\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMove fast and break things\u201d was an early Facebook motto that has become ingrained as a basic mindset in the tech world. Looking at the work of Elon Musk<\/strong>\u2019s DOGE and Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s quick tanking of the economy<\/a>, perhaps it\u2019s one that should be rethought. Musk, whose directive with his made-up federal agency was to cut spending, largely by eliminating federal jobs, seems to be doing a pretty crappy job at both his own federal work and his private sector gigs too. Time for a PIP, maybe?<\/p>\n In private meetings with Republican lawmakers, Musk has reportedly been employing the Shaggy<\/strong> defense<\/a> when confronted about the firings, rehirings, and generally destructively chaotic shenanigans of DOGE: It wasn\u2019t me.<\/p>\n The Guardian<\/em> reported Thursday<\/a> that Musk had been making the Capitol rounds, and had a little pizza chat-n-chew with GOP Rep. Richard Hudson<\/strong> in a basement cafeteria, after which Hudson joined in to sing backup.<\/p>\n \u201cElon doesn\u2019t fire people,\u201d Hudson told the outlet. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have hiring and firing authority. The president\u2019s empowered him to go uncover this information, that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s quite the contrast from just two weeks ago, when Musk was onstage at CPAC<\/a>, wielding that fabulous bedazzled chainsaw, declaring it \u201cthe chainsaw for bureaucracy.\u201d It feels appropriate now to note once again that this power tool likely is a non-functioning one: Not only has official administrative responsibility for DOGE<\/a> officially been laid at the feet of one Amy Gleason<\/strong>, not Musk, but on Thursday Trump himself convened his Cabinet, with Musk in the room, to redraft Musk\u2019s sticker chart. Politico<\/em> reports<\/a> that Trump told those top officials that they, not Musk, are in charge<\/a> of final personnel decisions for their agencies, and that Musk is empowered only as far as investigating and making recommendations. You know, like that nosy acquaintance who just can\u2019t help but tell you what they<\/em> would do in your situation.<\/p>\n Trump recapped the meeting on his Truth Social platform<\/a>, calling DOGE \u201can incredible success,\u201d then carefully clipping on the leash and walking that toward the kennel.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go,\u201d he wrote in part. \u201cWe say the \u2018scalpel\u2019 rather than the \u2018hatchet.\u2019 The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that he would continue to hold such meetings every two weeks.<\/p>\n Musk gamely retweeted official statements<\/a> about the meeting<\/a>, but also appears to have had his feelings hurt: On Friday, he posted a poll<\/a> to his own social feed asking, \u201cDo you support DOGE reducing government waste & fraud?\u201d and pinned it to the top of his page. The available responses are \u201cno,\u201d \u201cyes,\u201d and \u201csuper yes.\u201d Unspoken: Are you mad at him?<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s that scalpel vs. hatchet framing, an unusual use of metaphor from Trump. It sure seems like a chainsaw falls closer to the hatchet end of things on the spectrum, doesn\u2019t it? That\u2019s not even to mention Musk\u2019s beloved woodchipper<\/a>. Meanwhile, Musk is retweeting<\/a> Rep. Brandon Gill<\/strong> on Fox News championing working with DOGE to \u201ctake a flamethrower to the federal budget.\u201d How surprising that he also reposted an item about Sen. Rand Paul<\/strong> saying that DOGE\u2019s cuts should be made permanent<\/a> (it\u2019s not clear whether Trump\u2019s latest dizzying DOGE about-face will result in some of the fired being rehired), and further tweets<\/a> calling those who oppose his cuts \u201cidiots.\u201d But he\u2019s fine<\/em>, he feels great<\/em><\/a>. He\u2019s thrilled<\/em> and totally chill<\/em>, why do you ask?<\/p>\n To make Musk\u2019s crappy mood worse, his spaceship exploded. Ugh!<\/em> On Thursday, the SpaceX Starship rocket exploded some eight minutes after its eighth test launch in Florida, grounding flights at several nearby airports.<\/p>\n During the livestreamed webcast<\/a>, SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot<\/strong> explained in real-time. \u201cWe just saw some engines go out. It looks like we are losing altitude control of the ship,\u201d Huot said. Multiple engines failed on the craft, which appeared to then start spinning. Shortly after, the spaceship lost communication with control. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty obvious that we\u2019re not going to continue the rest of the mission today,\u201d Huot continued, in his own mission, a few minutes later.<\/p>\n Several airports delayed flights for \u201cspace flight debris.\u201d The FAA issued a statement<\/a> that they would require SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the incident, promising that the FAA will be \u201cinvolved in every step\u201d and must approve corrective actions and reports before SpaceX will be allowed to perform another launch.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the event, the FAA activated a Debris Response Area and briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle debris was falling or stopped aircraft at their departure location,\u201d the statement said in part. \u201cNormal operations have resumed.\u201d<\/p>\n The FAA is overseen, of course, by new Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy<\/strong><\/a>, a multi-season alum of MTV\u2019s The Real World<\/em>. What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n That\u2019s a tough one to spin, but heck if SpaceX didn\u2019t try, characterizing the disaster as \u201c\u200b\u200brapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost\u201d in a tweet<\/a>. \u201cWe will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today\u2019s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability.\u201d<\/p>\n On his own feed, in the midst of his DOGEhouse tantrum, Musk also focused on the positive, retweeting others who saw the silver lining.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a beautiful launch and landing,\u201d one such supporter wrote<\/a>. \u201cProgress is not always linear and I know the SpaceX team will continue to iterate and improve Starship as humanity marches toward Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk has not commented publicly about the mission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n