Trump Tones Down DOGE’s Deep State Assault; Tells Musk To Use “Scalpel,” Not A “Hatchet”

Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday afternoon to highlight the success of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its efforts to downsize the bloated and corrupt federal bureaucracy. He emphasized that Elon Musk’s DOGE must employ a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet” to root out waste and fraud, having already uncovered billions of dollars in misspent funds across various agencies, including money funneled into shady NGOs.

“DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my Cabinet in place, I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing,” Trump said. 

He continued, “As 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. We say the “scalpel” rather than the “hatchet.” The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.” 

“We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one. It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people,” the president said. 

Trump’s Truth Social comment about easing DOGE’s assault against the Deep State (use a “scalpel,” not a “hatchet”) comes as total DOGE-related job cuts are forecasted to reach around 300,000. Some economists, including Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo, warned last week that the combined layoffs of federal workers and contractors could approach one million. The impact of DOGE’s demolition of the Deep State is already beginning to show up in the latest jobs numbers. 

The question remains: why ease up now?

Perhaps Trump and DOGE’s neutering of USAID delivered a fatal blow to the Democratic Party, which has likely been funneling money from the agency—and others—into dubious networks of corrupt NGOs

Or maybe the toning down of Musk’s rhetoric against the Deep State from chainsaw and “wood chipper” one week to now “scalpel” from “hatchet” could be due to mounting lawsuits from Deep Staters who are furious about job loss and unlimited access to slush funds abruptly coming to an end.

After reviewing multiple lawsuits against DOGE, we repeatedly find language describing the temporary organization as “reckless” and “lawless.” 

It appears that optics are the key for Trump, as he seeks to demonstrate that DOGE is operating with “scalpel” precision in eliminating fraud and waste. In the end, it’s all about optics.