Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / The lasting effects of DOGE

Transcript

The lasting effects of DOGE · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast, the world's authority
• 0:03
  on Tesla, SpaceX, X Neurolink, and all things Elon.
• 0:07
  I'm your host, Will Walden. Thanks to our amazing community
• 0:11
  members like you, we've reached the top 15 of Spotify's video
• 0:15
  podcast, the top 10 audio podcast on both Apple and
• 0:19
  Spotify for the tech category. So you all make this possible.
• 0:23
  If you want to support us more, check out our Patreon.
• 0:25
  That's patreon.com/stage 0 news, so we can keep this free and
• 0:31
  open for you to enjoy. Something interesting happened
• 0:35
  the other day. I was looking through our stats
• 0:37
  on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and I noticed that about 55% of
• 0:43
  you are not subscribed to the show.
• 0:45
  That means 45% of you are subscribed and I really do
• 0:49
  appreciate your support for the other 55% of you are awesome.
• 0:54
  But I'm going to ask you for a favor.
• 0:56
  Could you please hit the subscribe button?
• 0:58
  It'll take you one second. I'm going to promise you 10
• 1:00
  years of this podcast for free, No pay walls.
• 1:04
  I'm not going to charge you anything ever, but I'm going to
• 1:06
  give you 10 years of this show for free.
• 1:08
  I've already been doing it for five years and I plan on doing
• 1:11
  it for 10 more. And the only way that we can
• 1:13
  continue doing this is with your support.
• 1:16
  So one second of your time to hit the subscribe button right
• 1:19
  now would help the show tremendously.
• 1:22
  Thank you so much. Elon Musk is stepping back from
• 1:25
  official government work, but the agency he built, DOGE, or
• 1:30
  the Department of Government Efficiency, is gaining more
• 1:32
  power. Could this quiet takeover of
• 1:35
  federal systems continue long after he's gone?
• 1:40
  Now this is how DOGE embedded itself in nearly every major US
• 1:45
  agency. What is doing to federal jobs
• 1:47
  and services and why Elon Musk is leaving?
• 1:51
  And it doesn't actually change the impact it's having at all.
• 1:54
  Doge didn't slow down, it's just stopping making headlines now.
• 1:58
  DOGE was created under Trump with one goal, eliminate waste.
• 2:02
  But in just four months it did much more than that.
• 2:05
  It placed Musk aligned staff to the positions of actual
• 2:09
  authority, people with badges, security clearance, and also
• 2:13
  control of sensitive systems. Doge staff.
• 2:16
  They don't operate like regular employees somewhere on short
• 2:19
  contracts. Others are placed permanently.
• 2:22
  They rotate access through multiple agencies, and they hold
• 2:25
  multiple titles. That flexibility allows them to
• 2:29
  move fast and bypass normal procedures now.
• 2:32
  Musk's absence raises a critical question, though.
• 2:35
  Who's actually accountable now? Some cabinet secretaries have
• 2:39
  tried to limit Doge's influence. But without Musk drawing
• 2:42
  attention, DOGE can act more freely and with less public
• 2:46
  resistance. The disruption is already clear.
• 2:49
  In Trump's first 100 days, over 120,000 federal workers were
• 2:54
  laid off or targeted. Agencies scrambled to
• 2:57
  reorganize. Some workers took buyouts.
• 3:00
  Others were relocated or fired. Entire departments were thrown
• 3:04
  into confusion. And DOGE isn't just about
• 3:07
  cutting staff, though. It's changing how the government
• 3:09
  handles fraud, benefits and public data.
• 3:12
  A shift effects millions of people who rely on these
• 3:15
  services to function reliably. Its influence is especially
• 3:19
  visible at the Social Security Administration.
• 3:22
  At least 11 DOGE staffers now work there, some with direct
• 3:26
  ties to Elon Musk, running fraud audits, managing software
• 3:30
  updates and triggering lawsuits over data access.
• 3:34
  Inside these agencies, career staff describe tension and
• 3:37
  isolation. DOGE workers shut their doors,
• 3:40
  avoid communication. Sometimes they don't share any
• 3:42
  plans until they're already underway.
• 3:45
  The secrecy is deepened. Internal divides now.
• 3:49
  Agencies have now submitted their plans for Phase 2 of DOGE.
• 3:53
  More layoffs, more reorganizations and broader
• 3:55
  access to internal systems. The administration wants the
• 3:58
  Supreme Court to approve those firings by late 2025.
• 4:03
  Despite that, some officials admit DOGE has uncovered data
• 4:06
  that helps prevent fraud. The Government Accountability
• 4:09
  Office, or the GAO acknowledge gains in identifying improper
• 4:14
  payments. But those benefits come with
• 4:16
  serious trade-offs, especially when transparency is missing.
• 4:20
  Meanwhile, Elon Musk has reduced his own role, saying he'll spend
• 4:24
  one to two days a week on government work.
• 4:26
  His allies say DOGE can keep operating just fine.
• 4:29
  They call him the booster rocket.
• 4:31
  His part is done, and now the mission continues.
• 4:34
  Now, Democrats built early opposition around Musk
• 4:37
  personally. He plastered his face on posters
• 4:39
  and called him President Musk. But now they're shifting focus
• 4:43
  to Doge itself, arguing his decisions are causing lasting
• 4:47
  damage that needs to be fixed. Now.
• 4:50
  Musk may no longer be in the building, but the people that he
• 4:54
  installed, the systems that he changed, and the chaos he set in
• 4:58
  motion are still very active. And now Doge isn't going
• 5:02
  anywhere. I want to say thank you so much
• 5:07
  for tuning into the show today. I really do appreciate your
• 5:10
  support. If you could take a second and
• 5:12
  hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
• 5:15
  platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
• 5:18
  appreciate it. It helps out the show
• 5:19
  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
• 5:22
  And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
• 5:25
  caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
• 5:28
  support the show even more, go to Atreoncom Stage Zero.
• 5:34
  And please take care of yourselves and each other.
• 5:36
  And I'll see you tomorrow.