Trump's Government Pretends DOGE Is Not Lying About Almost Everything

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
This is a crass but true fact: Mike Johnson and his son monitor each other's pornography consumption through a phone app. He has said so. Like Mike Johnson's son, Elon Musk also lies to him and Mr. Johnson 100% believes it. 

At today's Cabinet meeting, President Trump reiterated that the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security will be paid for by all the fraud Elon Musk is finding in DOGE. He said he will not actually cut benefits. However, nearly all of his findings are fake.  The President is convinced, for example, that millions of 150 year old people (people who are long dead) are receiving Social Security and Medicare, but none of this is true. 

The budget bill from the House calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $1.5 trillion in spending increases. Speaker Mike Johnson, like Trump, believes the difference will be made up by Federal job cuts and the fraud Elon Musk is finding. None of this is based on accurate information and is false information. However, the budget is real, and does not make mathematical sense. Analysts and economists have been crying foul, because the budget given is not possible without cutting people from benefits.

In another false statement that went uncontested, Trump also said 300,000 Americans a year die from Fentanyl. The number is around 75,000 per year, or less, which is still high. However, Trump's penchant for gross exaggeration (lies) and his followers' penchant for being yes men, is troubling, at best. 

More Government Efficiency Orders

The president signed an executive order requiring all departments and agencies to create a system with all contacts, in which payments can be easily paused for inspection before being paid. Payments are to be reviewed for signs of fraud and waste. Again, like so many things, this in itself is not actually a problem. But we know that Elon Musk and DOGE don't understand what they're seeing and they don't understand the Constitution and separation of powers. We will see how this goes with time.

Remarks by President Trump Before Cabinet Meeting – The White House

Implementing the President's "Department of Government Efficiency" Cost Efficiency Initiative – The White House