“Officials liked what the man in the van set out to do - give all the children delicious candy - but have been frustrated by his reckless abduction approach”
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This is such a stupid statement. Who doesn’t want to “reduce waste, fraud and abuse” in the government? There was already an agency, the GAO, dedicated to doing that. It’s not what DOGE is doing and never has been, why does everyone grant the fucking premise?
One of the single dumbest parts of the discourse is that everyone seems compelled to pretend that the goal of Elon's work is anything remotely having to do with government efficiency.
This whole 'we have to take the word of the criminal fascist space guy' even though he's a known liar is big dumb.
are some kids going to end up in his sex dungeon? probably. but it’s worth it to finally stand up to the dentists and Big Tooth and all of them and get some kids tooth decay
It's easy to destroy things. It takes effort, study, evaluation and nuance to create things.
Musk doesn't have the skills for true management. He just blows things up and starts over. Wasting A LOT of money and time.😡
They’re upset that what they thought would be tons of fraud and waste is actually a civilian workforce working diligently on behalf of their fellow citizens. You know, a government. A rather well-organized government that could use tweaking not annihilation. They’re mad they were wrong.
The thing is, like witch hunts in the 1600s, if you set out to find a thing fully believing that thing is there despite plenty of data to the contrary, when you hit the wall because *shockingly* that thing you are looking for isn’t there, you cannot admit it was never there. You just burn everything
They probably like the concept, but then realise that someone who is an expert with decades of experience in the department is the only person who could accurately carry it out without leaving a corpse. Like they're trying to look pretend they know how it works.
The goal was never to stop “waste fraud and abuse”. It is to cut spending and regulations so the richest get even richer with no accountability or oversight.
I feel like Stewart is careful to say that the goal, in abstract, of reduce waste, fraud, and abuse is fine but that it is also very clear that that is *not* Trump and musk’s goal. He’s not running cover for them. He’s pointing out how they’re using a lie that people want to hear.
How can anybody be against Waste, Fraud, & Abuse? That’s why it’s a great line. But Musk’s approach isnt about getting rid of it. It’s just about disruption. And it’s mean spirited. Layoffs simple aren’t done this way.
Most of the agencies musk has gone after were investing his businesses. The IRS agents fired are the ones auditing the super wealthy. The import tariff’s on and off is a classic insider trading scheme.
The “play it down the middle” style prioritizes the power of the publication doing it, at the expense of truth
It’s a reflexive attempt to maintain some influence with a faction of people who are lying, in the hope the publication can’t be accused of being “on one side”
Are they gullible? Are they fearful? Are they vindictive? Or are they just plain lazy? It is legitimately difficult to determine the motivation for this sort of reporting.
“Subscribers liked what the New York Times set out to do - report on the brazenly unconstitutional actions of the Trump administration - but have been frustrated by the writers’ inane naïveté and penchant for repeating the administration’s lies.”
Don’t these guys ever start to suspect that having everyone say the same phrase over and over (“waste, fraud, and abuse”) means that it might just be a slogan instead of a real thing?
The thing is “waste, fraud, and abuse” is the usual legal formula in a statute for an official in a supervisory/investigatory role. For example, the statutes creating the inspectors general that Trump fired—or the one giving Elon Musk the power to do this instead, which *doesn’t exist*!
"Officials liked what the Pied Piper of Hamelin set out to do--remove rats from the town--but have been frustrated by his reckless abduction of their children."
More like “Officials initially liked what the sharks set out to do - there were far too many tourists on their favourite beach - but have been frustrated by their indiscriminate limb severing approach. Too much blood in the water, and much of it theirs.”
No alt text, no link to the original article, reducing the contrast on the most salient passage ... it's the trifecta of disability-unfriendly image posting!
Why is anyone pretending ending fraud is "what Mr. Musk set out to do?" Perpetrating fraud is what he set out to do, and we're watching him do it. Sheesh.
The reality of course is - as has always been true for lo these many decades where Republicans claimed there was so much waste, fraud, and mismanagement - that there is not much waste, fraud, and mismanagement to cut.
Unless those officials are the constitutional officers elected to Congress for the express purpose of deciding the structure and staffing of the executive branch as specified by Article I of the Constitution of the United States, it doesn’t exactly matter what they think. 😒
Also, the media writes this headline over and over, which gives them a deniability and a way to cover their ass.
I think they like all of it. They just want somebody to blame.
Like the whole "Trump is curbing Elon's power" when both the article and the actual video were Trump is talking make it absolutely clear the cabinet members need to work with DOGE and if they don't cut enough people Elon will step in and do it.
"Officials liked what the wallet inspector set out to do - make sure wallets satisfy safety standards - but have been frustrated by them not being returned to their owners"
“Senators liked what the President Bush set out to do - liberate Iraq and make it a paradise - but have been frustrated by his approach to bombing anybody who doesn’t do what we say and torturing people in dungeons”
Officials like the concept of what Mr. Netanyahu set out to do - saving the hostages - but have been frustrated by his approach of indiscriminate mass slaughter of entire residential blocks and illegally seizing territory across 3 separate nations
who could have seen this coming, it’s not like elon has been proudly sucking Milei’s dick the past year. surely he wouldn’t try the same approach in the US
I’m old enough to remember his approach to “waste, fraud and abuse” when he took over Xitter.
Fired loads of people, defaulted on rent and leases, was sued by dozens of unpaid contractors, shut down critical datacenters causing outages.
It’s now worth 80% less than he paid and is full of Nazis.
Officials supported the vampire’s goal—reducing excess blood pressure—but were frustrated by his brutal extraction methods. Too many ended up corpses, maimed, or deranged monsters. One politician admitted, ‘At some point, is the collateral damage worth it?’
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https://youtube.com/shorts/zGY8phrJjM8?si=43RjnwjUWeMnenSk
This whole 'we have to take the word of the criminal fascist space guy' even though he's a known liar is big dumb.
Musk doesn't have the skills for true management. He just blows things up and starts over. Wasting A LOT of money and time.😡
Don't trust the IGs? Then *AUDIT* them for a year, so when you start to cut, you know what you're doing.
Don't just set some whackjob loose with a chainsaw!
Trump told Musk if he financed his phony populist rallies, Trump would let him pillage.
They probably like the concept, but then realise that someone who is an expert with decades of experience in the department is the only person who could accurately carry it out without leaving a corpse. Like they're trying to look pretend they know how it works.
He acts like Trump/Musk's goal is admirable but his method is flawed.
We all agree hydration is important but Jim Jones shouldn't have poisoned the fruit punch.
It's so facile. I don't get it.
It’s a reflexive attempt to maintain some influence with a faction of people who are lying, in the hope the publication can’t be accused of being “on one side”
History is going to look at this time with serious doubts about our sanity
So much stupid
(they do try; there is no 'perfect' level of removing fraud/waste/abuse by *legislation*)
Any complex system has type I and type II errors.
(cutting all fat cuts some bone)
See also, woke mob and fake news. 🙄
making me become a constant curser
doge I fear will surely come my way
(oy vey, a hey, hey)🎵
apologies to buddy holly
You would reach more people, when you add a good description into the Alt-text field.
That is pretty easy, especially, when your image just contain text.
This way, you support visually impaired people and everyone else, who rely on a good filled Alt-text.
#accessibility
the very dumbest are Republican legislators
I think they like all of it. They just want somebody to blame.
Where is Elon's power being "curbed" there??!?!
Fired loads of people, defaulted on rent and leases, was sued by dozens of unpaid contractors, shut down critical datacenters causing outages.
It’s now worth 80% less than he paid and is full of Nazis.
#Satire #Vampires #UndeadPolicy #Bluesky