Let's Talk About DOGE. Florida GOP Infighting (with Jen Briney and Karol Markowicz)

It’s a DOGE-eat-DOGE world.Before I get into my thoughts on DOGE—and I have quite a few—the reason I haven’t written much about it (we did touch on USAID in Wednesday’s update) is that I’m still wrapping my head around it.There’s a lot of noise surrounding DOGE, and beyond the clatter, it’s unclear exactly what’s happening. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is in the valley. They lost a big election, have no effective power in government for at least the next two years, and have been throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall. Chuck Schumer was parading around with a Corona and lime when it looked like we were going to hit Mexico with 25% tariffs, and now, the focus of the last 72 hours has been Elon Musk and DOGE.Because DOGE sits at the center of a political noise machine, I tend to be cautious about jumping in while everything is still in motion.That being said, DOGE is a significant development. What they’re doing is something every Republican candidate in my lifetime has promised—and it may very well be illegal. We don’t know if they’re actually cutting the budget in the way they claim, nor do we know if anything they’re doing is truly unlawful. But the fact that both of those questions exist simultaneously is reason enough to take a deeper look.Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency—DOGE—was conceived during Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and made official on January 20, 2025, the first day of Trump’s second term. However, it is not a formal cabinet department. Instead, it began under the U.S. Digital Service, which was rebranded as the U.S. DOGE Service, before being placed under the Chief of Staff’s office—likely to avoid transparency requirements. The stated goal of DOGE is to modernize federal technology and software to maximize government efficiency, with Musk claiming they aim to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. Musk has admitted that if they say $2 trillion, they might actually cut $1 trillion, but the ambition remains.DOGE operates out of the Eisenhower Executive Building next to the White House with a small headquarters of about 20 people. Rather than a traditional hierarchy, it functions as a task force embedded across government agencies, with small teams of DOGE operatives placed inside agencies to audit systems and pursue efficiency measures. Musk himself serves as a special government employee, a temporary advisory role that grants him broad access while allowing him to bypass disclosure requirements that apply to full-time officials. This is especially notable given Musk’s extensive business interests in China—something so controversial that a bipartisan group of lawmakers banned TikTok last year.Key figures in DOGE include Steve Davis, CEO of The Boring Company and a longtime Musk confidant, who allegedly leads day-to-day operations. Then there are the so-called “DOGE Kids”—young adults, typically aged 19 to 24, from elite universities with backgrounds in Musk companies or the Peter Thiel machine. Some, like Luke Farritor, gained fame for achievements like using AI to decode ancient Roman scrolls. Others, like Marko Elez, have already faced controversy. Ellis resigned after the Wall Street Journal uncovered racist posts he made in 2024, including advocating for eugenic immigration policies and saying he would never marry outside his ethnicity.In its first 80 hours, Musk tweeted that DOGE had canceled $420 million worth of federal contracts. Get it. The issue? DOGE doesn’t technically have the authority to cancel contracts. That power belongs to Congress and the departments that administer the funds. So the real question is whether DOGE is canceling these contracts or simply recommending their termination, with the speed of the Trump administration making it appear as though they’re acting unilaterally.DOGE’s aggressive approach has already ruffled feathers. On inauguration day, Musk’s team assumed control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) headquarters, installing sofa beds in the director’s office and working around the clock. Within days, they cut off career OPM staff from internal systems, effectively giving Musk’s team exclusive control over federal HR records. Two OPM employees filed a lawsuit in late January, alleging that DOGE unlawfully installed a private server on the agency’s network.Things escalated further when DOGE turned its attention to the U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system, which processes $5 trillion annually, handling everything from Social Security checks to federal salaries. When David Liebrich, a top Treasury official, refused to grant DOGE access, he was reportedly forced out. By January 31, Trump’s new Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, approved DOGE’s access. Soon after, a DOGE tech aide obtained unrestricted access to the payment system’s code base and began making changes with minimal supervision—an alarming development that has raised red flags in Congress.And then there’s USAID. Musk tweeted, “We’re shutting it down,” referring to the agency responsible for international aid. But does Musk actually have the authority to do that? Or is he merely advising Marco Rubio, who, as head of the State Department, technically oversees USAID?If Musk is making these decisions, it’s illegal. If Rubio is doing it, it’s just an unusually fast-moving government operation. The speed and opacity of DOGE make it difficult to tell the difference.Meanwhile, DOGE has brought a renewed focus on federal spending. Social media has been ablaze with revelations about who benefits from government funds. Bill Kristol, a Never Trump figure, was found to have received money through USAID-funded organizations. More controversially, it was revealed that Politico received $8.2 million in federal funding last year. While some jumped to the conclusion that this was a Democratic subsidy for favorable coverage, the truth is more complicated. The money was for Politico Pro, a premium service used by government officials and lobbyists for networking and policy tracking. However, everyone I talked to in pulling this together told me Politico Pro sucks. Specifically compared to competitors like Bloomberg Government, raising questions about why agencies chose it over better alternatives.So how does this end? At some point, DOGE will hit a regulatory or legal wall that slows its momentum. They need enough public goodwill to sustain them when that happens, or the entire operation could grind to a halt.There’s already evidence that Musk’s influence is waning. A YouGov poll from November 2024 showed that 47% of Republicans wanted Musk to have significant influence in government. That number has since dropped to 26%, with 43% now preferring that he have only limited influence. Among all Americans, only 13% want Musk to have a lot of influence, while 46% want him to have none.DOGE’s speed and disruption are unprecedented, but whether they represent true reform or reckless overreach remains an open question.All that… plus Jen Briney gives me her Doge thoughts and our final assessments of the confirmation hearings. Karol Markowicz joins the show to discuss Trump’s musings on Gaza and the GOP infighting in Florida over immigration.Chapters00:00 Intro00:56 Let's Talk DOGE24:02 Jen Briney on DOGE and Confirmation Hearings40:18 Jen Briney on Confirmation Hearings01:10:02 UPDATE01:19:06 Karol Markowicz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe