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White House Says We Were Out of the Loop—ON EVERYTHING

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January 30, 2025 12:06 p.m.
HALLE, GERMANY - JANUARY 25: Tech billionaire Elon Musk waves and speaks live via a video transmission during a speech by Alice Weidel, chancellor candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political pa... HALLE, GERMANY - JANUARY 25: Tech billionaire Elon Musk waves and speaks live via a video transmission during a speech by Alice Weidel, chancellor candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, at the AfD election campaign launch rally on January 25, 2025 in Halle, Germany. Musk is an outspoken supporter of the AfD and is urging German voters to cast their ballots for the party. The AfD is currently in second place in polls ahead of federal parliamentary snap elections scheduled for February 23. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) MORE LESS

We’re getting clearer indications now that the effort to bamboozle, frighten and entice federal workers into resigning their positions in exchange for non-existent “buy outs” was very much a product of the Elon Musk/DOGE cabal now wilding through and embedding itself within the federal government. We don’t need a lot of confirmation: they left a slew of meme Easter eggs scattered through the process more or less announcing it. What’s notable is that the White House is now going out of its way to tell reporters that it definitely wasn’t them. They were, in that well-worn phrase, out of the loop, etc.

I suspect this is true, as far as it goes. But that understates — straight up ignores, really — the degree to which Donald Trump and his top advisors have, entirely by design and intentionally, spun up a series of independent fiefdoms, with Musk’s being the largest, to move fast and break things and push every boundary in the interest of a number of overlapping but distinct ideological agendas. In other words, they probably did “bypass key Trump officials.” But that’s pretty much the idea when you wind up guys like Elon Musk and Russell Vought with “let’s be legends” gusto and give them the keys.

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