David Marchese

And I think that's the real impetus behind what Doge is doing, despite its name, efficiency, despite Elon Musk's characterization of it as sort of the government's geek squad. It's a political project, a very aggressive political project to carry out a political ideology, not some sort of analysis that's outside of politics.

I think we're in the middle of a period that will settle that question. I do not think that's a settled question. If agencies send bogus cuts to Doge, will Doge accept them and does that allow them to avoid real cuts? It's part of the same open question as that email that Elon Musk sent out to all federal workers asking, you know, what were the five things you did last week?

I think we're in the middle of a period that will settle that question. I do not think that's a settled question. If agencies send bogus cuts to Doge, will Doge accept them and does that allow them to avoid real cuts? It's part of the same open question as that email that Elon Musk sent out to all federal workers asking, you know, what were the five things you did last week?

The first time he tried it, about a million government workers responded. but also a lot of them didn't, and a lot of agencies told their people, don't respond. That was the first time that Elon Musk had tried to do something with his very large power within the government, and it failed. And so this is a power struggle. I don't think we're seeing it in public.

The first time he tried it, about a million government workers responded. but also a lot of them didn't, and a lot of agencies told their people, don't respond. That was the first time that Elon Musk had tried to do something with his very large power within the government, and it failed. And so this is a power struggle. I don't think we're seeing it in public.

In public, everybody's getting along. What you're seeing there when Doge fails to catch a bogus cut that an agency sends it, you're seeing that kind of battle going out right at the trench level between who will shape the future of these agencies, the people who run them or Elon Musk. And I don't think I see Elon Musk giving up anytime soon.

In public, everybody's getting along. What you're seeing there when Doge fails to catch a bogus cut that an agency sends it, you're seeing that kind of battle going out right at the trench level between who will shape the future of these agencies, the people who run them or Elon Musk. And I don't think I see Elon Musk giving up anytime soon.

I think there's two things to keep in mind. One is what we mean when we talk about Twitter surviving. Yes, Twitter exists. There's still people posting posts there and reading it. It's not the same thing that it was. The audience has changed. The content has changed. The experience of being on Twitter has changed. And I think some people left because of that. So Musk sees that as a success.

I think there's two things to keep in mind. One is what we mean when we talk about Twitter surviving. Yes, Twitter exists. There's still people posting posts there and reading it. It's not the same thing that it was. The audience has changed. The content has changed. The experience of being on Twitter has changed. And I think some people left because of that. So Musk sees that as a success.

And it seems like he is trying to apply that like slash it, cut everything and then see what breaks and then rebuild the things that broke that approach to federal government. The thing that stops me and when I think about whether that approach can really be carried forward with the federal government is it's so different from Donald Trump's view of the federal government. He's not a cutter.

And it seems like he is trying to apply that like slash it, cut everything and then see what breaks and then rebuild the things that broke that approach to federal government. The thing that stops me and when I think about whether that approach can really be carried forward with the federal government is it's so different from Donald Trump's view of the federal government. He's not a cutter.

He didn't run on cutting the federal government. He didn't govern this way the first time. His vision of government was one that basically continued to give people the benefits that they wanted, Medicare, Social Security. He doesn't ask people in his campaign to make sacrifices. He was saying, you know, I'm going to fight inflation. I'm going to fight illegal immigration.

He didn't run on cutting the federal government. He didn't govern this way the first time. His vision of government was one that basically continued to give people the benefits that they wanted, Medicare, Social Security. He doesn't ask people in his campaign to make sacrifices. He was saying, you know, I'm going to fight inflation. I'm going to fight illegal immigration.

But for everything else, things are not going to change that much. We're not going to touch these big expenditures. We're not going to touch the Defense Department. Donald Trump didn't say, hey, I'm going to run for president. I'm going to slash the government back so deeply that, you know, it'll just be barely alive. That's Musk's vision.

But for everything else, things are not going to change that much. We're not going to touch these big expenditures. We're not going to touch the Defense Department. Donald Trump didn't say, hey, I'm going to run for president. I'm going to slash the government back so deeply that, you know, it'll just be barely alive. That's Musk's vision.

And if it continues and it changes the experience for the worse of average folks, Trump is going to be faced with the question of, do I stop my most powerful ally or do I defend my own vision of what government ought to be and the vision that voters sort of elected me to carry out?

And if it continues and it changes the experience for the worse of average folks, Trump is going to be faced with the question of, do I stop my most powerful ally or do I defend my own vision of what government ought to be and the vision that voters sort of elected me to carry out?

That's the fundamental difference here, right? You can delete your Twitter account, you can stop reading Twitter, and life goes on. But now, if you apply that same sort of, like, cut first, measure later approach to government... Then you're talking about people don't get their Medicare. People don't, you know, the IRS doesn't answer your phone call when you have a question about your taxes.

That's the fundamental difference here, right? You can delete your Twitter account, you can stop reading Twitter, and life goes on. But now, if you apply that same sort of, like, cut first, measure later approach to government... Then you're talking about people don't get their Medicare. People don't, you know, the IRS doesn't answer your phone call when you have a question about your taxes.

The park that you're going to visit doesn't open. I don't think that the public and Trump's voters were prepared for this kind of change and to make it risks huge political pullback for Trump and pretty big disruptions for regular people.