MSNBC host Joe Scarborough baselessly argued Friday that Republicans did not vote for President Donald Trump to cut wasteful government spending.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reportedly saved $55 billion in federal spending by conducting mass layoffs in federal agencies, dismantling the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) for pouring billions into left-wing causes abroad and cutting programs deemed unnecessary. Though Trump campaigned on eliminating government waste, Scarborough claimed Republican voters did not cast their ballots for Trump in order for several agencies to be downsized.
“[T]his idea that Republicans, all Republicans want a guy wielding a chainsaw and just slashing [National Institute of Health] budgets, slashing USAID budgets or some of us who are very proud of what [former President] George W. Bush did with PEPFAR, saving 25 million lives in Africa, slashing [the Federal Aviation Agency], slashing [Transportation Security Administration], I’m sorry I’ll just say it, that’s not what a lot of Republicans voted for Donald Trump for,” Scarborough said.
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A majority of Republican voters, 58%, expressed support for DOGE in an Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll from Jan. 24. The survey found that 29% of overall Americans supported DOGE, while 11% of Democrats support the newly formed agency.
A CBS/YouGov poll from Feb. 9 found that 74% of Republicans believe Elon Musk and DOGE should have influence over government operations and spending, while 69% of Democrats believe otherwise. The survey sampled 2,175 U.S. adults between Feb. 5-7 with a margin of error of 2.5 points.
Trump not only campaigned on eliminating government waste but made it well known that Musk would serve in his administration. He signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to establish DOGE, where Musk serves as a top adviser.
DOGE dismantled the USAID on Feb. 3 after it discovered that the agency handed over a $2 million grant to fund sex changes in Guatemala, $70,000 for a “DEI musical” in Ireland and $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, according to the White House. The department also fired four employees with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over the $59 million in spending on housing illegal migrants in luxury hotels throughout New York City.
In response to Trump’s directives, more than 200,000 federal workers across more than a dozen agencies have been laid off or fired. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) laid off between 120 and 150 probationary employees in Denver, Colorado, in response to Trump’s orders to layoff government employees. Around 300 probationary employees at the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) were also laid off, though the White House has stressed that no critical safety roles including air traffic controllers were included in the cuts. Dozens of staffers at the Department of Education have also had their roles eliminated.
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