We're now seeing what DOGE did to this country
Elon Musk and Donald Trump have created problems everywhere.
Everywhere you look lately, it feels like we're seeing evidence of Donald Trump's incompetence and the real harm that can be caused when the people running our government start recklessly dismantling it from the inside. Because of the actions of Elon Musk's DOGE and other bad actors in the Trump administration, this country is noticeably worse off than it was when Trump took office.
I've already covered how Musk's dismantling of USAID has reportedly led to hundreds of thousands of deaths around the globe. I've also looked at how DOGE's cuts to science funding have damaged America's innovation engine. Lately, we've seen even more evidence of foundational systems unraveling.
Have you checked your weather app lately and found the forecast to be inaccurate? As I wrote for Rolling Stone last month, it looks like that's partially due to DOGE cuts at the National Weather Service. Fewer people are working at that agency now, and it's sending up significantly fewer weather balloons, so forecasts have been degraded.
Almost every state in the union is now dealing with a Cyclospora outbreak, which is the explosive diarrhea parasite. It was recently reported that two people have died from it in Michigan. People who just wanted to eat a little lettuce are finding themselves with uncontrollable, horrific bowel issues that can last for weeks. Who's the shithole country now?
DOGE reduced staffing and funding at the lab that tracked Cyclospora within the CDC last year. These people came in with no expertise and started making cuts to things they didn't understand, and now we're all paying for it.
The future of public health isn't safe, either. DOGE also cut funding to hundreds of research projects at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That means research into cancer treatments, new vaccines and more was cancelled. Life-saving research was just thrown out the window.
Thor Benson
These are only some of the issues that have revealed themselves so far. It's not just DOGE but a generally inept, careless, corrupt approach to government that is causing systemic failures. We will surely see many more failures. Our government is being run by deranged conspiracy theorists who consume large quantities of disinformation, and we've seen the effects that can have.
We saw how DOGE's firings affected air travel last year, and similar problems could arise again soon. The list goes on. The next Democratic president is going to have a hell of a time just getting this country back to a functioning state. I do not envy them.
There's only so much we can do about these issues in the short-term, while these people remain in office, but the midterms will certainly be important. If Democrats retake the House, and possibly the Senate, perhaps they can carry out some oversight and further expose what's happening here and start holding people accountable.
Until then, be safe out there. I'm starting to become more sympathetic to the doomsday preppers. Maybe they had some good ideas.
