The controversial new Department of Government Efficiency sent out a call this week to the American people, seeking extremely intelligent individuals willing to work unreasonable hours with apparently no pay. DOGE, the misguided brainchild of Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Elon Musk, will be a non-government agency tasked with eliminating inefficiency, and it seems one way to do that is with a seemingly unpaid workforce.
On Thursday, the DOGE X (formerly Twitter) account expressed gratitude to the “thousands of Americans” who want to help out the questionable new agency, while at the same time rejecting their efforts. “We don’t need more part-time idea generators,” the tweet stated. “We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.”
Interested individuals were told to DM the account with their resumes, claiming Musk and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy “will review the top 1% of applicants.”
On his own account, Musk offered additional details that don’t make the job sound very enticing. “This will be tedious work,” the Tesla CEO said, adding that chosen applicants can expect to “make lots of enemies & compensation is zero.” It’s hard to tell if Musk is serious about the lack of compensation, as he added, “What a great deal!” to the tweet. But that might be giving him too much credit.
In his statement announcing DOGE, Trump claimed the new agency would “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government” to “drive large-scale structural reform.” He also described DOGE as “the Manhattan Project of our time.” It’s unclear if he’s aware that the Manhattan Project was established to create weapons capable of mass destruction on a level previously unseen by mankind.
Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy have all spoken about eliminating actual government agencies, like the Department of Education, and mass layoffs of federal employees. The agency itself was likely invented as a way of getting around the need for securing Senate approval. If the DOGE were a real government agency, it would need congressional approval to operate. As a separate entity, DOGE will no be subjected to those checks and balances.
As can be expected, the new announcement was met with criticism and some seriously great comebacks. Several X users responded with their qualifications, which included “credit score that starts with a 6,” “purchased waterbed without financing,” “B+ in Science,” and “can burp the alphabet.”
Some pointed out that though DOGE requested CVs be sent via DMs, the account’s DMs aren’t open yet—not very efficient. Others noted that sending DMs on X requires a paid subscription, so anyone applying is essentially paying for the privilege to do so.
Of course, there were also scores of supporters who responded to the announcement with excitement. One user said they were “willing to do anything and everything to help the betterment of the people of America,” even if that means working 18 hours a day.
Many commenters didn’t have an issue with the punishing hours and the apparent lack of pay, calling the work “mission-driven” and arguing that “making a real and positive change” should be compensation enough. However, last I checked, landlords generally don’t accept altruism as a form of rent payment.
One user shared an “I volunteer as tribute” meme from The Hunger Games, apparently not seeing the irony that the “tributes” in that story are children sent to die to maintain a fascist government.
It’s shocking to see this many MAGA supporters so eager to sign up for a seemingly unpaid position. After all, one of their primary reasons for voting Republican is their frustration about the economy and personal financial struggles. If the economy is such a problem, then why are so many Trump followers willing and able to forgo an income?
Their idealism is almost admirable until you consider that their selflessness and sacrifice would be completely taken advantage of. Musk alone is worth $304 billion, yet he doesn’t want to compensate those who would help him “send shockwaves through the system.” Trump and Musk certainly would never agree to 80+ hour weeks with no pay just because it’s “mission-driven” work. They’re playing MAGA supporters for fools, and their followers seem more than happy to oblige.
Published: Nov 16, 2024 06:43 am