The writer is author of ‘Liberalism and Its Discontents’
The Trump administration came into office on January 20 vowing to destroy what it called the “deep state,” unleashing Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency on the federal bureaucracy. Musk proceeded to fire thousands of civil servants and close entire agencies with the purpose of eliminating “fraud, waste and abuse” in the US government, while saving taxpayers trillions of dollars.
Musk has since stepped down from Doge, having made an impact far more modest than he promised — indeed, he may in the end have done far more harm than good. Yet, his objective of making the US government more effective was essentially correct.
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