DOGE’s PR crisis
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 March 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
For weeks, Americans have watched as Elon Musk and the U.S. DOGE Service have slashed at the federal bureaucracy, making drastic cuts to agency budgets and the federal workforce.
And while President Donald Trump has made clear that he supports Musk, DOGE’s efforts have sparked concern among many senior Trump advisers, civil servants and everyday Americans. That has left DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, hunting for wins.
Today on “Post Reports,” The Post’s DOGE reporter Faiz Siddiqui joins host Colby Itkowitz to discuss how DOGE is responding to external pressure and what Tuesday’s White House press conference-turned-sales pitch for Tesla says about other pressures Musk could face.
Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sam Bair. Thanks also to Mike Madden.
Are you a snacker? This week, health columnist Anahad O’Connor published a deep dive into what makes a healthy packaged snack. He analyzed the labels and ingredients on different ultra-processed crackers, jerkies and protein bars and came away with a great guide to the healthiest options. You can find his recommendations at washingtonpost.com/snacks.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For weeks, Americans have watched Elon Musk reshape the federal government with his Department of Government efficiency. |
| 0:08.6 | Musk and his team have made drastic cuts to agency budgets and the federal workforce. |
| 0:13.7 | But many Americans are not happy with Doja's slash and burn approach. |
| 0:18.0 | They've been indiscriminate and they've taken a chainsaw to these things. Why is a supposedly |
| 0:24.3 | conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this? |
| 0:31.7 | In states like Georgia and Pennsylvania, people have been swarming congressional town halls in pro-Trump districts, |
| 0:39.1 | and they've been expressing anger about sweeping cuts to the federal government. |
| 0:45.0 | Elon was going to be the main topic tonight, and he's going to continue to be the main topic |
| 0:49.8 | tonight because we are all freaking pissed off about this. You're going to hear it and feel it. |
| 0:54.7 | My question is, can we count on you to go back to Washington and demand immediate oversight into |
| 1:01.9 | Jones and Amy? But President Trump has shown no sign of distancing himself from Musk. |
| 1:09.4 | On Tuesday, at an event on the White House lawn, |
| 1:11.6 | the two men showed off a red Tesla. |
| 1:13.6 | Trump got into the driver's seat of the car |
| 1:15.6 | and ooed an odd over its features. |
| 1:18.6 | That's beautiful. |
| 1:19.6 | This is a different panel that I've had. |
| 1:21.6 | Everything's computer. |
| 1:23.6 | He praised Tesla, the company Musk has led for years, and defended the billionaire. |
| 1:29.3 | When somebody's a great patriot, they shouldn't be hurt. He's a great patriot. |
| 1:36.8 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. It's Wednesday, March 12th. |
| 1:43.5 | I'm Colby Iquowitz. Today, the post-Doge reporter, |
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