Trump laid out new rules for DOGE in a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
Summary
Trump has ordered Elon Musk to scale back his aggressive government downsizing efforts, instructing him to use a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet” when cutting the federal workforce.
Musk has faced backlash for mass firings, accidental cuts to critical programs, and staffing controversies.
Public approval of Musk’s role is declining, with concerns over his influence.
Despite Trump affirming Cabinet authority, he warned departments to make cuts or face Musk’s intervention. Lawsuits and internal resistance continue to challenge DOGE’s sweeping changes.
My style of deal–making is quite simple and straightforward. I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing to get what I'm [actually] after.
This way, all future cuts will seem reasonable by comparison.
Despite Trump affirming Cabinet authority, he warned departments to make cuts or face Musk's intervention.
Lawsuits and internal resistance continue to challenge
DOGE's sweeping changes.
This is the real meat of the article.
Musk makes changes to federal government.
Unelected private citizen and world’s richest parasite, so trump’s government is facing a swathe of lawsuits and they are afraid.
Trump orders the individual departments to do “exactly as Musk would do” or else he will get someone else to do their job for them.
Basically DOGE is too much of a lawsuit magnet so he’s threatening a broad selection of faceless government departments to do the exact same thing, in the hope it’s harder to trace and sue with class action
Keep pushing and putting pressure. This is a sign that Trump (or more likely people close to Trump) are starting to see the pressure as more serious. He's seeing backlash from lawsuits & the courts, federal worker unions, protests and people getting loud as hell at Republican town halls, etc.
Don't take their word as truth here instead take it as a sign they might actually be starting to see him as a threat to their power / approval