Elon Musk Says He Wouldn’t Do DOGE Again And We Ask Why Government Waste Still Wins

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A cheerful holiday hello quickly turns into a tour through timely headlines and hard truths. We start with new travel advisories for an untreatable mosquito-borne virus across several tropical hotspots and unpack what a Level 2 alert actually means for your plans, your packing list, and your appetite for risk. It’s not fearmongering—it’s about reading signals, setting expectations, and choosing wisely when wanderlust meets reality.

From public health we pivot to public language: a massive study tracking how often Americans, Brits, and Australians use the F word online. It’s data with personality, and we have fun with the findings while asking what swearing signals about mood, culture, and authenticity. Is profanity a failure of vocabulary or a tool for emphasis and solidarity? The answer, as always with language, depends on context—and that context says a lot about who we are on the internet.

The core of the show zeroes in on Elon Musk’s candid reflection on DOGE—the Department of Government Efficiency—and his belief that he wouldn’t do it again. We get honest about why bureaucratic reform struggles, how zombie payments persist, and what happens when you cut off entrenched money flows. There’s a reason backlash is swift: systems defend themselves and donors prefer stability. We explore the limits of awareness campaigns, the need for long-haul strategies, and the personal cost of stepping into a political grinder that rarely rewards reformers.

We round out with a frank take on how outspoken women on the right are treated, the emotional toll of public fights, and the tension between staying loud and staying viable. And then, a lighter turn: a Christmas morning question that reveals more than it seems—do you rip your presents open or save the paper? It’s a small choice that reflects bigger habits: do you rush outcomes or savor the process?

If you’re here for clear-eyed analysis, a few laughs, and a conversation that connects headlines to human choices, you’re in the right place. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves sharp takes, and tell us in the comments: are you a ripper or a saver?

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:30):
Well, hello.
Good morning.
Happy Wednesday, my beautifullittle love bunnies.
Christmas love bunnies at that.
I hope you're doing well today.
Um, we're gonna go over here andcheck out the X-File.
Now I had all kinds of wonderfulthings in my head this morning
that I wanted to talk about, andwe'll see if I remember them as

(00:53):
we go along with these articles.
It looks like there's anuntreatable tropical virus
prompts travel advisories forAmericans going abroad.
You ready for this?
US health officials have issuedtravel advisories for Americans
planning trips to certaintropical countries amid

(01:15):
outbreaks of an untreatablemosquito-borne disease.
Those pesky mosquitoes.
The Center for Disease Controland Prevention, the CDC, so take
that with a grain of salt,announced Friday that it has
issued level two traveladvisories for Cuba.
Who's going to Cuba?
Bangladesh, who's going there?

(01:36):
Sri Lanka, and I don't even knowwhat this is.
Gong Dong Province in southernChina.
Who is going to China besidesTim Walls?
And I didn't know China wasconsidered a tropical place to
go visit.
Well, we we just don't even needto go any further than that
because I mean who really?

(01:57):
Who cares?
Okay, we're gonna save that one.
No, we're gonna go ahead and dothis now.
Alright, because I've got thelonger one I want to talk about,
we're gonna save for last.
For F's sake, study revealswhich English speaking countries
use the F word the most and whohas more fun doing so?
Who do you think uses the um Fword the most?

(02:21):
I am going to say New York.
New York.
We English speakers swear bythis word.
When it comes to expletives, UScitizens are the most
prolifically profane.
Finnish researchers found thatAmericans drop more F bombs than
their UK counterparts.
Oh, they're going by countries,not necessarily states in the in

(02:43):
America.
Okay.
While Australians are the mostcreative in their use for the
ultimate four-letter word per astudy published in the journal
Lingua.
The profane study, which wasconducted by scientists at the
University of Eastern Finland,set out to investigate the uses
of the notorious expletive onsocial media and across

(03:05):
different countries.
How do they conduct this?
How do they do how do they dothis kind of research or conduct
this kind of investigation?
Uh lots of wasted money.
To accomplish this task, we weregoing to tell us to accomplish
this task, the team examined astaggering 7.8 billion words

(03:28):
posted by 435, 300, well, I'msorry, 435,345.
That's a very specific number, Xusers from the US, the UK, and
Australia between 2006 and 2023.
Oh, I wonder if my tweets wereincluded in this.

(03:48):
They focused on the F wordbecause it's the most frequently
used obscenity and the mostlikely to ruffle feathers in
polite company.
Now, I gosh, I go through phaseswhen I use this word.
I usually we usually when I'mreally heated and mad and angry

(04:08):
about something.
That's just the I know peoplesay it just shows your ignorance
when you use when you use cursewords.
It just shows your ignorance,they your lack of vocabulary.
And that's probably true.
I mean, I didn't I grew up insouthern rural out uh Ohio.
So, you know, not a lot of goingon there.

(04:30):
I admit it.
I admit it.
They found the U.S.
citizens use F the mostfrequently, followed by Brits.
Okay, who cares?
I thought it was gonna be bystates.
Let's do our own, let's do ourown.
This is not the question of theday, because I want a Christmas
question of the day.
Who, what state do you thinkuses the most cuss words?
I'm sure there's a study outthere for that too.

(04:51):
I'm gonna stick with New York.
Alright, we're gonna move on tothe one I really want to talk
about.
This is from the New York Post.
It's about Elon Musk and Doge.
Elon Musk reveals he wouldn't doDoge again.
Doubts that effort to chainsawgovernment was successful.
I agree wholeheartedly.

(05:11):
I think it exposed a lot forpeople that were not paying
attention before.
But did it really do anything inthe long run?
No.
And I feel bad for Elon.
I wish that this was a permanentdepartment and it would continue
to do so.
I mean, why we we shouldn't evenneed it, quite frankly.
But our government has become sobig and powerful, there's really

(05:35):
nothing we can do about it.
I mean, what's gonna happen toElon Omar?
Nothing.
Nothing.
People are bitching about her,and that's all they're gonna do
is bitch about her.
All this fraud, and here's why.
Because the Republicans do ittoo.
All right, Elon Musk, he was onthis podcast.
He was on with Stephen Miller'swife, um, her podcast.

(05:58):
Elon Musk says he no longer isconvinced his crusade to clean
up government waste through theDepartment of Government
Efficiency, better known asDoge, was worth the chaos it
unleashed.
I'm gonna have to side with him.
I I when this when this wholething first started, I thought,
well, it's a great idea if theycan actually do anything.

(06:21):
But my being around for 58,tomorrow, 59 years, um if I've
learned anything, nothinghappens, nothing gets done,
nothing actually gets done.
Musk admitted he's deeply unsurewhether his high profile stint
running Washington's mostmemeable agency actually worked

(06:44):
in a wide-ranging and at timesphilosophical interview on the
Katie Miller podcast.
We're a little bit successful,we're somewhat successful, the
Tesla founder said when Millerasked if Doge achieved what it
helped, what it had hoped.
But he quickly undercut thepraise, lamenting how entrenched
the waste was.
Yes, sir, yes, sir, and I'm surehe just scratched the surface.

(07:07):
Are you kidding me?
There was likely probably 100,maybe 200 billion worth of
zombie payments per year, hesaid, noting Doge shut down only
a fraction of it.
Probably less than a fraction.
The SpaceX CEO said cutting offeven that much cash came with

(07:28):
serious blowback.
If you stop money going topolitical corruption, they will
lash out big time, he explained.
They really want the money tokeep flowing.
Of course they do.
When Miller asked point blankwhether he'd do Doge again, Musk
hesitated.
I mean, no, I don't think so, headmitted.
I think instead of doing Doge, Iwould have basically worked on

(07:51):
my companies essentially.
And I think maybe this is wherehe and Donald probably got into
it.
I think I really think Elonwanted more power, I guess.
Not power, but more authority togo in and gut our um spending
like that.
And I wish he would have, butDonald's like playing the

(08:11):
politic politician that heclaims he's not that he's not,
and it's probably because he gotall these big donors now, and
everybody else around him hasthese big donors, and they don't
want it.
They don't want to cut, theywant to keep the power and the
money.
I mean, really.
Um the tech mogul was referringto a violent outbreak of

(08:34):
vandalism on Tesla vehiclesearlier this year after he began
working with the second Trumpadministration.
Musk also said joiningWashington never gave him any
illusions.
He blasted what he calledmassive transfer payments to
migrants and claimed the systemcreates a gigantic money magnet
that encourages people to cometo the U.S.

(08:55):
I wouldn't say I was superillusioned to begin with, he
shrugged before launching into ablistering critique of
government spending.
Despite the heavy politicaltalk, the ex-owner frequently
veered into the personal.
He confessed that AI nightmaresstill jolt him awake many days
in a row, he said, and he'srunning life on six hours of

(09:15):
sleep.
Hey, six hours of sleep's prettydamn good.
When asked what actually keepshim up, musk deadpan.
Why do I wake up in nightmares?
Oh, AI, yeah.
So, okay, so he's going off toAI.
But I want to know more aboutI'll have to go finish reading
this later.
I'm not gonna read the wholething to you.
Um, but yeah, so you go toWashington, you get
disillusioned.

(09:36):
Uh, he thought he was gonnareally go in there and do some
stuff, and I think I think itbrought awareness.
But we need more than awareness,but people don't want to cut
because they're too big andpowerful uh powerful up in
there, which also this kind ofrelates to it, but kind of
doesn't.
I'm gonna say something that'sprobably gonna really piss

(09:58):
people off.
Well, maybe not, maybe you don'teven care.
I really liked Marjorie TaylorGreen in the beginning.
Now, I still like her.
I feel bad for her and NancyMason, that's another story.
But I'm putting I'm puttingthose two in the same bucket.
They're both women, Republicanand conservatives.
I don't know about Nancy Mason,if she's conservative or not,

(10:20):
but they're both Republican.
And they're both on our side.
And people just want to trashthem, especially Marjorie Taylor
Green, after she had a fallingout with Trump.
Now, do you not see do you notsee what's happening?
Marjorie Taylor Greene, I think,really cares about America first
and her pe and the people thatshe represents.
And I think she feels like she'sjust up against a too big of a

(10:43):
powerful big machine that shecan't do anything about.
That's why she's quitting.
Now, I wish she would stayed inand finished her finished her
stint.
I don't know why she has toleave so soon.
Nancy Mace is another story.
She's an emotional wreck, sheneeds to get some serious help.
Oh, but I, you know, I I said onTwitter the other day, don't be

(11:03):
a woman conservative with a withan opinion and be a politician.
They're gonna trash you.
Might as well just go ahead andbe an activist.
We need why don't you just dothat?
Be a woman conservativeactivist.
You cannot be a politician inWashington, D.C.
Um, with a with a big opinionand and a big voice, because

(11:25):
they don't like that.
They just don't.
Okay.
We're moving on.
Uh, we need the question of theday, which is a Christmas themed
question of the day.
Let's see.
Okay, the question of the day isare you at Christmas time,
Christmas morning, you havepresents to open.

(11:46):
Are you a rip it open, tear openfast?
Or do you take your time, save,oh, to save the paper, save the
tape, open it slowly.
I'm a ripper open.
I gotta see it now.
Alright, that is the question ofthe day.
Uh, I hope you have a goodWednesday.

(12:06):
Woof, pray for me.
It's gonna be a busy day todayfor me at work, but and I wore
these stupid ass boots that I'mprobably not gonna be
comfortable in.
My feet are probably gonna becold all day.
Okay, whatever.
You don't care about that.
Okay, gotta go.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.