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What Next | Daily News and Analysis

TBD | Department of Government Elon

What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Slate

News, Daily News, News Commentary, Politics

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Department of Government Efficiency was made to Elon Musk’s specifications, right down to its meme-indebted name. Now that DOGE is shaping up to be an actual part of the government, what can it actually accomplish? And isn’t this all a huge conflict of interest for Elon Musk and his many government contracts? Guest: Teddy Schleifer, New York Times reporter on billionaires. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:04.6

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1:04.0

Teddy Schlafer has spent a lot of time lately thinking about Doge,

1:08.5

the internet famous Shiba Inu meme and nascent government overhaul agency of the same name.

1:16.5

Teddy, have you been to Doge.gov?

1:21.3

I actually did today. It was my second or third time in the last 12 hours. I noticed the Doge Shiba is no longer there.

1:30.6

It's gone!

1:32.6

If you have somehow escaped the constant posting about it, Doge stands for Department of Government Efficiency,

1:40.5

an Elon Musk brainchild that, as of this week, is real. Teddy has been reporting on its genesis for the New York Times.

1:48.7

A few days ago, we had a nice Shiba dog who was planted on the website of Doge, which I think was basically a very simple page just saying,

1:59.4

this is an official government website and that we're going to do major reform.

...

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