June 9, 2025 • 8 mins
Musk’s original pitch? A cool $3 trillion in savings. What we got? About $180 billion — which, in budget math, is basically the difference between I’m buying Twitter and I might buy a second-hand Tesla.
Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was supposed to cut the fat — fast.
But did DOGE actually save $180 billion… or just cancel left-leaning programs and call it reform?
In this episode, we follow the receipts, decode the spin, and watch the Musk–Trump bromance crash and burn over one “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Featuring: culture war cuts, budget cosplay, and why satire may have died in committee.
Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. #SpotTheGaslight
Read and reflect at Gaslight360.com/clarity
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Did the government really save $180 billion?
Or did we just cancel the stuffwe didn't like and call it
reform?
Because that's the questionbehind DOGE, the Department of
Government Efficiency, trump'sheadline-grabbing creation that
promised to take a chainsaw tothe bloated federal budget.
But here's the catch Was thatchainsaw cutting waste or was it
(00:26):
just cutting liberals?
And now that Elon and Trump aretrading barbs like Xs on Truth,
social and X, what are the restof us supposed to believe?
Let's think first.
If it's really about savingmoney, why didn't they touch
defense or entitlements?
Is cutting a global aid programor firing 6,000 IRS agents true
savings or symbolic slaps?
(00:48):
Why is the savings number sohard to pin down?
And who's checking the math?
What happens when efficiencybecomes a weapon in the culture
war?
And are we watching reform orjust budget cosplay for the
social media age?
I'm Jim Detchen, host of ThinkFirst from Gaslight 360, where
(01:12):
we don't chase headlines, wepoke them with a stick until
they fall apart.
Doge for those just tuning in.
Is the Trump administration'sattempt to drain the swamp, with
Elon Musk playinglumberjack-in-chief.
Is the Trump administration'sattempt to drain the swamp with
Elon Musk playinglumberjack-in-chief?
The mission Cut, bloat, firebureaucrats and post receipts, a
(01:36):
real-world government detox,complete with its own.
Merch Musk initially setextremely ambitious targets at
first, boasting he would cut atleast $2 trillion from the
federal budget.
That was later revised down to$1 trillion and even that
experts said was wildlyunrealistic.
But it made headlines which inWashington is half the budget
battle and, to be fair, some ofit worked USAID gone, americorps
(02:04):
gutted, dei programs shreddedfaster than a Hunter Biden
laptop tweet.
Elon even brought a chainsaw toCPAC.
That wasn't a metaphor, itactually happened Months ago but
still burned into everyone'smemory like a political meme
that won't die.
But once you get past thetheatrics, things get murkier.
(02:27):
Yes, they cut, yes, they posteda wall of receipts, but those
receipts Full of double counts,math errors, expired contracts
and savings that haven'tactually saved anything yet.
And while they were cancelingDEI and NPR subscriptions,
defense spending went up.
(02:48):
Agriculture untouched.
Social Security, medicare,veterans benefits also untouched
, which, let's be honest, isn'tnecessarily wrong, especially
when it comes to veterans care.
Some things shouldn't be on thechopping block, and we're not
here to cry over every IRSlayoff or canceled art grant
(03:09):
either, just calling out thepattern.
The cuts were heavy on the left,light on the rest.
Here's where the gaslightingcomes in Because on paper, $180
billion in savings sounds heroicbut verified analysis shows
maybe half of that is real andmuch of it is pending lawsuits,
delays or congressionalrescission votes.
(03:30):
Meanwhile, millions were pulledfrom public health grants not
dusty pandemic leftovers, butongoing funding for things like
addiction treatment and diseasemonitoring and then quietly
restored after a federal judgebasically said you can't pull
the plug on disease controlfunding mid-fiscal year just
because it's not trending.
(03:50):
On Truth Social, the rulingwasn't exactly legal poetry, but
the subtext was clear Budgetcuts still have consequences,
even if they aren't asclick-worthy as Elon with a
chainsaw, if they aren't asclick-worthy as Elon with a
chainsaw which, to be clear, isnot an argument for keeping
COVID-era spending on lifesupport, just a reminder that
fentanyl, suicide and TB didn'tget the memo that the pandemic
(04:14):
ended and those 6,000 fired IRSagents Great headline.
Until you remember that meansfewer audits for billionaires
and more IRS hold music for you.
So was Doge a waste-slayingsuccess?
Depends who you ask.
To Trump's base, it's thelong-awaited swamp draining.
(04:35):
To critics, it's performanceart with spreadsheets.
To those of us stuck in themiddle maybe fiscal
conservatives, maybe centristswith a calculator, it feels like
being gaslit by both sides.
And just when the theatercouldn't get any louder, elon
turned on.
Trump called his big tax andspending bill a disgusting
(04:57):
abomination, accused him ofbeing entangled in Epstein files
, then deleted it all like anawkward drunk text.
At 2 am, trump said Elon hadlost his mind.
Musk threatened to start a newpolitical party.
Jd Vance and Bill Ackman bothtried to play mediator.
And here we are wondering ifthis whole thing was a genuine
(05:24):
attempt at reform or just twobillionaires fighting over who
gets to cosplay savior of therepublic.
But here's the poetic truth ofit all.
Doge did save money, just not asmuch as claimed.
And yes, it cut real programs,but almost entirely from the
left side of the ledger.
There's nothing inherentlywrong with trimming the fat, but
if you only target fat fromyour opponent's plate and leave
(05:46):
your sides bacon-sizzling, is itreform or revenge?
The Department of GovernmentEfficiency might be one of the
most ironically named offices inWashington.
Efficiency implies balance,fairness, strategy.
Instead, we got something thatlooks more like an algorithm.
If DEI equals yes, then cut.
(06:09):
If defense equals MAGA, thenboost the result.
A country still overspending, abudget still ballooning.
A country still overspending abudget still ballooning, a base
still fired up and two of theloudest voices in the room now
canceling each other instead ofpork, which is why we need to
think first.
But before we hit pause, weneed to talk about something
(06:32):
that deserves its own ribbon andgold trim Trump's so-called Big
, beautiful Bill.
You can't make this stuff up.
That's literally what he calledit A tax and spending package
so large, so lush and so debtheavy it had Elon Musk wondering
if satire was dead.
The bill extended Trump'soriginal tax cuts, added $350
(06:55):
billion in border and defensespending and, just for fun,
managed to raise the deficit byhundreds of billions.
It was supposed to be the crownjewel of fiscal reform.
Instead it was fiscal cosplayin a MAGA prom dress.
Elon bless his budget-watchingheart, called it a disgusting
abomination, which would havebeen the end of it.
(07:16):
Except Adam Schiff praised it,prompting Elon to joke he might
have to reconsider.
So yes, the bill was big and itwas beautiful.
If your aesthetic is red ink,beltway bloat and bipartisan
hypocrisy, you've got theso-called party of spending
restraint pumping out thelargest entitlement expansion
(07:37):
since LBJ, while pretending tocut waste elsewhere through Doge
.
That's like buying a Ferrari oncredit, then firing your
gardener to say you're beingfinancially responsible?
Who benefits most when waste isonly defined by political
flavor?
Is it really reform if bothparties still overspend just on
(07:57):
different priorities?
And are we thinking clearly orjust cheering when the other
side's fat gets trimmed?
Because clarity doesn't comefrom picking a side.
It comes from asking betterquestions, especially when the
answers are wrapped in spin.
Because real reform, it's notflashy, it's not sexy and it
(08:20):
sure doesn't come with achainsaw and a Twitter feud.
You don't need all the answers,but you should question the
ones you're handed.
This has been Think First fromGaslight 360.
First from Gaslight 360.
(08:48):
Want to go deeper?
Visit Gaslight360.com.
Slash clarity to learn how tospot gaslighting and poetic
truth in media, politics andhistory.
Empower yourself to dissectnarratives, uncover hidden
truths and challenge the tacticsthat keep us in the dark.
Light your flame and startseeing the world with sharper
eyes.
Follow us on X, where 20,000friends are connecting the dots
(09:10):
at.
Spot the Gaslight and keepasking the questions they don't
want you asking.
Thanks for listening and ifthis helped you think a little
differently today, leave us arating on Apple.
It helps more than you know.
Thank you.
Did the government really save $180 billion?
Or did we just cancel the stuffwe didn't like and call it
reform?
Because that's the questionbehind DOGE, the Department of
Government Efficiency, trump'sheadline-grabbing creation that
promised to take a chainsaw tothe bloated federal budget.
But here's the catch Was thatchainsaw cutting waste or was it
(00:26):
just cutting liberals?
And now that Elon and Trump aretrading barbs like Xs on Truth,
social and X, what are the restof us supposed to believe?
Let's think first.
If it's really about savingmoney, why didn't they touch
defense or entitlements?
Is cutting a global aid programor firing 6,000 IRS agents true
savings or symbolic slaps?
(00:48):
Why is the savings number sohard to pin down?
And who's checking the math?
What happens when efficiencybecomes a weapon in the culture
war?
And are we watching reform orjust budget cosplay for the
social media age?
I'm Jim Detchen, host of ThinkFirst from Gaslight 360, where
(01:12):
we don't chase headlines, wepoke them with a stick until
they fall apart.
Doge for those just tuning in.
Is the Trump administration'sattempt to drain the swamp, with
Elon Musk playinglumberjack-in-chief.
Is the Trump administration'sattempt to drain the swamp with
Elon Musk playinglumberjack-in-chief?
The mission Cut, bloat, firebureaucrats and post receipts, a
(01:36):
real-world government detox,complete with its own.
Merch Musk initially setextremely ambitious targets at
first, boasting he would cut atleast $2 trillion from the
federal budget.
That was later revised down to$1 trillion and even that
experts said was wildlyunrealistic.
But it made headlines which inWashington is half the budget
battle and, to be fair, some ofit worked USAID gone, americorps
(02:04):
gutted, dei programs shreddedfaster than a Hunter Biden
laptop tweet.
Elon even brought a chainsaw toCPAC.
That wasn't a metaphor, itactually happened Months ago but
still burned into everyone'smemory like a political meme
that won't die.
But once you get past thetheatrics, things get murkier.
(02:27):
Yes, they cut, yes, they posteda wall of receipts, but those
receipts Full of double counts,math errors, expired contracts
and savings that haven'tactually saved anything yet.
And while they were cancelingDEI and NPR subscriptions,
defense spending went up.
(02:48):
Agriculture untouched.
Social Security, medicare,veterans benefits also untouched
, which, let's be honest, isn'tnecessarily wrong, especially
when it comes to veterans care.
Some things shouldn't be on thechopping block, and we're not
here to cry over every IRSlayoff or canceled art grant
(03:09):
either, just calling out thepattern.
The cuts were heavy on the left,light on the rest.
Here's where the gaslightingcomes in Because on paper, $180
billion in savings sounds heroicbut verified analysis shows
maybe half of that is real andmuch of it is pending lawsuits,
delays or congressionalrescission votes.
(03:30):
Meanwhile, millions were pulledfrom public health grants not
dusty pandemic leftovers, butongoing funding for things like
addiction treatment and diseasemonitoring and then quietly
restored after a federal judgebasically said you can't pull
the plug on disease controlfunding mid-fiscal year just
because it's not trending.
(03:50):
On Truth Social, the rulingwasn't exactly legal poetry, but
the subtext was clear Budgetcuts still have consequences,
even if they aren't asclick-worthy as Elon with a
chainsaw, if they aren't asclick-worthy as Elon with a
chainsaw which, to be clear, isnot an argument for keeping
COVID-era spending on lifesupport, just a reminder that
fentanyl, suicide and TB didn'tget the memo that the pandemic
(04:14):
ended and those 6,000 fired IRSagents Great headline.
Until you remember that meansfewer audits for billionaires
and more IRS hold music for you.
So was Doge a waste-slayingsuccess?
Depends who you ask.
To Trump's base, it's thelong-awaited swamp draining.
(04:35):
To critics, it's performanceart with spreadsheets.
To those of us stuck in themiddle maybe fiscal
conservatives, maybe centristswith a calculator, it feels like
being gaslit by both sides.
And just when the theatercouldn't get any louder, elon
turned on.
Trump called his big tax andspending bill a disgusting
(04:57):
abomination, accused him ofbeing entangled in Epstein files
, then deleted it all like anawkward drunk text.
At 2 am, trump said Elon hadlost his mind.
Musk threatened to start a newpolitical party.
Jd Vance and Bill Ackman bothtried to play mediator.
And here we are wondering ifthis whole thing was a genuine
(05:24):
attempt at reform or just twobillionaires fighting over who
gets to cosplay savior of therepublic.
But here's the poetic truth ofit all.
Doge did save money, just not asmuch as claimed.
And yes, it cut real programs,but almost entirely from the
left side of the ledger.
There's nothing inherentlywrong with trimming the fat, but
if you only target fat fromyour opponent's plate and leave
(05:46):
your sides bacon-sizzling, is itreform or revenge?
The Department of GovernmentEfficiency might be one of the
most ironically named offices inWashington.
Efficiency implies balance,fairness, strategy.
Instead, we got something thatlooks more like an algorithm.
If DEI equals yes, then cut.
(06:09):
If defense equals MAGA, thenboost the result.
A country still overspending, abudget still ballooning.
A country still overspending abudget still ballooning, a base
still fired up and two of theloudest voices in the room now
canceling each other instead ofpork, which is why we need to
think first.
But before we hit pause, weneed to talk about something
(06:32):
that deserves its own ribbon andgold trim Trump's so-called Big
, beautiful Bill.
You can't make this stuff up.
That's literally what he calledit A tax and spending package
so large, so lush and so debtheavy it had Elon Musk wondering
if satire was dead.
The bill extended Trump'soriginal tax cuts, added $350
(06:55):
billion in border and defensespending and, just for fun,
managed to raise the deficit byhundreds of billions.
It was supposed to be the crownjewel of fiscal reform.
Instead it was fiscal cosplayin a MAGA prom dress.
Elon bless his budget-watchingheart, called it a disgusting
abomination, which would havebeen the end of it.
(07:16):
Except Adam Schiff praised it,prompting Elon to joke he might
have to reconsider.
So yes, the bill was big and itwas beautiful.
If your aesthetic is red ink,beltway bloat and bipartisan
hypocrisy, you've got theso-called party of spending
restraint pumping out thelargest entitlement expansion
(07:37):
since LBJ, while pretending tocut waste elsewhere through Doge
.
That's like buying a Ferrari oncredit, then firing your
gardener to say you're beingfinancially responsible?
Who benefits most when waste isonly defined by political
flavor?
Is it really reform if bothparties still overspend just on
(07:57):
different priorities?
And are we thinking clearly orjust cheering when the other
side's fat gets trimmed?
Because clarity doesn't comefrom picking a side.
It comes from asking betterquestions, especially when the
answers are wrapped in spin.
Because real reform, it's notflashy, it's not sexy and it
(08:20):
sure doesn't come with achainsaw and a Twitter feud.
You don't need all the answers,but you should question the
ones you're handed.
This has been Think First fromGaslight 360.
First from Gaslight 360.
(08:48):
Want to go deeper?
Visit Gaslight360.com.
Slash clarity to learn how tospot gaslighting and poetic
truth in media, politics andhistory.
Empower yourself to dissectnarratives, uncover hidden
truths and challenge the tacticsthat keep us in the dark.
Light your flame and startseeing the world with sharper
eyes.
Follow us on X, where 20,000friends are connecting the dots
(09:10):
at.
Spot the Gaslight and keepasking the questions they don't
want you asking.
Thanks for listening and ifthis helped you think a little
differently today, leave us arating on Apple.
It helps more than you know.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.