this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
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Summary

Elon Musk is distancing himself from sweeping federal job cuts linked to DOGE, blaming agency heads—not DOGE—responsible for mass layoffs, including the announced 70,000 job cut at Veterans Affairs.

Despite claiming DOGE’s role as merely advisory, Musk admitted to mistakes in private meetings with GOP lawmakers and pledged to correct them.

Some cuts have already been reversed, with a Trump administration memo clarifying agencies are not required to fire probationary employees (new hires).

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[–] Red_October@lemmy.world 85 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Too fucking bad, shitstick. When the ship sinks I hope he's chained to the fucking mast.

[–] Lennnny@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I upvoted because this isn't reddit.

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[–] roofTophopper@lemmy.world 58 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Man, fuck this guy. 100000% all him. You don't get to distance yourself from this when you're the one holding the bloody knife. Fuck everything this guy does. Every single day this guy needs to be reminded of how much of a fuck up he is.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The world would instantly become a much better place if he killed himself right now

It'd become an even better place if we the people killed him.

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[–] MunkyNutts@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

holding the bloody ~~knife~~ chainsaw

[–] maniclucky@lemmy.world 37 points 2 days ago

No mention of the judge's decision that the firings were likely illegal? That's some shit journalism.

For the uninformed

[–] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The billionaire bureaucrat has claimed this defense to his organization’s cost-cutting measures before, saying that DOGE simply makes recommendations for cuts to agency heads, and then it’s up to those heads to execute them.

"It's not MY fault they did what I told them to do!"

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago

Its not just that but they fired multiple agency heads for not obeying his orders. Its farcical when he's choosing the agency heads

[–] yarr 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Elon Musk is saving the US money in the same way that not paying your mortgage saves money. The real question to ask is not "how much are we spending on X" but "Are the benefits we receive for paying for X worth it?" No surprise, that deeper analysis is NOT being done because fans of the right are just out for blood in the form of cancelled government programs. After all, why not? Trump has told them for years now that the government lies, that every single program is flush with waste and so on. They are basically getting what they asked for, except they never considered the deeper effects. This is why the right wants uneducated masses. If they aren't using critical thinking skills, they're perfect supporters.

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[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I really hope this becomes a modern day Icarus story of a billionaire who flew too close to the sun and then set off a radical turn events for the better.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 267 points 2 days ago (4 children)
[–] TommySoda@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago (2 children)

We are currently at stage 4. Neat.

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[–] Grizzlyboy@lemm.ee 48 points 2 days ago (8 children)

If you were the richest person in the entire world, by a huge margin!!! Would you start working in the government and have tons of responsibilities? Or would you retire and live the life you’ve dreamed of?

This guy is insane.

[–] melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

wanting that much money requires it.

having that much money also inflicts it on you.

no more billionaires. for their sake, as much as ours.

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[–] spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This guy is insane.

Pretty sure he's got "a" personality disorder that makes him crave being in the spotlight, and the dude isn't smart or socially aware enough to understand just how little the dude knows. Leading him to doing more and more stupid shit to stay in the spotlight and scrambling to unfuck himself after the fact. On some level, it would be funny how he's been tripping over his dick and failing upward his whole life. Ya know, if he weren't currently destroying the country and all that.

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[–] negativeone@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

We recognize that if someone just wants to consume an infinite amount of alcohol then they have an addiction. We recognize addictions to food, and sex, and shopping.

But we worship money so much that we’ve completely failed to recognize that you can be addicted to money, too. You can be so obsessed with it that you hurt people around you, that you damage your community, and want to consume vastly more than you need. In the case of billionaires, their addiction has caused them to accumulate so much money that it’s destroying the global economy, and it’s still not enough.

We’re like an irresponsible bartender, serving them more and more regardless of the damage. It’s time to cut these people off. Once you’ve got a billion, you’ve had enough. Go home.

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[–] Brdi29@lemmy.world 44 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Musk privately acknowledged that he’d made some massive missteps, and that he “can’t bat a thousand all the time,”

You got rid of all the gear for your team, you're not batting at all wtf

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[–] undystains@lemm.ee 80 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Bro mistook a bunch of Russian bots praising him in his echo chamber as real people.

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[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 37 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Hard to distance yourself from something so massive

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[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Please Americans give the democrats the congress, so they can force Elmo into multi-week hearings Hunter Biden style. Make him lie under oath so much he’ll never recover

[–] stefenauris@pawb.social 11 points 2 days ago

Unfortunately at this point I don't see lying under oath being much of a crime anymore

[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Bold of you to assume the current administration will let you vote, except maybe as for where specifically the concentration camps for LGBTQ people will be built.

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[–] match@pawb.social 82 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Someone should tell Trump that he can just confiscate all of Musk's assets at any time and instantly become the richest man in the world.

(The truth of this statement is not relevant to whether Trump should be told this.)

[–] gamer@lemm.ee 37 points 2 days ago (1 children)

he has immunity from criminal prosecution, and it could be claimed that Elon (an illegal immigrant) has assets that can be used to help pay off the national debt.

[–] CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 22 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The Cheeto could straight up shoot him dead in the oval office, then alter Elon's last will and testament live on TV and nobody could do jack shit about it.

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[–] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 62 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Time for stage two of the plan: shift the blame to the young nobody scapegoats.

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[–] cultsuperstar@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (4 children)

This asshole is treating these jobs like he treated Twitter. Fire everyone, see what breaks, then hire those people back. Real efficient there! Let's not actually review processes and jobs to see if there are overlaps anywhere. Just get rid of everyone and see what grinds to a halt or is really unpopular with people.

The government isn't the place to run "scream tests."

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[–] cheers_queers@lemm.ee 58 points 2 days ago

kids, this is called gaslighting.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 100 points 2 days ago (4 children)

The buck stops over there, with that other guy....

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[–] kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

He is as much a coward as he is a fool.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 36 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Because efficiancy never was the goal. "DOGE" is just a knock-off of Yarvin's "RAGE" (Retire All Government Employees), likely done to both stroke Muskrat's ego, and to obfuscate Yarvin from the "normies".

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[–] ghostrider2112@lemmy.world 74 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Elon Musk’s boards and shareholders don’t want Musk having credit for Musk’s involvement with Disastrous DOGE Cuts. Elon wouldn’t have been on a stage with a chainsaw if Elon didn’t want credit.

[–] proudblond@lemmy.world 53 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

No no, he wanted credit but now it makes him look bad so he’s pretending he never wanted it. But we all know the truth.

You’re probably right about the boards and shareholders though. Assuming they even think about us at all.

[–] ghostrider2112@lemmy.world 43 points 2 days ago (2 children)

As someone who spent a lot of time supporting boards, they are only thinking of themselves and the damage to their brands and stock price and compensation. Which, means that efforts to boycott said brands is causing them to think about us in ways that they don’t like to think about us.

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[–] CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 67 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is because Trump slipped up at his address to Congress and called Musk the head of the agency when he's legally not supposed to be. Now they're just playing the game of zero integrity and trying to twist things around to pretend that he's not the one making all the decisions because it's illegal and lawmakers picked up on Trump's slip up.

[–] mkwt@lemmy.world 48 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's not just lawmakers. There's a bunch of lawsuits trying to use the federal courts to figure out:

  • What is DOGE in the federal government?
  • What is the nature of the "DOGE Temporary Organisation?"
  • Who is in charge of DOGE? (Definitely not Musk, officially...)
  • Why can DOGE make all these consequential personnel decisions up and down the federal government?

These are all things that have been shrouded in secrecy, obfuscation, and contradiction. Because the truth is that the real answers are not legally sound. The fact that these people are scared to say the real truth is a good sign, because it means they still have some fear of the courts and institutions. Those institutions still have some power to mess up the plan.

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[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago

Musk admitted to mistakes in private meetings with GOP lawmakers and pledged to correct them

Please no. I'm not sure the world's ready for more of this ass "fixing" things.

[–] zildjiandrummer1@lemmy.world 38 points 2 days ago (9 children)

He's said he's scared for his life. I think that's reasonable given the amount of people he's pissing off. It's only a matter of time...

[–] CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 27 points 2 days ago

Let us pray that the patron saint Luigi watches over him night and day.

[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is why that fucking creep uses his son as a prop and headshot shield.

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[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 56 points 2 days ago (8 children)
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[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Good, maybe he'll stop. Sheer incompetence was our only saving grace with the first Trump admin. Let's hope this time is more of the same in that regard, as well.

[–] cultsuperstar@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

Hahaha after walking around a stage in front of thousands of people at CPAC carrying a fucking chainsaw.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

Aww, he's so modest, isn't he?

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

He should be fired from DOGE for giving bad advice and drawing a high salary. Bloody incompetent, such a simple job and he can't even do it.

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[–] KulunkelBoom@lemm.ee 7 points 2 days ago

Maybe he should jump up and down and wave his arms like the top part of an "x".

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