Summary

Twenty-one staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) resigned, citing ethical concerns over dismantling public services and compromising sensitive data.

Formerly part of the U.S. Digital Service, they criticized Musk and Trump’s overhaul, which included layoffs and politically charged interviews.

Their letter warned that removing skilled technologists endangers essential services like Social Security and veterans’ benefits.

The resignations add to growing concerns over Musk’s aggressive federal cuts, amplified by his recent CPAC speech where he symbolically wielded a chainsaw against “bureaucracy.”

  • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    I would love to see posts like this end up on right leaning spaces like critical posts about left leaning issues end up on left leaning spaces.

    Trumps base has such a sycophant army that they just swarm spaces and post this stuff every minute of every day. But the opposite doesn’t happen. Having even 100 people posting stuff like this across their space would do more than a 10 000 person protest ever could but it amazes me that 10 000 would take time off work, go stand in the rain for a week instead of shit posting effectively.

    • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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      2 hours ago

      This is based on the faulty liberal assumption that fascists are only fascists because they have yet to be shown all of the facts and logic.

      Let’s just speed run the scenario where you post this article on a right space: you post the article, every trumper comes out and says the resignations were good because the staffers were woke, and then you scratch your head wondering why your appeal to facts and logic didn’t work on fascists. At this point you might just start spamming right spaces and have all your posts go directly to spam.

      It’s honestly kind of disturbing how you write off actual protests in favor of online activism, and I couldn’t think of a more liberal take tbh. Anyone, at this stage of the game, who is taking the position of “less protests, more…” should be evaluated extremely critically - especially if your alternative is spamming r/conservative with liberal thinkpieces.

  • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
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    12 hours ago

    Relevant bit from the article, because some of y’all apparently comment before reading:

    The staffers who resigned were all originally employees of the United States Digital Service, a technology unit established during President Obama’s second term in 2014. The unit was renamed and reorganized in January via executive order by Trump into the Musk-headed DOGE.

    • Kazumara
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      5 hours ago

      My understanding is: Founding a new Department can only be done by Congress, so they had to “redefine” (more like corrupt) an existing one.

    • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      I have seen some news sites giving this with headlines like “DOGE Goons resign” without the part you just quoted of course. top notch newsmanship

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Yeah, they renamed it to DOGE, presumably because using the term duke would be off putting to their drone followers. Then they gave the organization a fuck ton more authority and ignored judicial rulings. What does any of it have to do with Obama though?

      • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        It has nothing to do with Obama. Is that a trigger word for you or something? It’s because of comments like this.

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          Trigger word? I was asking why they are trying to tie an authoritarian move to a president who left office in the way a democratic Republic set up over 2 terms ago.

          Have fun with your buzzwords.

              • mamotromico@lemmy.ml
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                6 hours ago

                Because you seem to imply that there’s something nefarious about citing Obama to describe that the US Digital Service office was established during the Obama presidency, when it’s just what happened.

                • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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                  5 hours ago

                  The point of the copied text was to point out those workers were not newly hired and realizing they didn’t want to participate in bad acts, they were employees that existed prior to this administration and quit because they didn’t want to take part in bad acts.

                  At no point do we hear that the employees worked for that company for at least 9 years, meaning that Obama starting the US Digital Service office is irrelevant. They could have started 2 years ago, 7 years ago or 9 years ago, that information is unknown so to tie it to the Obama Administration was chosen for a reason. I don’t say the IRS started by the Abraham Lincoln has seen the O’Donnell resignation unless I am specifically trying to call attention to Lincoln.

                  It’s just a weird choice to bring it up

      • ThisIsNotHim@sopuli.xyz
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        5 hours ago

        It’s not uncommon to mention the president who started an agency in little blurbs describing their history. Like with the Environmental Protection Agency & Nixon.

    • braxy29@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      to me, it seems like a good thing if lots of people refuse to cooperate, refuse to be made instruments of this regime. enough people refuse and the regime is disempowered.

      • Devanismyname@lemmy.ca
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        1 hour ago

        Then they get replaced by loyalists. It’s what Trump has been doing for weeks. Installing loyalists in every part of thr government.

    • shastaxc@lemm.ee
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      6 hours ago

      It’s a tough decision. People are afraid of retaliation. No one wants to end up in the Nuremberg trials

  • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
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    17 hours ago

    And 21 loyalists (yes, america, you’re heading to monarchy) will be hired to fill those spots and nobody is left to resist.

    • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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      17 hours ago

      They were doge staffers, wouldn’t they already be loyalists? Edit: nvm, down the thread explanations that it was a department already that got converted to doge

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    TBH it’s interesting that there are always staffers available when the previous trump admin had staffers go very long times without a job as a result of their affiliations.

    Working with the fascists is a huge negative on your resume, kids.

  • Bosht@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    HOLY SHIT HELL YES!! Finally someone with some backbone god damn. Best news I’ve heard in a month!

  • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
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    24 hours ago

    I am always confused why they don’t just sabotage the efforts? Like it would be so easy and they definitely aren’t paying attention…

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      One aspect is that working in that kind of system destroys your mental health. Having to play games to hide the good things, trying to mitigate the bad things. It’s pressure.

      My state has been basically been doing Project 2025 for the past five years. I had a friend in an important position in a fascist overtaken state organization who held on for a long time, fighting the good fight - but it drains. She fought her fucking hardest, but a human being can only fight for so long.

      • Makhno@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        The kurds have been fighting a war from the desert for decades, but Americans get whipped by paperwork and call it a day

    • Nougat@fedia.io
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      23 hours ago

      Different people are able to take on different levels of risk.

      Just because these people resigned doesn’t mean that some other people aren’t staying in for the purposes of being subversive, and you shouldn’t ever hear about the latter.

      • leisesprecher@feddit.org
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        12 hours ago

        That’s the thing, though. They’re not really taking risks.

        Much of what DOGE does is completely illegal and does not go through the proper channels and processes. By simply doing their jobs and forcing everything through the proper processes, they can slow down everything, maybe even to a halt, while being completely in the right and thus can’t be fired.

        Yes, it takes a mental toll, but these guys have a responsibility.

        • Artyom@lemm.ee
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          6 hours ago

          They’re unemployed government workers, there are less government jobs now than ever, and their resume literally says DOGE on it. They are taking a risk.

          • leisesprecher@feddit.org
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            6 hours ago

            No. They resigned from a job. They were not fired. And as long as they don’t break any rules, it’s hard to fire them.

            • Artyom@lemm.ee
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              5 hours ago

              I never said they were fired, but since you brought it up, when you’re fired, you’ll usually get a severance to help during the job search, they won’t, they’re just unemployed.

              • leisesprecher@feddit.org
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                5 hours ago

                … because they resigned. Seriously, what’s your point?

                If they wouldn’t have resigned, they would still have a job. And since they couldn’t have been fired easily, they would have continued to have a job for quite a while.

                That’s not a complex concept, what’s so hard to understand about that?

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      Sabatoge can carry extremely harsh legal penalties, particularly if it has any type of lasting impact. Beyond that, just phoning it in and doing a bad job can slow things down but doesn’t actually stop it. If you’re then let go it’s on their pace, it looks worse for you and it’s less noticeable.

      A mass resignation can be the only thing some people can do. It sends a message, it gets noticed outside the organization, and it lets objective news reporting share your motivation, which would normally fall under opinion.
      It also leaves a big gap in the organization that isn’t getting anything done.

      • bufalo1973@lemm.ee
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        5 hours ago

        Not if you make an Italian strike. You are following every single step of the process, taking the time needed, all by the book. And when the higher rank says something then everyone working resigns all at once.

        • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          Guys, dumping tea in the harbor is illegal, just pay your taxes to the crown. It’s just a king, everyone has one

          • RippleEffect@lemm.ee
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            6 hours ago

            The American revolutionary war was difficult enough with an entire ocean separating us from a king. Now the self appointed king is here.

      • DrFistington@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Lol getting fired doesn’t look bad. It doesn’t look like anything because you aren’t legally required to tell a future employer if you were fired, and they can’t ask the previous employer

        • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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          18 hours ago

          It’s public information if a government employee is terminated, and there’s nothing stopping them from reaching out to the previous employer.

            • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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              16 hours ago

              And do you think that that prevents them from disclosing that they terminated an employee for unprofessional conduct or unsatisfactory job performance?

              Further, for government employees certain details about their jobs are simply considered matters of public record. It’s not something they divulge, it was simply never private in the first place.

    • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      Because they don’t disagree with it, they only can’t bring themselves to be the ones with the blood on their hands. Otherwise they don’t care what happens.

    • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
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      12 hours ago

      The people who resigned originally worked for the US Digital Service, which was established in 2014 by Obama.

      • Rhoeri@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Twenty-one staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) resigned

        • melvisntnormal@feddit.uk
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          9 hours ago

          The staffers who resigned were all originally employees of the United States Digital Service, a technology unit established during President Obama’s second term in 2014. The unit was renamed and reorganized in January via executive order by Trump into the Musk-headed DOGE.