"It's a joke," a "waste of time": That was the Democratic line on the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) just months ago. But ever since Elon Musk and his "baby-faced assassins" stormed the bureaucracy—mass-firing employees, zeroing out budgets, and tossing agencies "into the woodchipper"—the tune has changed. Now, DOGE is "an agent of chaos without limitation," per a lawsuit from Democratic state attorneys general. Worse, says Sen. Ron Wyden (D–Ore.), they're "seizing the tools they need for a coup."
Even some self-described libertarians are not at all amused by the Musketeers' hijinks. I'm at a loss: How are they not enjoying this? The whole thing plays like it was scripted by Ayn Rand, if Rand had a sense of humor.
Even so, I'm hoping DOGE provides something beyond entertainment value—I'd like it to work. But it won't, so long as the DOGEnauts believe they can cut trillions from the federal budget with executive action alone. To get the job done, DOGE needs Congress.
