JASON CHAFFETZ: Democrats have made a fatal error opposing DOGE
Opinion by Jason Chaffetz
Forced to defend the indefensible, Congressional Democrats are having trouble coming up with rational arguments against fighting the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse being exposed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The combination of legal nitpicks, personal attacks, and apocalyptic warnings reflects a scattershot approach that is no match for DOGE’s clear populist appeal.
Case in point – the April revelation from Valor CEO Antonio Gracias that DOGE found some 2.1 million Social Security numbers given out to non-citizens in 2024, many of which were being used to access social programs. Democrats have largely refused to engage with the argument, offering only denials, deflection, and ad hominem attacks.
Delaware Senator Chris Coons elicited an eye-roll from Fox News’ Martha MacCallum when he attempted to minimize the fraud in an April 2 interview. Acknowledging just one type of fraud in which the rate is reportedly low, Coons then pivoted to ad hominem attacks on Elon Musk.
Biden’s home state senator was left scrambling after MacCallum pressed him on the solvency of the program, asking, “What have Democrats done to find the waste, fraud, and abuse in Social Security?” Coons could only dissemble. Democrats have done nothing to prevent insolvency. There is no good argument to be made.
Likewise, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is having trouble finding a persuasive line of attack. He has resorted to claiming Trump and Musk are engaged in deep corruption and self-dealing even as they expose the deep corruption and self-dealing of the Democrats’ nonprofit grift machine.
Schumer’s tactic is even less effective in light of a recently unearthed clip from 1995 in which Schumer himself sounds unabashedly . . . DOGE. “All over where we go, people say, why can’t you stop illegal immigrants and others from coming here,” says the 1995 Chuck Schumer. “And the number one answer we give our constituents is when they come here, they can get jobs, get benefits against the law because of fraud,” he says self-righteously. It would seem 1995 Schumer made more sense than this 2025 Schumer.
Apocalyptic warnings don’t seem to be working, either. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin called DOGE a coup operating “from the shadows.” In February, he filed a FOIA request in which he and Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly referred to DOGE as an “oligarchical techno-state.” In an interview, Raskin claimed, “it’s a dystopian nightmare unfolding before our eyes.”
That alarmism and dire tone directly conflict with the public mood. Newsweek reports that 65 percent of Democrats support cutting waste through expenditure reviews. This chilling vision of government collapse contrasts sharply with the $140 billion in savings DOGE has already documented. Voters don’t see the savings as an existential threat.
Even Democrats’ derisive references to a young DOGE employee as “Big Balls” only served to make the young man a sort of folk hero.
Democrats ultimately make a fatal error by opposing DOGE’s success rooting out the fraud with American’s taxpayer dollars. They appear to be for the fraud and waste. And without a viable, reasonable, common-sense alternative, their attacks fall on deaf ears and leave most to wonder, “What do Democrats really stand for?”
It is very hard to believe that the Dem’s are still living in the Biden administration era. The more that DOGE uncovers the worse the Dem party looks. They should be helping to expose the crimes of that administration, unless they were part of the fraud, abuse and kickbacks.