The time of ‘white flag’ GOP is over as DOGE targets wasteful spending – Investors take

DOGE has made mistakes in its attempts to change how the government spends money. Elon Musk has acknowledged this. However, according to investor and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, DOGE has done more good than harm. He asserted that in 20 days, the agency has done what couldn’t be done in multiple generations.

In an interview, Lonsdale talked about how successful DOGE has been in stopping wasted or unnecessary government spending.

In fact, on Tuesday, an online DOGE “live tracker” said that the department had saved taxpayers $37.69 billion since it started working on January 20. However, it did not show how it arrived at that number.

The businessman said that lawmakers’ earlier attempts to cut spending during the Reagan administration failed because they were not tech experts like those at DOGE. 

He said, “So when they went to the bureaucracy, and they asked questions, there’s so many ways of obscuring and blocking and deterring, and so what Elon did is he got root access, and he went to the tech systems themselves.”

When asked about Africans, Lonsdale said, “I do think Africa can now pay for more of this themselves. South Africa is spending money suing Israel. They’re spending money supporting political parties calling for the death for White people. Maybe they should redirect that money to pay for their own clinics.”

Lonsdale also argued that changing times call for new tactics. He said, ” Everyone wants to be careful and keep it going. You’re not going to get perfect answers in life. I think this is by far the best thing for our civilization is to very boldly confront this […] And this is more, I guess, of a tech world way than a D.C. way.”

The investor went on to say that Musk is the most suitable for the job. In his words, “Being careful and slow isn’t how we get to Mars.”

Musk asserts that the US needs DOGE to avoid bankruptcy

During a public appearance, the tech billionaire affirmed his earlier stance that the US was about to go bankrupt if DOGE didn’t keep working to cut costs at the government level.

Elon Musk Warns of US ‘Bankruptcy’ Without Spending Cutshttps://t.co/9D8fTwIjaD#Elonmusk #USA #DOGE #Newscazt

— newscazt (@newscazt) February 12, 2025

The country’s budget gap reached over $1.8 trillion in the last fiscal year. Mr. Musk also criticized the high interest rates on the public debt. He told reporters that cutting government spending is not optional for Washington; instead, it’s essential.

In the same light, a congressional watchdog group called the Government Accountability Office says that fraud and wrong payments cost the U.S. government between $233 billion and $521 billion every year.

The founder of Tesla and SpaceX has received a lot of criticism for having too much power in the US government. When asked about possible conflicts of interest, Mr. Musk said he wants to be as open as possible because his companies have won big contracts from the US government. 

Trump’s government support to DOGE

The new administration has gone to great lengths to assist DOGE. POTUS told reporters that the department had found shocking proof of wasteful spending while cutting the size of the US government workforce.

In addition, the US Agency for International Development’s inspector-general was fired. This happened a day after saying it was almost impossible to keep an eye on $13 billion in relief funds since DOGE started breaking up the agency.

After that, President Trump signed a new order that said almost all new government hires must be approved by a DOGE official.  The order said, “The agency shall not fill any vacancies for career appointments that the DOGE Team Lead assesses should not be filled unless the Agency Head determines the positions should be filled.”

President Trump and Musk are already trying to get government workers to quit in exchange for money. The plan is for employees to quit and still get paid until September 30 through the delayed resignation program. 

Officials in the government said that more than 65,000 workers have already taken the deal. However, their plan is on hold while a judge decides its legality.

Musk gave a disclaimer that some of the things he’s said about government programs have been wrong. However, he promised that he would act quickly to correct errors, and acknowledged that DOGE could be making errors as well.

He said, “We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly.”  He also pledged to find $1 trillion in savings through his efforts to identify fraud and waste in the government.

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