Taking DOGE to Court Is a Doomed Strategy
The new Russiagate is here
The war against DOGE is shaping up to be the same as the frenzied and ultimately unsuccessful takedown of Donald Trump that we saw in Russiagate and the January 6 investigations.
The parallels are eerie, with Democrats alleging an illegitimate government takeover by DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) headed by Elon Musk. Even more bizarre is their adoption, literally verbatim, of MAGA rhetoric like “Stop the Steal.”
After weeks of confusion the party strategy finally emerged this week, expressed in accusations that DOGE was not in compliance with records laws and procedures. There’s plenty to criticize about Trump’s chaotic DOGE-led war on government, but the hunt for some kind of broken rule that will invalidate the whole thing hasn’t worked in the past and won’t now.
For one, a senior U.S. intelligence official tells us that neither the FBI nor the intelligence community are investigating Musk and company for any unlawfulness. Trump has apparently granted DOGE officials security clearances, including top secret.
The argument that protocol violations (like of the Privacy Act) can stop what’s coming is laughable. Even if these can be substantiated, they won’t stop Donald Trump any more than his violation of the Presidential Records Act act did in 2024. DOGEgate is doomed to be the same failure as Russiagate was, as the January 6 investigations were, or any of the numerous Trump impeachments, convictions, and criminal indictments were.
Instead of making a plainspoken case to the public about how DOGE could negatively affect their daily lives, Democratic leaders conducted astroturfed “demonstrations” in front of USAID, Treasury and other government shrines this week. They adopted the conspiratorial tone of the MAGA opposition to the Democrats that they have been so contemptuous of in the past.
“An unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said of DOGE in a press release on Monday. The statement might as well have been written by Alex Jones on January 6, 2021. It was jarring coming from the Democratic Party’s highest ranking official, a bespectacled 74 year old with reliably vanilla politics. But Schumer was just getting started.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Schumer together with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries proposed legislation that would, in Schumer’s words, “prevent unlawful meddling in the Treasury department’s payment systems,” an affirmation of the very Republican claim of “weaponization” of the government that they rejected.
Schumer even introduced legislation to fight DOGE, titled (I’m not making this up) “Stop the Steal Act” — choosing the very phrase Trump used leading up to January 6 to express the false view that the 2020 election had been stolen.
“ We cannot allow Elon Musk and a small group of people to secretly, behind closed doors, take away our privacy, take away our dollars, take away everything we have,” Schumer said in front of the Treasury Department, sounding more like a sovereign citizen ranting about eminent domain than the leader of the major opposition party.
At the same demonstration Senator Chris Van Hollen carried on the pitchforks-and-torches routine, decrying Musk’s “stealing social security numbers [and] personal data” as part of a broader plan for “taking over the government.” The crowd spontaneously began chanting, “Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!” — another Trump flashback from his 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton.
The demonstrations Schumer and over a dozen other Democratic members of Congress have conducted so far took place exclusively in Washington, ground zero in Trump’s slash-and-burn war on government but also territory that the American public (outside of Washington) appears to have little inclination to defend.
The sea of blue blazers and ties makes clear that these protests are by no means representative of your average Democratic voter or even local officials. One moment that stood out was when Schumer, trying his best to hype people up and inject some energy into the event, kept getting interrupted by 77 year old congressman Al Green, who waved his walking cane around in front of the Minority Leader.
On Wednesday, Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles expressing “grave concern with the illegal actions” of DOGE. Per the letter:
“We write to express our grave concern with the illegal actions currently being undertaken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which risk exposure of classified and other sensitive information that jeopardizes national security and violates Americans’ privacy. … According to press reports, DOGE inspectors already have gained access to classified materials, including intelligence reports, at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), sensitive government payment systems, including for Social Security and Medicare, at the Treasury Department, and federal personnel data from the Office of Personnel Management.”
DOGE’s assault on the government has been rapid-fire, in many cases indiscriminate and absolutely not transparent. But a threat to our national security? Come on.
Threats sourced entirely to “press reports” should sound familiar to anyone who lived through Russiagate. Warner’s letter goes on and on with national security speak, speculating about the “enormous counterintelligence and security risks,” the importance of protecting “source and methods” and the necessity that DOGE demonstrate a “need to know.”
It all reminds me of the Mueller investigation, when political journalists who had never covered national security suddenly peppered their articles with acronyms like “SIGINT.”
There’s lots to criticize about DOGE. I certainly have, publishing as many of its boneheaded memos as I can find. But instead of focusing on the substance — what it is actually doing, its gaping exemption for the national security state, and so on — Democrats instead are focused on obscure matters of process. “Did DOGE submit Form 18-7.4?” is a question almost nobody outside of Washington cares about. Nor should they.
— Edited by William M. Arkin
I would love to see a Democratic leader sit in an armchair with a camera and just talk to the American people. Not screaming, not calling people nsmes, just, in plain English that a second grader could understand, explaining what is happening right now and why it's troubling, no matter what party someone is in.
Most people think the government IS inefficient. OK! Tell them that it can be but also here's why things have been set up as they have. Yes, we can change them, and we probably should modify aspects, but for Medicaid/SS/VAN benefits to work, here's the setup. Here is how DOGE will affect the services and benefits you rely on. Here's what it means that these people suddenly have the details of millions of people. Here's why that is of concern, whether they are all scrupulous with his it's handled. Help people realise that it doesn't matter who is doing this, what matters is that they are.
I wish they'd stop with the theatrics that no one cares about. Did they learn nothing from the last few years that the whole "fascist takeover," "death of democracy" messaging doesn't work? Just talk to people like...people. Break it down. My god. If this is the next four years, we're all fucked.
I respect your opinion, but this is a miss for me Ken. I've been one of the thousands of calls to my reps daily. In the heat of the moment, especially from where I sit in a red state? I wanna see a response to the illegal unconstitutional actions being taken rapid fire in DC right now. God knows my Senators and Congresswoman have been silent... likely complicit. I felt relieved to see a response at all. I was becoming furious that not a single congressperson was standing up for our rights, to enforce their duties as a coequal branch of government.
I agree with you that coopting their language with stop the steal and lock him up is stupid. And the congresswoman who called for war was irresponsible. But hearing Rep. Jasmine Crockett speak truth in plain language, being our voice in the middle of this bs? Excellent, more of that. Genuinely, went from feeling completely abandoned by our representatives to feeling seen and heard. Thank God for her. Hearing Congressman Raskin speak from a place so rooted in respect for the constitution and with a mind towards everything our previous generations fought and sacrificed for? His quoting the American Crisis by Thomas Paine? Hit perfect. He showed more honor and respect for our country in that speech than I've seen in politics in years.
I get the cynicism and while we can stay sharp eyed for BS, we also have GOT to stop encouraging despair and defeat. It's irresponsible and unimaginative. We can't only focus on obstacles, we have to leave room for possibilities. Where are the people seeing this massive challenge as an opportunity to make a positive, meaningful change? Are we so beaten down and tired that we only dream of nightmare and disaster? We are in deep sh**, make no mistake, but while we fight, we need to believe that a future worth fighting for is possible.
(Maybe this is an unreasonable comment to make on the Substack of an investigative journalist who specializes in reporting leaked documents - you obviously come at things from a different perspective. I have just found this to be so, so important to keep in mind.)