'A big mess internally' as Elon Musk's DOGE team scrambles for 'wins': report
Increasing skepticism, growing Republican pushback and a string of embarrassing claims that swiftly fell apart have Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) scrambling to post some wins that don't fall apart so they can move on to the next mission.
According to a report from the Washington Post, the billions in waste and fraud Musk and his staffers at the unofficial government department claimed they would ferret out have not turned up, as DOGE is becoming known more for accounting errors, shutting down popular programs and firing federal workers only to have to backtrack and beg them to return to their jobs.
As the Post's Elizabeth Dwoskin, Faiz Siddiqui and Emily Davies are report, negative headlines and growing impatience from Donald Trump's White House are increasing pressure to find and promote positive achievements.
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The dissatisfaction with what has transpired thus far led General Services Administration official Thomas Shedd to implore his staffers, “I need wins to defend.”
With Trump Cabinet officials bristling at Musk's demands they gut their own staffs and GOP lawmakers abandoning holding town halls over fears of having to face constituents about cuts in services, treatment of veterans and mass firings impacting local economies, there is a sense within DOGE-world that their best-laid plans are falling apart.
According to the Post report, "The backlash is triggering a reckoning within DOGE, where some are coming to realize that history may not perceive their efforts kindly unless they can change the narrative."
As one insider put it, "PR is viewed as a big mess internally right now," before adding, "I think everyone there knows they need to do a better job of telling the story. And that’s going to be a big component of the next phase of DOGE, leaning into storytelling and showing the wins and not having the story told for them.”
The report goes on to note that many DOGE staffers feel unjustly maligned and feel that a "disconnect has emerged between what the public sees and the sense of mission that they bring to the job."
"Despite that, a growing portion of the public sees DOGE as callous and undisciplined, a narrative reinforced by news reports about fired military veterans, hours-long waits to file retirement claims and threatened benefits for 9/11 survivors. Almost 50 percent of Americans 'disapprove' of Elon Musk’s work within the federal government, versus 34 percent that approve, according to a recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll," the Post is reporting.
“The political reality is people want a positive story. There’s a chance you don’t get to that positive story," one insider conceded.
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