Now that President Donald Trump in his second term is really looking to get to the bottom of wasteful spending, with the help of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), ABC News is now asking questions about who is in charge.
"Contradictory statements about Musk make it unclear who runs DOGE," read the headline from Monday night, with the article shared over X on early Tuesday morning.
As the article mentioned about Musk and DOGE:
As its influence within the federal government grows daily, one question routinely emerges about the Department of Government Efficiency: Who is in charge?
That answer continues to evade the lawyers tasked with defending President Donald Trump's administration in court.
...
However, according to Office of Administration Director Joshua Fischer, Musk is neither the administrator nor an employee of DOGE. Instead, Musk is a "non career special government employee" who serves as a senior adviser to the president. The filing compared Musk's role to that of Anita Dunn, a longtime political adviser who served as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden.
"In his role as senior advisor to the President, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors. Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions," the affidavit said.
Since then, the post has been throughly ratioed, with hundreds of replies but less than 200 likes.
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Many users pointed out that President Joe Biden was particularly lacking in his mental faculties during his presidency, as was covered up. The Biden White House even gaslit the American people and White House press corps about Biden's fitness, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was particularly lacking in transparency about the president's health.
Biden was eventually forced out of the race by his fellow Democrats on July 21, less than a month after his disastrous debate performance against Trump, though then First Lady Jill Biden and son Hunter Biden still tried to keep him in the race for the weeks in between. It wasn't until the final weeks of Biden's term that more and more articles came out, confirming what we knew about Biden all along.
Good stuff guys. pic.twitter.com/TORDVizSyr
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 18, 2025
“As President Biden slips farther into dementia, one question routinely emerges: why are Americans not happy with his amazing economy?”
— Razor (@hale_razor) February 18, 2025
Right https://t.co/YPMS6PkonH pic.twitter.com/2lbTG6AEvN
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 18, 2025
https://t.co/9bCspiojFa pic.twitter.com/7pSXUWB7GC
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 18, 2025
None of the press had the slightest concern who was actually running our entire country for 4 years.
— KeepCalmAndDrawl ☦️ (@FormerlyFormer) February 18, 2025
You knew it wasn’t Biden. You didn’t care who it was.
You don’t get to put “curious journalist” nose on now.
We see you. No one trusts you.
After four years of ‘presidency by secret anonymous committee,’ no one cares what you think about how Trump is managing his administration.
— Uri Blago🇮🇱 (@UriBlago_v2) February 18, 2025
To answer your question: Taxpayers pic.twitter.com/29sUc1H1kd
It's possible that such a piece from ABC News may be looking to portray the Trump administration in disarray over the Musk question, though Democrats are rudderless, according to their own members, and have not been doing themselves many favors with the American public when it comes to their performative tricks. It's also particularly noteworthy that Democrats are opposing Musk and Trump when they are looking to get to the bottom of government waste and fraud.
The description of Musk as a "non career special government employee" and "senior advisor to the President" is one that makes sense. Democrats have thrown plenty of fits about Musk's power, with some even referring to him as a "shadow president" or even the actual "president," as opposed to Trump. Democrats were up to such tricks even before Trump officially took office, when Musk dared to speak out over X last December about a proposed continuing resolution.
The piece also mentions Judge Tanya Chutkan, who on Tuesday heard a case about DOGE. "The filing comes after Judge Tanya Chutkan – who held a hearing Tuesday in a case that challenges the breadth of Musk's authority – raised concerns about the 'unpredictable and scattershot' methods employed by DOGE," ABC News mentioned.
Even with Judge Chutkan overseeing the case, the anti-DOGE crowd looks to have had a disappointing day. As Jeff covered earlier, Chutkan "reportedly refused to place a restraining order on the department after expressing skepticism about the lawsuit against the agency."
Chutkan had been the judge assigned to Trump's case brought by Jack Smith to do with the events of January 6, and was known for being particularly harsh towards January 6 defendants.
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