Hear no waste. See no waste.

I keep seeing these articles asking why aren’t the democrats embracing DOGE in its efforts to cut wasteful spending and trim the federal budget. The answer is obvious. The expenditures for democrats are not wasteful. They play a vital role in getting them reelected. I doubt if the dems see any fraud or waste in any government’s spending. It is evident why they want to stop the reduction in the federal workforce. These are their constituents. Federal workers are overwhelmingly democrat. For democrats, every single federal employee is vital, every single federal job is essential, and every single dollar is necessary. There is no waste or fraud here. It is just a figment of Trump’s imagination and he is just out to get those that didn’t vote for him and that resist his agenda. Really, did anyone expect a single democrat to support anything done by Trump?

The dems have been holding anti-DOGE (I pronounce it dog-ee) rallies. Kweisi Mfume, the past and now present congressman from Baltimore said “This will be a congressional fight, a constitutional fight, a legal fight, and on days like this a street fight, yes we will stand.” I have no idea what all this fighting is about. But the republicans jumped right on it claiming that Mfume was advocating violence. Sounds like a racist slur to me. Essentially, Mfume is saying that he will resist any effort to fight waste and fraud – because of course in his eyes no waste and fraud can exist in the federal government. I am interested in what Mfume claims to be a constitutional fight. Doesn’t the constitution give the president authority over the federal agencies? Isn’t that’s why the president nominates those to run the agencies rather than having the congress appoint them? Of course, the Senate must confirm them and the congress must appropriate their budgets but that is the limit of congressional power. So what is the constitutional fight? Maxine Waters at the same rally had a rant that may go down in history when she said “We have got to tell Elon Musk that nobody elected your ass. Nobody told you you could get all of our private information. Nobody told you you could be in charge of the payments of this country.” No wonder she is called Mad Max.

AOC  urged Democrats to “blow this place up (meaning the congress). “We should not comply in advance. We should not make it easy for them to do what they need to do if they’re going to do it anyway. Make them do it anyway, but not with our help.” Blow it up indeed. Isn’t this what Trump is doing? Was AOC at the House hearing on COVID fraud where the witness said that $1 trillion was stolen?  Another witness testified “As Medicaid has grown, so too has its mismanagement. Today, more than one in five dollars spent on Medicaid is improper. In Medicaid alone, fraud and mismanagement is on track to cost U.S. taxpayers, get this, more than $1 trillion over the next ten years. When it comes to the problem of improper payments the Medicaid program is the biggest culprit, encompassing nearly one third of all federal improper payments. And more than 80 percent of Medicaid improper payments are due to one thing: eligibility errors. If Congress wants to help President Trump address wasteful spending, then targeting eligibility errors in Medicaid should be one of your top priorities.” Of course, no outrage came from any democrat. Greg Casar (D-TX) however castigated the “Trump-Musk administration” for firing watchdogs and cutting agencies and programs he believes are “vital to servicing the poor”. Gee Greg, if the inspector generals were doing their jobs why do you think they were fired?

On the senate side, Chuck Schumer along with Patty Murray, Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren also held a press conference where they railed against Elon Musk rather than against government waste – do we see a pattern here? The democrats oppose the auditing being done by DOGE. How else do you think that fraud and waste will be uncovered, Chuck? Schumer then led a rally against DOGE much like the one led by Mfume saying that democrats would resist Trump through the courts, the states and the congress. Wasn’t it fun hearing Warren accusing of Musk being unaccountable while bemoaning the defunding of her pet agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which is itself shielded from accountability? That the democrats are on the wrong side of public opinion is encapsulated in a congressional democrat approval rating of 20 percent. Congressional republicans are at 40 percent.

So what if DOGE has uncovered crazy spending at USAID, found Politico was paid $8 million for federal subscriptions, found $2 trillion in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security fraud and found $4.7 billion in untraceable Treasury payments? These are just the price of doing business for the democrats and seriously, the republicans are complicit too having only found religion after Trump got elected. One thing is for sure, I bet that neither Trump nor Musk will investigate how so many members of congress got so wealthy while earning a government salary. Consider Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.): annual salary $223,000, net worth $202 million; Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): annual salary $200,000, net worth $95 million; Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.): annual salary $210,000, net worth $75 million and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): annual salary: $285,000, net worth $67 million.

Instead Musk is going after low hanging fruit by wondering how so many government bureaucrats got so wealthy (Anthony Fauci). “There are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth,” he said. “We’re just curious as to where it came from.” For example, Samantha Power, head of USAID under Biden had her net worth increase from $6 million to $30 million in three years while earning a government salary. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation. 

We know that the democrat politicians cry “resist” but what of their voters? I would think that even democrat voters would like to see government spending addressed. But I could be wrong. One thing is for certain. I have often said that the republicans are just democrat – lite. Has spending ever gone down with republicans in power? Let us see how the republicans act when Musk starts seeking to defund payola going to their constituents.