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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Why Elon Musk’s ‘DOGE’ plan is doomed to fail

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2024

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

• Get 20% off a year’s Patreon support for The Bunker in our Black Friday sale. The perfect gift to ask for! Elon Musk is the new head of DOGE – the Department of Government Efficiency – alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, because two people doing one job is very efficient. But despite its fancy name, which bolsters its status immensely, is this idea actually anything new? And will this pitch to run the US government like a business work this time out? Zing Tsjeng speaks to Andrew Rudalevige, professor of government at Bowdoin College, about the Tesla boss’s big ideas and whether they will work whatsoever.  • “There are a couple of different aims. One is to give Musk something to do and keep him out of trouble – without having to give him a real job in government.”  • “I think he wants a bigger state in the things he can control and a smaller state on things that don’t affect him. Everyone thinks government spending that isn’t on them is wasteful.”  • “You have things that are done in government because private companies will not do them.” We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. www.patreon.com/bunkercast   Written and presented by Zing Tsjeng. Audio production: Tom Taylor. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You know what that is.

0:04.0

An ice cold beer.

0:07.0

What's different?

0:09.0

It's Budweiser, a perfect beer for party season.

0:14.0

Best enjoyed with your best buds.

0:20.0

Cheers to that. Budweiser, like no way. Best enjoyed with your best butts.

0:22.6

Cheers to that. Budweiser, like no other.

0:25.6

Please drink responsibly.

0:26.6

For the facts, visit drinkaware.co.

0:28.6

com.

0:29.6

UK. Hello and welcome back to The Bunker, your daily dose of news and politics explainers.

0:46.4

I'm Zing Singh.

0:47.5

It's Elon Musk's world and we're just living in it.

0:50.0

The Tesla boss has been named the head of the so-called Department for Government Efficiency,

0:55.1

or Doge, for short, by US President-elect Donald Trump.

0:58.7

According to Trump, Musk and former Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy,

1:03.2

will lead this Bureau to, quote, dismantle government bureaucracy slash excess regulations,

1:09.3

cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.

1:13.3

Now, the idea behind it is obvious to anyone who's ever had to sit through a CEO,

1:17.5

deliver a company pep talk while making layoffs. If you run a government like a business,

1:22.4

it should perform better, right? But is this the first time a Doge-type department has been proposed? Has a country ever been

1:30.0

run like a successful Fortune 500 company? And will it actually work? I thought I'd speak to someone

...

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