By
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy visited Capitol Hill on Thursday to attempt to build support for the Department of Government Efficiency, the nongovernmental group President-elect Donald Trump created to slash government spending (which apparently means suggesting drastic austerity measures).
Musk and Ramaswamy, who are co-heading the group, didn't stop to take questions from the media, according to The Washington Post, which is too bad given there are many questions worth asking about their project.
I’m on the record with my disbelief in Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s knowledge of how to effectively run the government, in part because they have no experience doing it. And yet, one of the more jarring things I’ve witnessed in recent weeks is budding Democratic support — some of it offered with cautious optimism — for Musk and Ramaswamy’s commission, which seems ripe for corruption and could spike America’s poverty rate if it leads to cuts in programs that help seniors and the poor.
Still, multiple Democrats have been outspoken in touting what they deem to be the potential upsides (which, to be clear, will advise the White House from outside of the government).
The list, as Business Insider reported, includes Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley and optimistically claimed the organization could “help bring accountability to defense contractors”; Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, who said he was “happy” to join the so-called “DOGE caucus” but said he would call out “stupid” stuff; independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who, like Khanna, claimed Musk could cut military spending; and New York Mayor Eric Adams, who, for some reason, thinks the group is going to improve U.S. education. As I wrote in late November, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware is also optimistic.
I think it’s necessary to tamp down some of this naïveté. In that regard, I'm in alignment with Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Greg Casar, who told Business Insider they're doubtful this Musk-led group will do much of anything productive.
We have ample reason to believe them. The right-wingers who will be most empowered to carry out this organization’s mission of deep spending cuts have used some pretty ominous language to describe its goals. Musk has openly said his plan will require Americans to suffer “hardship.” Ramaswamy has vowed to “crush the bureaucracy.” House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the goal of the group is to take a “blowtorch” to the federal government (which he suggested he preferred to the chainsaw wielded by far-right, austerity-loving, Argentinian leader Javier Milei as a prop).
This is the language of destruction. So, while some Democrats sound encouraged that this organization will do some good, others seem to be applying the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" principle. They all ought to ask themselves whether something designed to kneecap the government will do anything but that.