Trump announced that his $100 million donor Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would head a Department of Government Efficiency with the job of redesigning and downsizing the federal government. Did we elect Musk? Ramaswamy? Who are these guys? They say they will cut the federal budget by 1/3. Will they cut Social Security? Medicare? National defense?
Trump also announced his choice of a FOX News host to head the Departnent of Defebse, a position previously held by a four-star general.
President-elect Donald J. Trump is turning to two of his most prominent wealthy backers, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to overhaul the federal government, saying on Tuesday that they would lead what he called the Department of Government Efficiency.
Calling it “the Manhattan Project” of this era, Mr. Trump said the department would propel “drastic change” throughout the federal bureaucracy by July 4, 2026.
“A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence,” Mr. Trump wrote in a statement. “I am confident they will succeed!”
Mr. Musk said before the election that he would help Mr. Trump cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, but he did not elaborate on Tuesday night about how he would do that, or which parts of the government would be cut or restructured.
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Mr. Musk said in the statement.
Among a blizzard of announcements on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump also said he would nominate Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, to be his next defense secretary. In veering away from a traditional defense secretary, Mr. Trump elevated a television ally to run the Pentagon and lead 1.3 million active-duty troops.
The New York Daily News Reported:
President-elect Trump on Tuesday named Elon Musk and onetime Republican presidential wannabe Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, calling it “the Manhattan Project of our time.”
Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has claimed he could slash $2 trillion from federal spending, nearly a third of what the government spends in a year. Ramaswamy, for his part, has said he wants to trigger mass layoffs at federal agencies, even going so far as to shut them down, as NBC News reported in 2023.
Despite its name, the department is not a government agency, and Trump said the pair would offer “advice and guidance” to the White House in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget, which is a government agency.
“I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE),” Trump said in a statement from his transition team Tuesday evening, calling them “two wonderful Americans” poised to help his administration “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies — Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Trump, Musk, Ramaswamy, Hegseth, etc., ad nauseam should not even be in charge of the men’s department at Target, let alone our federal government. It reads like science fiction or something from a Stephen king horror novel, but sadly it’s all too real.
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I still think Putin rigged the election to make the U.S. a laughing stock.
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“Morning Joe a never Trumper rigged the Election . Not Fox not Sinclair but Morning Joe ,CNN and the rest of MSM . Again 10 minutes ago at 9:30 AM, 11/13/ 24. I listened to their report on the Commerce Dept’s Inflation report. I heard about “the real inflation rate . The one people feel” … “They are tired of only filling their tank halfway because they cant afford it.” Michael Barnicle … Yup I paid $2.74 at the Shell Station down the Block. Simply outrageous . Hey Mike!!! the cost of gas translated into the number of hours worked to fill that tank by the American Worker is lower now and has been for sometime. Lower than most of the Trump years . Perhaps he could have know this before he created hysterics . But he probably has not filled the tank in years . https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=WGkrHey Joe !!!!! The Gubement (well semi Guberment) liars at the Federal Reserve tell us that 72% of Americans say their personal Finances are okay to good . While a similar amount say that the National Economy sucks . You think you have something to do with that . But again the producers at CNN and MSNBC dont have a “GOOGLE Machine” That is before Right wing media amplifies the BULLSHIT https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20240521a.htm
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I’m willing to bet that Donald Trump has never filled a gas tank.
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That’s a given about Trump . What is also a given is that if Trump had the exact same economy as Biden had; for well over 2 years he would have been boasting it was the best economy since they invented holes in Swiss Cheese. Every single Republican would be standing with him . As they called anyone who could not make it in that economy a loser .
Democrats ran from Biden in 2022 instead of standing up for their accomplishments .
One of the fastest economic recoveries if not the fastest on record.
I don’t know a single worker that would not trade having a job for a short lived period of inflation. `Inflation is a problem when wages don’t keep up . Except wages have surpassed inflation. For 50 % of workers !!!!!!!!!!!!! Concentrated in lower wage workers for the first time in 40 years .
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A really cool clown show. If Elon Musk realized how ridiculous he looked, he’d die of embarrassment. CBK
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To pull off what Trump is planning to do means no more US Constitution.
I don’t have much faith in Democrats doing what they should. Take the blue states and form a new country, letting trump have the red states. Too many talkers. Not enough fighters.
I think the Democratic leadership will try to fight in the courts with their lawyers. That will not stop Trump. He got away with january 6, 2021. He’ll get away with this too.
Trump has nothing but contempt for the legal system. He hates it. He hates the IRS. He hates the US military. He hates anyone telling him what to do. That is his lifelong history.
The only other option is the current military leadership, the joint chiefs, step in and stop him. Then the generals declare marshall law with Biden or Harris leading the country while the politicians Trump doesn’t control work to rebuild what’s already broken before there’s nothing left.
They have to act fast and with force. Forget the damn legal system. It’s broken and has been since the 6 extreme right justices took it over and started the job Trump wanted them to do.
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You should see the new map that the trumpers are posting online! It’s a line drawing of all the blue states being given to Canada. I can’t find a picture to post for you, but it’s starting to make the rounds on social media.
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Roll Up That Constitution. It will not be needed these next eight years
(With apologies’ to British Prime Minister Pitt (The Younger) for Yet Again plagiarising his original remark)
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Putin puppet Trump’s call to “dismantle government bureaucracy” is reminiscent of body-odor personified Steve Bannon’s “dismantling of the administrative state”. In other words, destroy the United States and cripple the ability of its middle class to survive so master Putin’s country gains power and territory. Trump and Republican senators and judges are traitors as they obsequiouly seek to shirk their constitutional obligation to check other branches’ powers and instead enable king Trump.
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When a clown becomes president, the whole federal government becomes a circus. Trump is stuffing his clown car with fellow opportunists. Our government is Trump’s new tinker toy, but the result will be sad, not funny.
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What Elon Musk and others want to do in “cutting” government is to eliminate certain federal agencies, like the department of education, and to gut others, like Interior and the EPA, and to deplete the federal civil service while stocking it with Trump loyalists, competent or not.
What he’s doing with Defense appears to be a first step in weaponizing the US military, turning it into a Trump “army” to be used as he sees fit. As any sensible person knows, he IS unfit for office. That’s a genuine recipe for bad things to come.
Here’s how the Associated Press reported Trump’s selection of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense:
“Trump passed on a number of established national security heavy-hitters and chose an Army National Guard captain well known in conservative circles as a co-host of Fox News Channel’s ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’…He has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is opposed to ‘woke’ programs that promote equity and inclusion. He also has questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes.”
On a conservative podcast, Hegseth said this:
“‘First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Any general, any admiral, whatever,’ who was involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programs or ‘woke shit has “got to go.'”
“Woke” as in being committed to democratic values and principles. “Woke” as in equality, and “liberty and justice for all.” “Woke” as in abiding by US and international law as defined in 18 USC 2441: War crimes.
As the Associated Press also reported,
“women have successfully passed the military’s grueling tests to become Green Berets and Army Rangers, and the Naval Special Warfare’s test to serve as a combatant-craft crewman — the boat operators who transport Navy SEALs and conduct their own classified missions at sea.”
The Washington Post said this, in part, about the Hegseth pick:
“The breakneck speed of the Hegseth nomination also underscores the value Trump places on TV personalities who have used their platform to promote his agenda.”
Elon Musk. Kristi Noem. Pete Hegseth. All cause for deep concern. Is the next appointment going to be the Brainworm Boy at HHS? The McDonald’s Hamburglar at USDA?
But seriously, given who Hegseth is and what Trump has said, there’s a reason to fear. From CNN:
“There is not much the Pentagon can do to pre-emptively shield the force from a potential abuse of power by a commander in chief. Defense Department lawyers can and do make recommendations to military leaders on the legality of orders, but there is no real legal safeguard that would prevent Trump from deploying American soldiers to police US streets…it is also possible that forces could be sent into American cities if asked to help with the mass deportation plan Trump mentioned repeatedly on the trail.”
And this:
“The president’s powers are especially broad if he chooses to invoke the Insurrection Act, which states that under certain limited circumstances involved in the defense of constitutional rights, a president can deploy troops domestically unilaterally.”
AND this:
“In a video posted last year, Trump said if elected he would ‘immediately re-issue my 2020 Executive Order restoring the President’s authority to remove rogue bureaucrats…we will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our National Security and Intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them.'”
The plan is to make the defense and intelligence bureaucracies Trump subsidiaries, along with the Department of Justice. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why, and what he’ll do with that kind of “deep state” power.
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Love the “hamburglar” reference!
Because autocrats and fat cats hate, hate, hate being made fun of, humor might end of up being one of our most potent responses during the age of trump 2.0.
(Of course, there is also the looming prospect of a regime crackdown on free expression, either outright or by way of alleged ‘market forces” and self-censorship throughout the culture.)
Meanwhile, I was reminded again this morning of a comment made by the former chief custodian at my school; a cantankerous, thoughtful Vietnam vet who eventually was shown the door for not toeing the district administration’s “everything is so wonderful” P.R. line: “The world as I knew is gone,” he would say Yup! Ken was a wonderful guest speaker in my government class.
I can only hope that the built-in B.S. detectors that seem to be a distinctive trait in Americans down through the ages have not gone extinct,too.
If only Hunter Thompson and H. L Mencken were still alive.
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”everything is so wonderful”
Administrations across the country must get together to frame good PR programs. That line really resonated with this formerly naive retired teacher. It took me too long to activate my BS sense. I guess it is more dangerous to do so when you are not tenured. The unions I paid dues to did less than squat for provisional type teachers. Conscience only came into play during contract talks when they felt guilty that beginning teachers were way underpaid.
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”everything is so wonderful”
Administrations across the country must get together to frame good PR programs. That line really resonated with this formerly naive retired teacher. It took me too long to activate my BS sense. I guess it is more dangerous to do so when you are not tenured. The unions I paid dues to did less than squat for provisional type teachers. Conscience only came into play during contract talks when they felt guilty that beginning teachers were way underpaid.
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”everything is so wonderful”
Administrations across the country must get together to frame good PR programs. That line really resonated with this formerly naive retired teacher. It took me too long to activate my BS sense. I guess it is more dangerous to do so when you are not tenured. The unions I paid dues to did less than squat for provisional type teachers. Conscience only came into play during contract talks when they felt guilty that beginning teachers were way underpaid.
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In the vein of mocking the autocrats, I proffer this, from Timothy Snyder:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/oligarchs-island
Laughter is essential.
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Christine, I hate to think how much of my childhood that could be classified as “ill-spent” involved watching shows like Gilligan’s Island.
But maybe that was good. Like it burnt the desire to watch crap TV out of my brain, ha, ha.
(“The Apprentice”, anyone? Oh, wait, that’s for real now. Really real, as in they have control of nuclear weapons.)
It is stunning we’ve end up HERE -actually comparing the oligarchs who are pulling the levers of power in 2024 to Gilligan and company?
To quote the late Hunter S. Thompson, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
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NBC reports this this today:
”The looming question in the weeks ahead is whether Smith’s final report, detailing his charging decisions, will be made public before Inauguration Day. The special counsel’s office is required under Justice Department regulations to provide a confidential report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who can choose to make it public.
In late October, Trump said in a radio interview that he would immediately fire Smith as special counsel if re-elected. “It’s so easy — I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump said, adding that he got “immunity at the Supreme Court.” The next attorney general could decide not to release Smith’s final report as well.
Before Trump’s re-election last week, Smith and his team had continued moving forward in their election interference case against Trump. After Trump’s victory, however, a federal judge overseeing the case agreed to give the special counsel’s office until Dec. 2 to decide how to proceed.”
Just IMAGINE if Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris had incited an insurrection to overthrow the results of an election. Joe Biden guilt pummeled by the right-wing echo-sphere for muttering about Trump’s MAGAs as “garbage.”
There just is no doubt- no question- about what Trump did. He IS a seditious traitor.
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2021/01/07/front-pages-capture-chaos-riots-us-capitol/6577931002/
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Wow. And now Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Putin is very very happy.
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Matt Gaetz for Attorney General?
Oh my dear god…this is just insane.
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O, ye of little faith! Those two great minds will find all the cost savings they need in nonessentials (dare I say fripperies) like OSHA, EPA, NIH, CDC, Dept. of Education….
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Frippery is what your thought in the posting is. Dangerous working conditions-can you say Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (OSHA), polluted water and air-can you say Cuyahuga or Love Canal (EPA), quack medicine-can you say polio tragedies or Spanish flu deaths (NIH/CDC), no attemp at education for ALL-disabled students shunted aside or women not allowed to take certain courses of study (Dept of Ed).
Now, if those of us with little (no) faith have misunderstood your post as being serious and not sarcastic and inane, I apologize.
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I already feel like collateral damage.
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I was always collateral damage. As a matter of fact, most of us without union protection have always been fodder for “damage control.” Cut staff/workers to save …? You choose. I guess we are going to find out.
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Trump is selecting people based on loyalty NOT on qualifications – very dangerous! RFK is nuts – does not make statements based on science. For example, will he recommend eliminating vaccines for school attendance since he is anti-vaccine?
Regarding Musk – how does Vance feel about all this? Musk’s name has been mentioned more than the new VP. Will Trump get approval from Congress? Time will tell…
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Yes
Loves it-he’s biding his time until the tRump kicks the bucket
No
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Trump apparently thinks that civilian control of the military consists of choosing a random civilian to be in charge of the military.
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I think we should make Daffy Duck a special advisor to the president.
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Daffy Don is already Prez Elect
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The department of DOGEcoin.
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MUSK WARNED AMERICANS ABOUT HARDSHIPS AHEAD
Americans were warned about this before the election by Elon Musk himself who In his virtual town hall meeting on X on Friday, October 25, warned everyone that when he becomes Trump’s head of government efficiency, Americans everywhere will face economic “hardship” because he will slash many government programs, eliminating jobs that depend on government programs, including slashing Social Security.
Hundreds of thousands more Americans are in danger of losing their jobs if Trump carries through with his tariff plans: The conservative Republican Tax Foundation predicts that Trump’s tariff proposals will:
The conservative Republican Cato Institute points out that “the U.S. tariffs imposed in 2018 and 2019 [by Trump] WERE ALMOST ENTIRELY PASSED ON TO U.S. CONSUMERS, RESULTING IN HIGHER PRICES.” That’s INFLATION. (Click on the link below to read the Cato report.)
Deporting 11 million immigrants will kill American farms, leave food to rot in the fields, causing food shortage and sending the price of groceries soaring. More INFLATION.
Trump’s pledge to repeal Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will eliminate tens of thousands of construction industry jobs which were created by the Act to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, and hundreds of other infrastructure projects.
Trump’s pledge to slash a trillion dollars in federal spending will kill even more thousands of jobs because scores of American industries depend on government spending to buy the products they produce.
Musk gave fair warning.
MAGA voters didn’t listen, and now they are Googling “How tariffs work” and are learning the bad news.
Unemployment and inflation lay ahead for America.
https://www.cato.org/publications/separating-tariff-facts-tariff-fictions
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Speaking of adding clowns to the clown car: Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security. Intending just to skim the Wikipedia entry to refresh my memory, I was drawn in to read the whole thing as my hair slowly stood on end. I think I will call her Art the Clown [from the horror anthology All Hallows’ Eve].
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All the immigrants are not farmers. People will come up from Mexico to work as before. Tariffs have been used for many years–if something does not work as predicted—then stop it or lower it. Perhaps more US companies will start or return to this country. If there were huge tariffs on some autos from Europe wouldn’t folks be encouraged to buy made in USA?
My guess is that not all of these candidates will be selected. Noem and Gaetz I tend to question but some others are excellent. What did we know about so many past cabinet members? Our congress is too riddled with career politicians that are out of touch with middle America. There is too much fraud, waste, duplication, abuse and the feeling that the law is meant for the peons and not government officials (look how so many come out millionaires). Senator Coburn was so good at identifying waste and was able to stop some of it. I think SS and Medicare will survive but medicade may feel cuts as well as welfare. We will just have to see. I wonder how much of the unelected, law writing 4th branch of the government will fall?
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