As an opinion columnist, it feels unnerving to have so much political content to write about. Content is flowing out of the White House like a fire hose, out of the president’s mouth, the orders he signs and so much more.
There is too much that needs to be said, questioned and addressed, and there is no way any column can begin to cover it all.
Lately, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which the Trump Administration introduced in January, has been a primary source of chaos.
Serving as a “special government employee,” Musk’s influence on the government is alarming.
His behaviors have consistently been as crude and outlandish as the president’s: From spreading misinformation on public platforms, to facing controversy for hateful actions and comments to threatening the freedom of the press – a fundamental right that has defined America since its birth.
And despite Musk’s claims, DOGE is not saving money in any defendable way.
In less than a month, DOGE has made significant cuts to many federal agencies, causing thousands of firings.
But the areas facing the steepest cuts, such as the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency and the DEI initiatives that President Donald Trump’s executive order demanded be terminated, actually make up a very small percentage of the nation’s spending.
DOGE has only saved about $2.6 billion so far, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal – a media outlet generally considered conservative.
“If you were sincere about trying to balance the budget or to get rid of government waste, you know you would have to go after waste and fraud in the Defense Department, in Social Security, Medicare (white collar business fraud). This $2.6 billion, that’s small peanuts when it comes, in the amount of damage it’s doing and so forth,” said Scot Schraufnagel, a political science professor at NIU. “They’re not making any real headway in terms of trying to balance the budget or get rid of waste in dollar amounts that would make sense.”
Unsurprisingly, DOGE’s cuts are instead directed at causes that generally get a rise out of Trump supporters but positively impact minority groups.
In light of the layoffs, Schraufnagel said we will likely see employees bring the government to court. The coming months will be an important time to follow national news.
“So in some of them (the executive orders and layoffs), it’s very clear that Trump and Musk have overstepped their bounds. You know, to say that, you know, they’re going to get rid of birthright citizenship; that’s clearly an infringement on the Constitution,” Schraufnagel said. “But here’s the issue, is that even though there are instances where they’ve clearly passed some legal barriers or ignored the legal barriers, I suppose, and transcended them, here’s the catch: Is that the courts could make those decisions that: ‘No, you can’t fire these (workers)’ And they (Trump and Musk) could ignore the courts.”
Why would they ignore the courts? If the administration was motivated to pursue authoritarian rule, Schraufnagel explained.
“I’ve been teaching students, since, for 30 years, that you can’t take democracy for granted,” Schraufnagel said. “And I don’t think we’re immune, you know, we’re the longest lasting democracy and in continuous existence in the world today, but, you know, and people sort of always assumed that we were, you know, the beacon of light, if you will, of the democracy or whatever, but it seems to be crumbling.”
Musk and Trump’s behaviors, including the first Trump administration’s actions, are ominously similar to the behaviors of early authoritarian rulers throughout history.
And the overwhelming changes we’re experiencing ring a harrowing bell for many political analysts, social scientists and historians.
“Part of the authoritarian playbook, if you will, like their strategies – and then we’ve seen this throughout history – is to make massive changes in an all-at-once, in a dizzying pace,” Schraufnagel said. “That’s because then there’s no opportunity for scrutiny. There’s just so many changes going on at once that nobody can follow it all and no one can keep up in the media.”
If you’re hoping to fight back in some capacity, Scraufnagel recommends focusing your energy on one meaningful cause instead.
If that’s you, thank you so much for speaking out and best of luck to your cause.
And if this column could end happier – how I wish I could end it – I might encourage you to keep your chin up, that this nation will surely sort itself out, that if we just stay positive we’ll push through.
Unlike our president, however, I have no urge to spread misinformation.
