Wasn't Donald Trump considered a joke when he first ran for office ?

Not much of a joke now it seems.

I think some people didn't learn their lessons which is why they make fun of Doge as a joke.

Not so much of a joke now.

I don't know about that. I think most onlookers still see it as a joke since no one in reality actually views it as an independent engagement and obviously if independence is compromised your audit report can ultimately be tossed in the trash.

You're still free to just carry misappropriation where you like but not report those findings because that tax dollar misappropriation better aligns with whatever agenda or lines the pockets of the individuals you prefer compared to the previous party.

There's ultimately a rot in US politics and its clearly on both sides. I suspect what's deemed as misappropriation or waste of tax dollars will just get funneled into further waste.

I suspect you could easily find findings that would make either party look silly after their term if such an engagement was completed after each term / change of parties.

Edit: But I still can get on board with one happening after a change of parties each time anyways.

This post was edited by SBD on Feb 8 2025 11:46am

Trump *is* the independent enforcer who was voted in specifically to eradicate the rot that is endemic to the so-called uniparty (both old regime parties)

Elon is not independent from Trump at this point. Nor would I honestly say Trump is any different than much of the previous rot. He just wears a different color. Pretty sure his and hers shit coin stunt right after winning sort of shows that he very much has individual financial gain at the forefront of his brain.

No, not at all, why would he be? He is one of Trump's instruments. What I mean is that Trump is independent from the corrupt uniparty (the old regime). I'm honestly confused how you could believe that Trump is part of the old regime? Considering they tried so hard to destroy him

This post was edited by El1te on Feb 8 2025 12:53pm

Ah, well I don't know about that, while he's certainly more of a wildcard he's also clearly driven by individual financial gain and I suspect not overly immune to the pitfalls that claimed those prior.

I suspect us plebs will not ever actually know much of the truth. We can only measure via the quality of life increase or decrease that is to come in my opinion.

I mean, it's possible that Trump could betray us to enrich himself at the people's expense, but there is no reason to believe that he could possibly be any worse than the old regime that was openly pillaging us for decades. Time will tell

I think Democrats assumed DOGE was just nonsense, and it wouldn't do anything. That assumption proved to be wrong. But now serious people(which obviously rules out Trump supporters) are wondering how DOGE is actually going to meaningfully reduce government spending.

Sure, eliminating USAID makes a splash in Washington. Can you autists actually do something that has a meaningful impact on the budget?

Well Elon just killed the banking consumer protection agency..

It's very strange how a corporate government takeover is happening and it's supposed to be part of some populist thing. I guess if the populist voters are dumb enough you can do anything.

This post was edited by IceMage on Feb 8 2025 02:19pm