If they’d slashed government to the point that the deficit was shrinking, I’d be at least open to the argument that this kind of thing is the price.

The deficit is growing. They control all three branches of government. They’re not cutting spending just making us get less for our money.

It’s been a thing for a long time with the right. They don’t actually cut spending. They just make the result of spending shittier like the goal is to set money on fire.

While I do think Elon has gone crackers, I give him a small amount of credit for rapidly realizing that DOGE was baloney and there was never any intent to cut spending. There never is, regardless of party or rhetoric. Given Trump's behavior the most likely answer is that Trump wanted someone to blame the fallout for his grifting on, so he lined up some popularly-unpopular fall guys. Elon dove enthusiastically into this septic tank though, so I have no sympathy.