DOGE and the Mystery of the State Department Teslas
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What challenges arise from the second Trump administration?
So here's one of those questions that might actually be too big or at least unanswerable by another person. I am really struggling in the early days of the second Trump administration to figure out how much attention to pay to what the new federal government is doing. I keep asking myself what, if anything, I learned the first time around. Back then, many of the stories I focused on ended up not mattering much. There were things that seemed maximally outrageous, but which later were supplanted by much more outrageous things. The first Trump presidency made everyone in American life more deranged, more crazy, including me. And the second time around, I personally have just felt like a person who maybe once got too drunk and now has a chance on their second night out to try to adjust. Maybe. But it's difficult. One of the main facts of life in a Trump presidency is that the president is very talented at making your phone buzz.
If you own a smartphone, you have this feeling that even if you don't understand what's going on in his office or his mind, that you are umbilically attached to his nervous system. Actually, that's what things were like in Trump 1. In Trump 2, we've now been plugged into a second nervous system, Elon Musk's. Because Elon Musk is making a lot of decisions, and Elon Musk tweets something like 25 hours a day. So now you have two of the most online people American society has ever produced. People who post more than anyone I know in my extremely two online social circles who are just constantly doing stuff. And the stuff feels consequential. And if you're me and you move in my social circle, the stuff may not feel very thought through, but it's also unclear which of these things to try to actually lock in on and understand. The past couple weeks, I was watching a reporter I follow try to get to the bottom of just one minor mystery that had surfaced around Elon Musk and the Trump administration.
And watching him try to get to the truth, I felt like I was getting a very vivid postcard of our moment. This little microcosm of how hard it is to know what is going on and which questions to stick with. So I wanted to get him to come to Search Engine and tell me the story. Can you start by just saying your name and what you do?
Who is Bobby Allyn and what is his background?
Yeah, sure. I'm Bobby Allen. I am a tech correspondent at NPR. How long have you been covering tech? Something like five years or so. Kind of fell into it sideways. I was in D.C. covering politics and breaking news. And somebody tapped me on the shoulder one day and was like, hey, you want to go to San Francisco and cover tech? And I was like, honestly, when I pick up newspapers, I don't even read the tech section. So I think you're asking the wrong guy. But then they were like, yeah, but this is where all the power is. These people need more accountability. You think politics are important? Really, the decision makers and the gatekeepers are. in Silicon Valley, and I said, okay, fine, I'll do it.
So I've been doing it ever since.
And do you feel like that promise has turned out to be true, that you have turned from one power center in American life into another?
Yeah, and I think the way that Silicon Valley operates has taken a lot of clues from Washington, right? Having this army of communications people who, you know, send you responses and answers to your questions by like committees of 10 operating with complete opacity, trying to front run stories before you get your own stories out. Just the kind of constantly at war with reporter kind of vibe. It's just like brass knuckles. It's fighting these comms people. It's fighting the lieutenants around, you know, really powerful billionaires that are running these companies. It's very hostile. It's very confrontational. And I kind of like that in this sitcom.
kind of weird way.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I invite drama and like fueling drama, and I'm like the biggest gossip anyone knows. So maybe I'm perfect for the job, but it's not for everyone, that's for sure.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What challenges arise from the second Trump administration?
0:25–2:39
2
Who is Bobby Allyn and what is his background?
2:39–8:12
3
What unusual item did the State Department budget reveal?
8:12–10:48
4
How did Elon Musk respond to media scrutiny?
10:48–15:22
5
What is Doge and how does it relate to government efficiency?
15:22–17:49
6
What controversies surround the $400 million Tesla contract?
17:49–20:08
7
How does Curtis Yarvin influence Silicon Valley thinking?
20:08–25:09
8
What did Elon Musk say about government efficiency?
25:09–46:03