President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[USUC]

Chances are that the tarrifs with Canada will also be put on "hold" this afternoon. MBN is right that Trump's minions will declare some sort of victory. Trump has an uncanny ability to declare success at any point and his followers will cheer.

The only way to make it through the next 4 years without losing your mind and start shutting down highways or storming federal buildings is to consciously try not to give in to hysteria and see how things play out. Partisans from both sides are peddling nonsense to stoke fears to further their own aims. I'll certainly fall far short at this at times. But I barely have the energy to do usual life stuff. Half my co workers are paralyzed with anger and fear. It isn't great at the office right now.

[Jeff Lebowski]

lol

So I guess we can use "retard" again. That and "Merry Christmas" are big wins. America is back, baby!

I have noticed you can also say something is "gay" again. So there's that.

[myboynoah]

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[myboynoah]

I have noticed you can also say something is "gay" again. So there's that.

We are soooo back!

[YOhio]

DOGE got wild over the weekend. I'm not mad at it. It could be the wrong way to go about it, but so was status quo. We all know that decades of deficit spending, massive entitlements, spineless politicians, and entrenched bureaucracy would ultimately lead to catastrophe. If either of the parties had been consistently serious about these problems it wouldn't have come to this. I genuinely don't see much of a viable alternative that would result in meaningful change or transparency.

One of the criticisms is that DOGE personnel aren't government workers and they shouldn't have access to government systems. That's a fair criticism. But it's also common. I've been working in federal contracting off and on for a couple of decades and I'd estimate that 80-90% of my administrative touchpoints weren't government employees. I'd bet that a majority of workers on government systems are contractors.

I'm interested in seeing what happens with this over the next few months. Elon claims that they may be able to cut $1T off the federal deficit in the first year. This would likely be a popular move with voters, particularly when coupled with outrageous examples of federal spending. If so, Democrats will have to figure out some new talking points or start taking the issue seriously. They'd be wise to figure out a way to be involved.

[Maximus]

DOGE got wild over the weekend. I'm not mad at it. It could be the wrong way to go about it, but so was status quo. We all know that decades of deficit spending, massive entitlements, spineless politicians, and entrenched bureaucracy would ultimately lead to catastrophe. If either of the parties had been consistently serious about these problems it wouldn't have come to this. I genuinely don't see much of a viable alternative that would result in meaningful change or transparency.

One of the criticisms is that DOGE personnel aren't government workers and they shouldn't have access to government systems. That's a fair criticism. But it's also common. I've been working in federal contracting off and on for a couple of decades and I'd estimate that 80-90% of my administrative touchpoints weren't government employees. I'd bet that a majority of workers on government systems are contractors.

I'm interested in seeing what happens with this over the next few months. Elon claims that they may be able to cut $1T off the federal deficit in the first year. This would likely be a popular move with voters, particularly when coupled with outrageous examples of federal spending. If so, Democrats will have to figure out some new talking points or start taking the issue seriously. They'd be wise to figure out a way to be involved.

come on man. they arent contractors either.
Just because govt has waste, it is good to indscriminately shut down programs and give elon musk access to peoples taxes and financial information?
how do you take elon at face value?

you think he should be able to just stop agencies at will?

please explain that logic, other than current govt has waste so anything different is good

[Jeff Lebowski]

DOGE got wild over the weekend. I'm not mad at it. It could be the wrong way to go about it, but so was status quo. We all know that decades of deficit spending, massive entitlements, spineless politicians, and entrenched bureaucracy would ultimately lead to catastrophe. If either of the parties had been consistently serious about these problems it wouldn't have come to this. I genuinely don't see much of a viable alternative that would result in meaningful change or transparency.

One of the criticisms is that DOGE personnel aren't government workers and they shouldn't have access to government systems. That's a fair criticism. But it's also common. I've been working in federal contracting off and on for a couple of decades and I'd estimate that 80-90% of my administrative touchpoints weren't government employees. I'd bet that a majority of workers on government systems are contractors.

I'm interested in seeing what happens with this over the next few months. Elon claims that they may be able to cut $1T off the federal deficit in the first year. This would likely be a popular move with voters, particularly when coupled with outrageous examples of federal spending. If so, Democrats will have to figure out some new talking points or start taking the issue seriously. They'd be wise to figure out a way to be involved.

Doesn't congress have authority over spending? I would be shocked if there aren't some legal challenges.

The problem here is that you have the lunatics running the asylum now. Just look at Elon Musk's feed on X. This man has no clue what he is doing. But hey, if you just want a guy to indiscriminately burn shit down, he is your man I suppose.

[YOhio]

Doesn't congress have authority over spending? I would be shocked if there aren't some legal challenges.

The problem here is that you have the lunatics running the asylum now. Just look at Elon Musk's feed on X. This man has no clue what he is doing. But hey, if you just want a guy to indiscriminately burn shit down, he is your man I suppose.

Sure. Congress does hold the authority over federal spending. But some pushback, accountability and auditing by the executive are appreciated. I'd love to see some legal challenges. It would be good for the system and do much for transparency.

[BigPiney]

This whole USAID thing is crazy. I do not see shutting it down like they have as a good thing.

[Northwestcoug]

Sure. Congress does hold the authority over federal spending. But some pushback, accountability and auditing by the executive are appreciated. I'd love to see some legal challenges. It would be good for the system and do much for transparency.

Then wouldn't this all be better if it was congress doing the DOGE thing? GOP has control over congress, and they are all parroting the things that are important to you. Wouldn't they be able to handle all the necessary cuts and do it with constitutional authority and transparency? And not with Elon-affiliated high school graduates with big genitals who would have remained anonymous were it not for some intrepid reporting?

[LVAllen]

Sure. Congress does hold the authority over federal spending. But some pushback, accountability and auditing by the executive are appreciated. I'd love to see some legal challenges. It would be good for the system and do much for transparency.

What the literal hell is this noise?

"Accountability" by the executive? "Auditing" by the executive? The executive branch is one charged with "faithfully executing the law." The ones who should be auditing the Executive's actions and getting accountability are Congress. And they do. Or at least, they did. Kind of hard to do much auditing when the IGs who oversee the investigations into waste are illegally fired.

[YOhio]

Then wouldn't this all be better if it was congress doing the DOGE thing? GOP has control over congress, and they are all parroting the things that are important to you. Wouldn't they be able to handle all the necessary cuts and do it with constitutional authority and transparency? And not with Elon-affiliated high school graduates with big genitals who would have remained anonymous were it not for some intrepid reporting?

Yes that would be much better. But we both know that will never happen. At this point it's just an argument about which wrong way is more effective. Honestly I don't even know if there's a right way.

But don't sleep on those youngsters. They seem to have done some pretty impressive work.

[Northwestcoug]

But don't sleep on those youngsters. They seem to have done some pretty impressive work.

Well I know something's impressive about one of them!

Looks like another is rapidly deleting his social media account, on account of pesky Nazi-lite likes and retweets...

[YOhio]

Well I know something's impressive about one of them!

Looks like another is rapidly deleting his social media account, on account of pesky Nazi-lite likes and retweets...

I'm not sure what you're referring to. The only thing I've seen is one of them who used AI to decipher ancient scrolls.

[Jeff Lebowski]

You would think this would all be a wakeup call for the democratic party. But it you have been paying attention to the DNC meetings in recent days you will see that they haven't learned a thing.