Senator Thune starting to flex with Elon Musk and DOGE

I have openly stated my concerns about Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) holding a leadership position in the party, mostly due to his alliance with Senator McConnell (R-KY).

Thune is now flexing his muscle with Musk, recommending that Musk cede some of the DOGE decisions to the “better attuned “ cabinet.

I can’t believe I am saying this, but I happen to agree with Thune, and he is starting to make me a believer.

Not the Right Guy

I have been adamant that I love the idea of DOGE, but I have also stated that I think Elon has overstepped his bounds in different areas.

Elon is an adviser, period. He should not be making final calls in terms of policies or staffing for any department in our government.

His job was to go over line items throughout the government and recommend cuts, not actually implement them.

When Musk sent out that email, then posted on X that not answering the email would be considered a resignation, I immediately stood up that the decision to evaluate and cut staff and/or positions should be left to the respective directors and secretaries.

I doubt Thune reads my posts, but based on his comments to Musk, it sure sounded like he did, at least on this particular subject.

To that point, Thune stated, “I think that he’s kind of going about business as he would in a private business.

“What he is trying to achieve is to try and figure out ways that we can make government cost less, run more efficiently, modernize it with technology. DOGE is going about this and doing the big scrub.

“We worked so hard to get cabinet people in place. Hand it off to these leaders, these managers who are going to be making decisions. And they’re going to be, I think, probably better attuned.”

This is not a knock against Musk, but I just believe that as someone that is not used to reporting to other people, he is overstepping when he needs to be working in conjunction with these department heads.

Trump has most of his key people in place already, and he should trust them evaluate talent, then cut staffing and positions.

Again, I really do like what I am seeing from DOGE, but I also believe that DOGE should be limited to spotting possible waste and fraud, then bring that information to the secretaries and directors for them to make the final call.

Otherwise, it looks disjointed and gives the appearance of a power struggle, with the Democrats and media will eat it up.