The next time some infantile reporter in Washington accuses Elon Musk of a “lack of transparency,” he should be required to say precisely what he would like to see from Elon and then be swiftly told to take a hike.
Other than overpaid government workers with obscene retirement benefits, nobody in America has felt even a slight breeze as a result of anything Musk is doing, which so far is related to eliminating excess government personnel and identifying unnecessary spending in the federal budget. As luck would have it, the outside agency he’s leading, known as DOGE, is publishing a lot of its activity on social media.
The X account @DOGE has frequently posted screenshots of government contracts that it says have been eliminated to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Some have been identified as DEI initiatives, some as Green New Deal boondoggles, and yet still more as other trifling matters that would never receive a dollar in funding if not for our endlessly corrupt system that wastes taxpayer money hand over fist.
That would be enough, but it was highly appreciated that Musk on Tuesday spoke and answered questions from reporters for 30 minutes in the Oval Office as to what exactly he was doing on behalf of President Trump.
“What I really would say is it’s not optional for us to reduce the federal expenses, it’s essential,” Musk said. “It’s essential for America to remain solvent as a country, and it’s essential for America to have the resources necessary to provide things to its citizens and not simply be servicing vast amounts of debt.”
A reporter at the event asked Musk to identify “the checks and balances that are in place to ensure that there is accountability and transparency” with his process, to which Musk replied, “In fact, we post our actions to the DOGE handle on X and to the DOGE website. So all of our actions are maximally transparent.”
And yet still, reporters and cable news talkers suggested Musk might be hiding something. An ABC News article said “it’s unclear to whom he is accountable, other than Trump.” (Admittedly, it’s a radical concept that someone working under the executive branch of government would be ultimately accountable to the president, an idea that several anti-constitutionalist judges have rejected in recent days.) CNN’s Anderson Cooper said there was “little evidence … to back it up” that Musk was being “maximally transparent.”
Not that I’m claiming to blow the lid off a scandal here, but these nerds are disingenuous. It’s not a mystery as to what happens when government spending is cut. People lose their government jobs and contractors see their own government-funded projects come to an end. For the curious at heart as to what projects and jobs are affected, check the DOGE feed on X. Being able to peer over Musk’s shoulder at what exactly he’s doing at any given moment isn’t going to bring new light on that process, as upsetting as the whole thing may be for a news media that places all of its faith in the government bureaucracy to do good things.
Suffice it to say, “transparency” isn’t really what they care about. They care about slowing Musk’s efforts down, clogging it up in hopes that they can pinpoint something to controversialize and thereby build public pressure that ends DOGE altogether. It’s not going to happen.
Even the most legitimate concern, to the extent that it’s sincere, over Musk receiving billions in government contracts for his own companies, is relatively frivolous. SpaceX and Tesla operations have been on the government payroll for years. and at least as far as SpaceX goes, the results speak for themselves. It’s basically NASA but with working rockets. With regard to Tesla, Musk got everything and more from the last administration’s electric vehicle initiatives and that was without a friend in the White House. I’m supposed to be alarmed about it now?
Ignore the nagging about “transparency.” They don’t want to see what Musk is doing. They want to stop him.
Jesus Christ is King
