the central irony of DOGE

If the theoretically incoming Trump administration really wants to be non-ironic, it needs to make its proposed DOGE—Department of Government Efficiency, to be headed by Elon Musk—a temporary entity, lasting no more than a year or two. If it doesn't, DOGE will simply get large and oppressive, and it'll eventually become yet another tentacle of government needing to be amputated and cauterized. Calling DOGE trans- or paragovernmental won't change this reality, either. I still wonder whether Trump has a realistic idea of just how deep and wide the rot goes, whether we're talking about the Deep State or wokeness or just leftism in general. How does that proverb go? It was one of John Conquest's Three Laws of Politics. Those laws:

1. Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
2. Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.
3. The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.

I was thinking of Law #2. DOGE could easily become a tool of the left once Trump leaves office. It needs an expiration date. The left can already find or create lawfare (etc.) tools on its own quite well; it doesn't need any more tools handed to it on a silver platter.

So, yes: just as George W. Bush proved he wasn't a conservative when he created Homeland Security and signed the Patriot Act into law (both of these increased government power),* Trump and his cohort of ex-Democrats (RFK, Tulsi, Elon, etc.) could fall prey to a similar irony if they don't do this right. Even if Musk stays on to manage DOGE after Trump leaves, it must be remembered that Musk spent years donating far more to Democrats than to Republicans; the fish could easily start rotting from the head. As much as I like Musk's current free-speech rhetoric, I still don't completely trust him as long as he (1) remains in bed with China and (2) is a citizen of three countries.** Anyway, I like the idea of stripping down government, Milei-style, and giving power back to individual states. DOGE sounds like a good start, but it shouldn't last indefinitely. We'll see soon enough how all of this works out if we can somehow survive November 5 and the ensuing weeks.

I'll also note that Milei is dismantling government without any DOGE at all.

ADDENDUM: if you try to search for DOGE on Google, the AI refuses to allow the search results for "Department of Government Efficiency." Telling. If your search string is more explicitly "doge acronym department of government efficiency," the AI response is, "An AI Overview is not available for this search." Also telling.

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*The left showed its gratitude by calling him Bushitler, anyway. Typical.

**The USA, Canada, and South Africa.