This seems like it's belaboring the obvious, but to the legacy media, it's probably a big shock to learn that Elon Musk, as a "special government employee," actually has no authority to fire federal employees. He can only evaluate the government's payroll and make recommendations.
On Thursday, President Trump even went so far as to assemble his cabinet and make it very plain: You're in charge of your departments.
According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room.
The meeting followed a series of mass firings and threats to government workers from the billionaire Tesla founder, who helms the Department of Government Efficiency, that created broad uncertainty across the federal government and its workforce.
Wasn't that always the understanding? Elon Musk and the DOGE are advisors; they can't fire people.
Trump posted about the meeting on Truth Social after this story posted, promising to hold similar meetings every two weeks.
“As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go,” he wrote. “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet.’ The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.”
The timing of the meeting was influenced by recent comments from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who said on CNN Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries should retain the full power to hire and fire, according to one official. The official said Trump has been flooded with similar concerns from other lawmakers and Cabinet secretaries.
The remainder of the Truth Social post reads:
As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the “scalpel” rather than the “hatchet.” The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.
We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one. It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people. We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
So, all cleared up, then.
See Related: Desperate to Call Trump a 'Liar,' the Press Falls Down a 'Transgendered Mice' Rabbit Hole
The work the DOGE is doing is necessary. There have already been billions in wasteful spending revealed, and there can be no doubt that there are billions more to be found, and there will no doubt be people released. The DOGE has a lot left to do and less than two years of certainty in which to do it. But they are an analysis and advisory group. It should have been obvious from the very beginning that the various cabinet members were in charge of their departments. So why the confusion? It may have started with Elon Musk's all-hands emails requiring replies with five bullet points, which he described as a "pulse check."
Well, that pulse certainly got checked. And, hopefully, everyone is now on the same page.
DOGE is finding billions of dollars in wasteful spending, and the Democrats are losing their minds as they realize their gravy train and woke projects are coming to an end.
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