by Steven B. Orkin
First off, I’ve got to say, it is good to be back! Let’s get to it!
We’ve got a big problem. It’s a problem that’s gotten vastly worse over the last few years with the insidious and destructive rise of the MAGA movement. It’s not just a misinformation problem. It’s a DIS-information problem. Here’s the difference: I would define ‘misinformation’ as the distribution of false or flawed information to a broad audience. I would define ‘disinformation’ as KNOWINGLY distributing false information to as broad an audience as possible to suit one’s narrative. I don’t need to tell you that while both can be destructive, the latter is FAR worse. Disinformation has created an epidemic of political radicalism unparalleled in our history.
Often this problem is absolutely unmistakable in its presentation, as subtle as a baseball bat to the back of the head. It’s driven by a blunt-force, ideological brutality composed of and reliant on willful (some might say pathological) ignorance and an arrogant, misanthropic, sociopath-spectrum cynicism which dictates that if you say something loud enough and for long enough, it will become the truth, even if it has no foundation in reality (or sanity, for that matter). Examples of this include virtually every single word ever spoken or written by Donald Trump (on the very rare occasions his thoughts are even coherent, of course).
Other times, it’s more subtle. It’s dressed up to seem articulate, to have an internal sensibility. It’s designed in a way that, on a surface listen or read, seems perfectly rational. It can even seem shocking in its way. It can appear to reveal a ‘hidden truth’ that ostensibly strips away the veil of a previously perceived truth or allegation.
It can look a lot like a post I recently saw on Facebook about DOGE (the so-called Dept of Governmental Efficiency).
Before we get going here, I do want to say that the inherent concept of DOGE, of investigating and evaluating how governmental agencies and departments operate and determining how to improve their efficiency, is sound. I’m sure there are many, many areas of government that merit such scrutiny. However, the way DOGE has operated is filled with morally ambiguous ideology, incompetence, heartless cruelty, arrogance, and self-interest. Maybe we should call it DOOSI: The Dept of Oligarchical Self-Interest.
Here's the FB post:
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A lawyer, Tom Renz, who actually read Trump's DOGE Executive Order and, expecting some illegal power grab, found it to be airtight. Turns out Trump and Musk didn't create anything. Obama did.
Obama created United States Digital Service (USDS) in 2014. It was meant as a bureaucratic patch job to fix the Obamacare website meltdown.
Fast forward to 2025. Trump rebrands it DOGE (United States DOGE Service). Keeps the acronym, keeps the funding, but gives it a whole new mission: Find the Receipts
Legally untouchable because it was already fully funded and operational. Trump invokes 5 USC 3161, which allows him to create temporary hiring authorities. DOGE teams get embedded inside every single federal agency. Each team consists of a lawyer, HR rep, a zoomer nerd, and an investigator. They report to DOGE, not the agency they're embedded in.
But wait, there's more! Trump invokes 44 USC Chapter 35, which governs federal IT and cybersecurity oversight. Since USDS was originally an IT oversight body, DOGE now has full access to all federal data systems. Yes, that’s right. All of them.
His executive order is written to block legal challenges. Includes language that overrides conflicting executive orders. Orders every agency to comply. Refusal means they violate presidential authority.
Congress can't defund it because it's not a new program, just a repurposed one. DOJ can't sue for overreach because Trump used existing laws exactly as written. Democrats trying to file legal challenges run into standing issues because DOGE operates within existing frameworks.
Obama literally built the perfect Administrative (read: Deep State) IT backdoor.
Trump and Musk just hacked the system and took the admin controls. Musk now has legal oversight of every major agency's internal systems. The Administrative State can't stop it without rewriting multiple federal laws.
They legally outplayed the system and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
Obama created DOGE.
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Oh, my god! Can you believe this?! The ‘libtards’ have been freaking out left and right about DOGE, bitching about what a monster Elon Musk is, how people are ‘suffering’ over all the jobs lost, how Trump criminally created DOGE and defied congressional oversight in doing so. And all along, it’s been their own golden boy, Barack Obama, who’s responsible! Why aren’t they hating on the real culprit?! I guess they don’t have so much to say about DOGE, now, huh? They’re such hypocrites!
To which my response is simply this: Give me a fucking break.
The FB above post, despite being articulately written, is propagandistic gobbledy-gook explicitly designed to deflect attention away from the very real issues pertaining to DOGE. Though it contains certain elements of truth, it is not actually true. Indeed, it is the very definition of political propaganda and is a weapon of political radicalism.
Let’s break it down.
Turns out Trump and Musk didn't create anything. Obama did.
- Presumably true, but not actually relevant, for reasons we’ll discuss later.
- Also, let’s be honest. Donald Trump is incapable of actually creating anything. All he does is destroy. He’s a quasi-human wrecking ball, a fundamentally stupid, anti-intellectual, hate-mongering narcissist, misogynist, racist, and gangster with a savant-like skill in manipulating people to suit his purposes by tapping into and enflaming their ugliest base instincts and fears. He hasn’t made a single independent decision since taking office as ‘felon 47’ that hasn’t been spoon-fed to him by Project 2025. He hasn’t actually written ANY of his Executive Orders and would be incapable of explaining them with any degree of understanding, let alone coherence, even if he had. Anything he’s ‘accomplished’ has been the equivalent of sliding on a banana peel and knocking someone out of the way of an oncoming bus; a complete accident. He gives nothing and takes all he can without the slightest regard for the wreckage he invariably leaves behind. He’s not strong, he’s not smart, he’s not holy, and he’s not competent. Indeed, he’s a failure as a businessman, leader, husband, father, man, and human being. He represents a clear and present danger to the welfare of our country. He should be viewed with derision, scorn, and revulsion, not messiah-like adoration. Actually, he HAS accomplished something. Through his reprehensible actions and behavior, he’s shown us all what the word ‘depraved’ means.
- Elon Musk is more coherent and intelligent than felon 47, but of course, that’s a very low bar to jump. Like Trump, he is devoid of EMOTIONAL intelligence, empathy, and humanity. He is not a ‘troubled, misunderstood genius’. He’s a childish, self-involved egomaniac and opportunist, a fundamentally terrible person with a savant-like skill for being at the right place at the right time in terms of his business dealings. He hasn’t invented anything. He’s just known when to buy certain companies and capitalize on certain technologies. He is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the ‘visionary’ he would have us believe that he is.
Obama created United States Digital Service (USDS) in 2014. It was meant as a bureaucratic patch job to fix the Obamacare website meltdown.
- Presumably true.
Fast forward to 2025. Trump rebrands it DOGE (United States DOGE Service). Keeps the acronym, keeps the funding, but gives it a whole new mission: Find the Receipts.
- Presumably true, but I want to add a note on that last part. Musk has made an awful lot of noise, disrupted a lot of government agencies to the point of paralysis or destruction, and ruined a lot of lives in the process. He has proudly advertised DOGE’s very questionable ‘savings’ to the government and made a lot of allegations. What he HASN’T done is SHOW us those receipts he was tasked to find, i.e., the actual PROOF of all that financial fraud and malfeasance he’s ‘found’ (remarkably, often at the expense of administrative entities who pose a threat to him. OMG, what a coincidence!). Further, taking a chainsaw to governmental departments and agencies without taking the time to understand what they do, how they do it, and how they contribute to the public good is not ‘savings’, it’s not ‘efficient’, and does not reflect reality. It’s ignorance, megalomania, and cruelty. In many cases, the ‘savings’ he’s illustrated on the DOGE website amount to an analogy I recently came across that basically said the following: “I cut $2000.00 out of my expenses last month! I didn’t pay my mortgage!”
Legally untouchable because it was already fully funded and operational. Trump invokes 5 USC 3161, which allows him to create temporary hiring authorities. DOGE teams get embedded inside every single federal agency. Each team consists of a lawyer, HR rep, a zoomer nerd, and an investigator. They report to DOGE, not the agency they're embedded in.
But wait, there's more! Trump invokes 44 USC Chapter 35, which governs federal IT and cybersecurity oversight. Since USDS was originally an IT oversight body, DOGE now has full access to all federal data systems. Yes, that’s right. All of them.
His executive order is written to block legal challenges. Includes language that overrides conflicting executive orders. Orders every agency to comply. Refusal means they violate presidential authority.
- These three paragraphs are presumably true. But here’s the thing. Though interesting, this information ranges from largely to completely irrelevant. The question is not WHAT felon 47 did (actually, what he was told to do) or HOW he did it. It’s WHY. We’ll get to that…
Congress can't defund it because it's not a new program, just a repurposed one. DOJ can't sue for overreach because Trump used existing laws exactly as written. Democrats trying to file legal challenges run into standing issues because DOGE operates within existing frameworks.
- It’s interesting that DOGE as a governmental agency / program can’t be defunded, changed, or even monitored, but DOGE itself can cripple or demolish other agencies/depts and programs at will without any oversight or boundaries, all while being led by a non-citizen, unelected, and non-vetted individual who doesn’t have sufficient security clearance and is leading an entire team who also don’t have sufficient security clearance.
Obama literally built the perfect Administrative (read: Deep State) IT backdoor.
- Let’s establish something. If there is a ‘Deep State’, it’s the one that helped manipulate the public trust and stomp all over the ideological foundations of our nation to get felon 47 elected. The MAGA movement’s engine is composed of fear, paranoid conspiracy theories, and lies. Moving on…
- Our ‘Why’ exploration starts here. Why did Obama create this “Administrative IT backdoor”? There are a few reasons, starting with the two quotes below, which will lead us into a related digression.
“We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything we can do — to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can.”
- John Boehner, Republican, Speaker of the House (11-15) re: Obama’s agenda.
“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
- Mitch McConnell, Republican, Senate Minority Leader (07-15), et al.
The two prominent figures of government above made it perfectly clear that they did not care about the welfare of the United States of America or its citizens. They cared about stopping the agenda of their ‘adversary’, regardless of whether he had anything positive to offer.
Our political party system has deteriorated, largely because of regressive ideology, to a point where one side (usually the regressives) actively works to stop the other side from accomplishing ANYTHING because they feel that will make them look bad (or worse, make the other side look good). The welfare of the country and the people in it has been set aside for the purposes of perceived political survival. My belief is that the political party system as it exists today should be abolished because of this. Little to nothing is being accomplished. ‘We the people’ continue to suffer because of this pathetic, perpetual political one-upmanship (how’s that for alliteration?).
The quotes above typify the difference between progressive ideology and – I’m not going to use the standard ‘conservative’ term. It’s a total misuse of that word. Instead, we’ll call it what it is: ‘regressive’ ideology. Let’s talk more about that.
Progressive ideology is driven by receptivity, flexibility, and self-reflection. It’s forward-thinking. It looks around, assesses the situation on the ground, determines what’s best for the greatest number of people, and acts based on what it sees, adjusting as it goes based on changes to the circumstances. That willingness to make changes to itself is not reflective of uncertainty or lack of conviction. It reflects intelligence, compassion, humility, and inventiveness. This is not to say that progressive ideology is perfect in its implementation. But there’s no denying it’s vastly less destructive and self-involved than regressive ideology.
Regressive ideology is driven by self-interest. It is 100% sure of itself at all times. It does not question itself. It does not assess circumstances or conditions beyond its own knee-jerk reaction about what it needs to achieve its agenda and stay in power at all costs. The actual, broader needs of others are irrelevant (though it’s critical to ensure that the ‘little people’ believe that it is). It does not self-reflect or question its motives or perceptions. It is not flexible or receptive to new information. Indeed, it is 100% rigid. If conditions change, it does not change with them. It manipulates the conditions or the perception of those conditions to suit its purposes, i.e., it cheats. Its sense of vision stops at the end of its nose.
Anyway, to this very day, regressives HATE the Affordable Care Act, aka ‘Obamacare’. They still want to cancel it, despite having NO alternative. The reason why they hate it is because, despite whatever problems there may be with it, overall, it works.
Obama was well-aware of this ‘stop the other side because they’re the other side’ phenomenon. He knew regressives would attempt to sabotage or cancel the ACA for no reason other than because he enacted it. Its value to the American people was and is completely irrelevant. It’s got Obama’s name on it, so it’s bad and must be eliminated (the media has gotten somewhat better about referring to it as the ACA rather than Obamacare, which helps depolarize it).
He knew the ACA, for whatever flaws it may have had, would help a lot more people than it would harm, and he took steps to ensure its security. His motivation was perpetuation of the program FOR THE GOOD OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. He had nothing to personally gain from ensuring the safety and security of the ACA.
Indeed, it’s fair to say that whatever flaws Obama may have had as President, whatever mistakes he may have made during his time in office, he NEVER acted exclusively for his own personal benefit. He served with grit, humility, and love of the country and the people in it.
Felon 47 does not serve anything but his own self-interest. He could see a baby lying in the street and before picking it up to save its life, he would ask, “What’s in it for me?” He acts EXCLUSIVELY for his own personal benefit and he does so with megalomaniacal arrogance. The Constitution, its principles, the ideological foundations of our nation, the rule of law, the separation of powers, are nothing but impediments to his desire to be a modern-day tyrant, do whatever he wants with impunity, punish those who disagree with or even question him, and continue to perform as a Russian asset for as long as Vladimir Putin finds him useful.
Digression concluded. Back to the DOGE FB post.
Trump and Musk just hacked the system and took the admin controls. Musk now has legal oversight of every major agency's internal systems. The Administrative State can't stop it without rewriting multiple federal laws. They legally outplayed the system and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
- I disagree that there’s “nothing anyone can do about it.” It’s just a question of how long it’s going to take to work around it so we can dismantle DOGE as it exists today and start undoing at least some of the damage it’s done to this country and the world beyond it, to say nothing of the catastrophic harm it’s caused to all the people who have needlessly lost their jobs because of it.
- The difference between what Obama did to protect the ACA and what felon 47 did (actually, again, what his Project 2025 overlords directed him to do) to protect DOGE is this: Protecting the ACA was driven by a desire to serve the country and its people. Protecting DOGE is driven by a desire to avoid accountability, scrutiny, and oversight.
Like all other abusers and narcissists, regressives deeply resent being questioned or scrutinized. “We know what we’re doing. What we’re is doing is ALWAYS right. Leave us alone and don’t question us. If you do question us, we will punish you until you stop doing so.” They do not defend their positions (chiefly because their positions are, from a rationality standpoint, indefensible on virtually all occasions). Instead, they attack those who question them, often projecting their own motivations and methods onto their accusers. When cornered, they admit nothing and flee the premises like the shameless, repulsive cowards they are.
Obama created DOGE.
- Nope. He didn't. This notion is not only absurd. It’s patently false. It’s intended to deflect accountability and justify any and all actions of DOGE. It essentially asserts that any mistakes DOGE has made, any flaws it may have, are Obama’s fault.
- Obama did NOT create DOGE. Obama created the United States Digital Service. Felon 47 and Elon Musk created ‘DOGE’.
Here’s an analogy to illustrate how fucking ridiculous the whole FB post really is, using its basic structure as a model.
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A lawyer, Tom Renz, who actually read the legal documents pertaining to the strip club, THD: Teazer’s Hot Dancers, expected some illegal power grab, but found it to be airtight. Turns out Steve didn't create anything. Mary did.
Mary created THD: Teazers Hair Design in 2014. It was a hair salon / spa that provided hairstyling and other beauty-related services to the community.
Fast forward to 2025. Steve buys the salon and rebrands it THD: Teazers Hot Dancers. Keeps the acronym, keeps the zoning and other legal parameters for a business in that location, but gives it a whole new mission: provide adult entertainment to the community.
Though most of the community is outraged by Steve’s brazen advertising and business practices, he doesn’t care. Fuck them. He’s done his homework and covered all the bases. From a legal standpoint, he’s basically untouchable. The community doesn’t have to like him or his business. They just need to accept it. Actually, whether they accept it or not doesn’t matter. Steve can do what he wants. His business has plenty of clients and he’s got the receipts to prove it.
Steve used the law to create the perfect backdoor in establishing his business. He hacked the system and took control of the location. He legally outplayed the system and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
Besides, Mary created THD, not Steve, so none of this is his fault. If you want somebody to blame, blame Mary.
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My version casts a different light on the integrity, sincerity, and authenticity of the FB post, doesn’t it? In fact, it makes the FB post sound kinda… well, stupid, childish, arrogant, and manipulative, doesn’t it? There’s a good reason for that. The FB post doesn’t just SOUND stupid, childish, arrogant, and manipulative. It IS stupid, childish, arrogant, and manipulative!
So, what’s the lesson in all this?
Look deeper. Don’t be content to simply absorb what you read or see and assume it’s accurate and valid because it’s ‘what you believe’ or ‘what you want to hear’. Take a mental step back and read it or watch it again. THINK, really, really THINK about what you see and hear. Put the information in context to what is actually happening in the world. Disentangle yourself from the emotional aspects of what you consume. Focus on the facts and how those facts relate to other facts in the article or video. Is the overall message consistent? What is the intent of the author? Are they endeavoring to provide you with an objective perspective? Are they authentically trying to educate and inform you about something? Or are they explicitly trying to funnel your belief systems toward their agenda, using what Stephen Colbert has termed ‘truthiness’ as a propagandistic weapon?
We are at a pivotal point in our history as a nation. Our foundations have never been in graver danger than they are right now. The threat of authoritarianism to our future as a democracy is very, very real, and our soul as a nation is teetering in the balance between light and darkness. We can help tip that balance toward the light if we take a little time, do a little more, to verify and decode the meaning and intent of the media we consume.
Screw the stock market. Make your investments here. Make it in US as a people and as a nation. It all starts with a little more thinking, a little more feeling, and a little more understanding.
Thank you for reading.
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