We Are Witnessing Conservative Spoils, Not a Conservative Split

One of the more surprising developments in the first weeks of Donald Trump’s administration is the revival of an aggressive conservative instinct to shrink the government, to reduce not only the scope of federal authority in national and global affairs but to literally just shrink it by reducing the number of people employed by the government.

DOGE is the administration’s first big shock — a consulting group led by the world’s richest man, a former beneficiary of American subsidy himself, Elon Musk. Musk’s job was siccing his wild young men and their algorithms on various federal departments, looking for spending that was contrary to mission, not specifically mandated by legislation, or simply excessive and unjustifiable.