It Probably…

 …cost Elmo Tesla. But it doesn’t matter that DOGE cost government money, rather than saving it:

The "Morning Joe" host predicted that Musk's cuts would fall far short of the $2 trillion in savings promised by Musk, and he gloated at new reporting that shows DOGE fell far short of those lofty goals — and had actually added another layer of bureaucracy to the federal government.

"I've got to tell you, really, it is, it's actually a scene out of a comedy, except, of course, the consequences are very real, very real, they're very significant," Scarborough said. "But again, this is what happens when you go into a government organization thinking you can wield a chainsaw and change things in two, three, four weeks.

"Again, not a great deal of cost savings. In fact, many people believe the consequences of the cuts will end up costing more than the proposed cuts themselves, the ones that are actually real. But in this case, who would believe it? DOGE creates a new layer of bureaucracy."

"These are all things that we all predicted before," Scarborough added. "When Donald Trump, you know, reportedly turns and says, was this all just BS, the saving of a trillion? Yes it was. Yes, it was BS. We told everybody it was BS."

Many of the cuts imposed by DOGE were undone by the courts, and the legal challenges cost taxpayers millions, and thousands of workers endured pain and uncertainty while those lawsuits played out, and MSNBC national affairs analyst John Heilemann said the saga would likely play a major role in next year's elections.

"I think when the whole thing is said and done, it's going to net-net out," Heilemann said. "Not only that, the savings have been have been minuscule. In fact, they're not, they're not going to be savings. They're not going to end up having cost the taxpayer a ton of money, having gone through this exercise. But the most interesting thing is the thing you said about Donald Trump. Because all that, all I'm focused on now is what happens between now and next November. There is no doubt that Elon Musk and DOGE are going to be at the center of the Democratic attempts to retake the House."

"Are Elon Musk and Donald Trump going to stay together, or are we seeing the signs of an increasingly growing split? That question, was he always just full of BS?" Heilemann added. "That's the first stage of not just the separation, but a divorce, I think, between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and when these two turn on each other, God knows what's going to happen to the politics for the Republican Party."

DOGE is still there:

Picture this: You’re a researcher who has spent years developing a grant proposal, gone through layers of expert review, and received National Science Foundation (NSF) approval. Then some kid barely out of college — whose main qualification appears to be founding a company that puts ads on the blockchain — logs into a Zoom meeting, pays more attention to his fingernails than the discussion, and kills your grant with an uninterested thumbs down.

Welcome to science under DOGE.

Elmo has left the building. That ignorant kid is still there.

Hell, Elmo is still there:

Sooooooo.

Donald Trump gave Peter Thiel and Palantir a massive contract for mass surveillance of all of us with our data that Elon Musk stole with DOGE?

And all those “big brother” screeching MAGA folks are rolling over and taking it?

🙄

— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) June 2, 2025

DOGE is still turning thumbs down on things it doesn’t understand (what, you thought shutting down nuclear security was a one off?). Elmo has contacts in the government (and contracts with them, for Starlink and Spacex). His face is gone, his access remains. Repeat any gossip you want about Trump and Musk’s “relationship.” The fact is, Trump has no interest in governance and Elmo is the rats in the government walls, the better to fatten his pockets. Hell, he’s got the FTC investigating companies that won’t advertise on Twitter (something an ordinary FTC wouldn’t touch with a club). He’s got the State Department pressuring countries to buy Starlink. He may yet run Tesla into the ground, but his reputation as a tech mogul genius remains as impervious to facts as Trump’s reputation as a brilliant businessman and politician. 

The Morning Joe crew is clueless. This is a brave new world of government corruption, and you don’t need to be seen to remain a player. You can thank technology for that, but this remains America, which runs on one motto: “Money Talks.”