Originally Posted On Jon Hall’s Apocalypse Diaries

February 10, contracts with federal employees who worked to gather, research, and analyze data on American education systems were terminated via e-mail notice, effective immediately.

The Department of Government Efficiency started cutting U.S. education funding, locking onto “researchers who collect, analyze, and study data on the American education system,” as reported by the Washington Post.

The terminated contracts supported the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) at the Education Department. The agency’s staff wondered if the cuts were even legal.

Federal agencies typically have the authority to end federal contracts, allowing agreements to end when it serves the government’s interest. Terminations, however, must follow established guidelines and procedures – which DOGE seems to be failing at.

Early last week, Washington DC US District Judge Tanya Chutkan denied a petition by 14 Democratic states attempting to issue a temporary restraining order against DOGE and Musk to stop any further mass firings.

Last week, Elon took the stage a CPAC – wielding a chainsaw and shouting:

“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy! Chainsaw!”

Let me make my opinion clear: the government does need reformed, rebuilt, and reconstructed so American institutions benefit the average citizen and not just the rich elites at the top.

However, Elon Musk is not the one who should be spearheading this effort. To believe that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has no conflict-of-interest or bias to potentially use his governmental power and authority to aid himself or his business dealings is naive.

It’s a bittersweet feeling to see an actual focus on government waste and rot being delivered by Trump – but to see it accomplished via broad expansions of executive power is disheartening, to say the least.

On social media, Trump explained he believed “Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive”. In response, Elon Musk detailed that “consistent with… instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation”.

This is similar behavior to when Musk bought Twitter, before turning it into X, in 2022. Musk posted the line, “What did you get done this week?” to Parag Agrawal, the then-Twitter CEO. Shortly after, Musk fired Agrawal from the company.

Now, one must consider that Trump was notorious for his sudden firings during his first administration – his catchphrase during the run of his reality TV show, The Apprentice was “you’re fired!” after all.

To bestow Elon Musk with these executive powers, however, just seems foolish. Again, cutting through governmental waste and improving efficiency within our political systems is a good thing – but Elon Musk, in this writer’s opinion, is not the right fit for a responsible and accountable overview of the integrity of our government.

As DOGE started cutting education spending, getting rid of “researchers who collect, analyze, and study data on the American education system” – a program in the Spotsylvania County Public School system was given a notice of termination from the Department of Education.

The public program, ”Charting My Path For Future Success” helped mentally disabled students transition into the workforce after high school. The salary of five teachers was funded by the grant the school system had been receiving as well.

What makes Elon Musk the most qualified and “expert” analyst in reducing government waste and bloat? As always, it comes down to the money.