Elon Musk has his work cut out for him at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “Our goal is to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars,” he began last night in his interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, along with seven other key leaders of DOGE. A key method for reaching that goal is eliminating waste and fraud, he explained, estimating that it “can be done without affecting any of the critical government services — in fact, making it better.” All inside his 130-day window.

What manner of wizardry is this?

Well, the entire interview was an exercise in demystifying the work of DOGE and who is doing that work. The understanding fostered by the Leftmedia is that a bunch of nerdy teenagers are behind all of this upheaval and disruption of essential government functions. (Even after the interview, The Daily Beast still hammered Musk for having “cherry-picked his more seasoned … lieutenants” to hide “the numerous twenty-something foot soldiers — and even several teenagers” doing his dirty work.) DOGE is shrouded in secrecy, they want us to believe, because it’s nefariously aimed at undermining democracy.

Maybe DOGE employees prefer to work behind the scenes because leftist wackos are terrorizing Tesla.

DOGE members Steve Davis, Joe Gebbia, Aram Moghaddassi, Brad Smith, Anthony Armstrong, Tom Krause, and Tyler Hassen all sat with Musk for the interview. Each of them comes from a successful post in the private sector to do what they consider patriotic work. Musk knows a thing or two about patriotic selflessness. The bottom line, as the Washington Examiner’s Byron York observed, is that “these are serious people doing serious work.”

This isn’t rocket science, but Steve Davis, who literally used to be a rocket scientist and now serves as one of Musk’s top deputies, talked about how key transparency is. For example, DOGE lists its findings and cuts on its website, whereas taxpayers may never know otherwise. In other words, it’s the opposite of what DOGE’s primarily Democrat detractors say. According to that website, DOGE has saved a total of $130 billion already, or more than $800 per taxpayer.

Tom Krause, overseeing work at the Treasury Department, says the process is simple: “We’re applying public company standards to the federal government.” Musk called them “elementary financial controls that are necessary for any company to function.” For example, all government checks come from a single bank account. That deserves some accountability, the DOGE team says.

One key way the government is dysfunctional is that computer systems “are not talking to each other,” said Anthony Armstrong, working with the Office of Personnel Management. He’s working to correct this failure, saying, “That very, very simple fix eliminates tremendous fraud.”

The team talked for roughly 30 minutes about broad goals and specific examples, but it really comes down to making government efficient and accountable to the people. That’s not just a nice target; it’s fundamental to our future. “If we don’t do this, we’re sunk,” said Musk. “Unless this exercise is successful, the ship of America will sink.”

The good news is that Musk sees a “fantastic future.” In fact, he said, “This is a revolution, and I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution.”

My interview with the @elonmusk and the @DOGE team tonight on #SpecialReport pic.twitter.com/KKpxEPtu1Z

— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) March 27, 2025

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