'Democracy wrecking machine': Behind DOGE’s push to 'demoralize' the US government

Since returning to the White House on January 20, President Donald Trump has — with the help of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — been overseeing a dramatic restructuring of the United States' federal government.

At least 75,000 federal workers, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, have accepted a deferred buyout offer. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is being gutted, employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fear that they will suffer the same fate, and Trump is calling for the U.S. Department of Education to be abolished.

The New York Times' Tressie McMillan Cottom, in an opinion column published on February 13, argues that Musk's goal is to create "chaos" and instability, undermine U.S. democracy, and push an "authoritarian" agenda.

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"Whatever you choose to call it," Cottom warns, "Elon Musk has captured the inner workings of the U.S. government on President Trump's behalf. His operatives reportedly infiltrated the General Services Administration, gained access to the nation's system for issuing payments like tax refunds, locked workers out of computer systems at the Office of Personnel Management and strong-armed USAID into halting humanitarian work across the globe."

Cottom, a sociology professor, adds, "They have vowed to slash essential research budgets and have put the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in their sights.

Trump, Cottom warns, "has deputized a questionably legal extragovernmental actor" whose "mission is not just to dismantle the federal government, but to demoralize it."

"I could not help but feel that the Democrats’ response, staged for 20th-Century media with a lectern, microphones and standing outside in the cold, could not compete with the emotional power of content," the Times opinion columnist writes. "And that could have disastrous consequences. DOGE is a democracy wrecking machine. It is targeting the government’s plumbing, the infrastructure that makes the state reliable and legitimate for millions of Americans."

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Tressie McMillan Cottom's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).