systems and people’s private data. Can’t have internal pushback on weaponizing these to attack Americans more broadly.

  • ALQ@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Why the fuck do they get to increase their staff when they’re telling the rest of the federal government (including understaffed agencies) to downsize? Hey, Donny, I found the waste, fraud, and abuse; it’s coming from inside the house.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        This is the precursor to the US Gustapo or KGB. Mark my words!

        They are embedding a fascist tech bro secret police into every government body to ensure compliance and alignment with state propaganda, weed out non-loyalists, control the purse, etc.

        The CIA/FBI/NSA can’t be trusted to perform this function for many years, because they are not staffed with loyalists of the fascist regime. Replacing their leadership is easy. Replacing their entire org structure — thousands of managers, and tens of thousands of staff — will take years, if not decades.

    • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Stupid Libtard! Being able to Hire MORE DOGE employees is Why we ELIMINATED Children’s School Lunches and the Education Department!

    • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      Probably because they’re not an actual government agency and are functionally just a government funded think-tank with their hands up the ass of the puppets with actual power? And as such are exempt from the rules they spew out?

  • 0p3r470r@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Situation: there are 100 inefficient government agencies

    Solution: let’s create a new government agency to manage efficiency

    New situation: there now 101 inefficient government agencies

    Relevant xkcd

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      The thing is, they were not designed to be “efficient”, to have some “reserve” for times when needed. What Elon Musk wants is less people working 12-16 hours a day, no weekends, that barely can hold things together, so he can be given either more subsidies or more tax cuts (likely both).

    • LuxSpark@lemmy.cafe
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      1 day ago

      Right. How many people does it take to blanket fire people? I could write a batch file to do it with more skill.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        Just make sure that batch file runs from a public location by default, has admin privs, and is stored on a public file share 😎

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Secret Service staff willing to take a bullet must be really expensive. I wonder if DOGE has explored cheaper options to save US taxpayer money.

      • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        A bit of a conspiracy but I kind of believe the reason that guy got so close to shooting Trump is because Trump’s security detail probably secretly despise him.

        Imagine having to deal with that asshole all the time, at some point you’d just be like, “I’m not risking my life and leaving my family without me for this piece of shit.”

        I mean I’m sure I’m just being a crazy person and it’s a bit of a joke but … Idk … Maybe?

        • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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          This is dumb, as soon as they realized the guy was there, they killed him. If the secret service wanted trump dead, it would be extremely easy for them.

          • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            I did say it was a conspiracy theory or whatever you want to call the fantastical delusions my brain dreams up.