When Trump appointed Elon Musk to head the Department of Government Efficiency, both supporters and critics immediately began telling stories that seemed obviously false. The administration claimed DOGE would save trillions (impossible given its limited scope and two-year timeline). Critics portrayed it as a dictatorial power grab (despite having no actual enforcement authority beyond publishing recommendations).

I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with this smoke screen. If everyone's lying about what DOGE is, then what is it actually doing? And why?

The Musk factor adds another layer of confusion. Is he the central character in this story, or a flashy distraction from the real governance changes happening? If he is the story, what's his actual agenda? The technocratic efficiency narrative doesn't quite align with targeting high-profile aid programs like USAID, but the "right-wing revenge" narrative doesn't explain his data-driven focus.

As I dug deeper, I noticed that this pattern - creating a parallel inspection authority outside normal bureaucratic channels - has historical precedents. And those precedents can tell us something important about what's happening now.

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