It's rare to see any light when it comes to DOGE. But today, my colleague Pema Levy offers just one such sliver, reporting on the small but mighty government agency standing up to Elon Musk with a tell-all lawsuit.
The lawsuit outlines, in critical detail, how Musk and his DOGE acolytes are conducting their illegal takeovers across the federal government. And until this lawsuit, such details have been relatively scant. That's because, as Pema reports, USADF and its president Ward Brehm operate outside the purview of any Trump-appointed cabinet official.
By blocking DOGE’s access to their systems, despite threats, and then filing a lawsuit, USADF demonstrates how smaller agencies and officials can stand up against Musk. After all, as the lawsuit points out, Musk and his staff do not have actual authority to do what they are doing. At least in this case, they just have bravado. While DOGE personnel were escorted into the USADF headquarters by federal marshals on Friday, if the agency’ lawsuit succeeds, its resistance could fend off annihilation at the hands of DOGE.
This small but meaningful act of defiance comes amid heavier consternation reported from within yesterday's cabinet meeting, as delivered with lashings of palace intrigue by the New York Times' Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman. Apparently, Trump sat back and enjoyed the show as his Defense and State secretaries duked it out with Musk—reminder, un-appointed, unelected) over control of their own departments. At one point, jousting about the FAA, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reportedly bemoaned having to deal with multiple plane crashes while being forced by DOGE to fire air traffic controllers. The whole thing plays out like a soap opera mess—supposedly, just how Trump likes it.
But before I sign off. Some of you are not happy with my thoughts on Gavin Newsom after the California governor hung out with Charlie Kirk in his debut podcast episode. I wholeheartedly respect that! Plus, I agree with one reader who argued that Gavin is in a position to "reframe" certain discussions. But in the interest of debate, I wanted to share this line from a reader, which argued that I "need to shove [my] immature litmus tests and grow the f*ck up. Or we will never get out of this hole."
While I appreciate the passion with which this reader chose to admonish me, I feel compelled to push back on the notion that my disappointment after a prominent Democratic leader legitimized a white supremacist will be why this country will not survive Trumpism. To me, that is a misreading of both the forces that brought us Donald Trump and my minuscule role in frankly anything! But in any event, thank you for reading.
—Inae Oh
