Here are some of the untruths told about Elon Musk and DOGE:
“Musk has no right to cut USAID.”
Elon Musk and his team are not cutting any federal programs.
They are auditors. They were given legal authority under a presidential executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Its mandate is to identify waste, abuse, fraud, and irrelevance in the federal budget at a time when the U.S. is $37 trillion in debt.
The agency will expire on July 4, 2026.
Ultimately, Musk can propose program cuts, but Trump holds the authority to approve or reject them. He may or may not act on all, some, or none of the DOGE recommendations.
“No one elected Musk.”
Like hundreds of government officials, Musk was appointed by an elected president to run an agency that does not require Senate confirmation.
Musk is as legally legitimate as the national security advisor and his National Security Council, none of whom require Senate confirmation.
Does the left believe former national security advisor Jake Sullivan, who made decisions far more pivotal than Musk, had no authority to do so because he too was neither elected nor confirmed by the Senate?
“It is a dangerous precedent to give a private citizen billionaire like Musk so much power.”
In fact, Musk has far more legal authority than did FDR’s best friend Harry Hopkins. Hopkins moved into the White House and de facto set U.S. foreign assistance policies toward Stalin’s Russia.
Musk’s position is more akin to past captains of industry like Henry Ford, Henry Kaiser, and William Knudson appointed by FDR to run the wartime economy.
None of them were either elected or confirmed by the Senate. All of them helped to save a poorly armed U.S. after the debacle of Pearl Harbor.
Hellbound and Down 