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Big swings, big misses: DOGE struggles to back up its outsized claims
NBC News | Comcast ^ | February 19, 2025 | By Jane C. Timm (D-NBC)

Posted on 02/19/2025 3:12:05 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

Elon Musk’s cost-cutting and fraud-finding apparatus, the Department of Government Efficiency, came out swinging in recent days.

The result? Two stunning strikeouts.

A series of announcements by DOGE as well as claims by Musk and President Donald Trump about the agency’s efforts have crumbled under scrutiny even as they’re broadly repeated by conservative pundits, sympathetic media and the White House.

Two of the most notable claims — around Social Security fraud and $8 billion savings found in a Department of Homeland Security contract — have been debunked. Meanwhile, Trump’s agenda is set to add to the federal government’s deficit well in excess of what DOGE is cutting.

“It’s amateur hour in their federal government,” said Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who ran the Social Security Administration under President Joe Biden. “There’s unelected people that are being given powers to go through and rummage through our personal data for reasons that nobody can quite figure out yet. It’s not for efficiency.”

Cutting government waste and hunting for fraud are perennially popular topics for politicians across the political spectrum. Federal agencies each have their own internal watchdogs — known as inspectors general — meant to hunt for misuse of taxpayer dollars. More than a dozen of them have been fired by the Trump administration.

In their place, DOGE has worked to make sweeping cuts, most of which appear to be focused more on Trump’s politics than anything else, and many of which experts warn could have unintended consequences.

“They’re throwing out the baby with the bathwater,” said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who oversaw an eight-year effort to cut government spending and waste under President Bill Clinton.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 4thestate5thcolumn; aidandcomfort; biasmeanslayoffs; considerthesource; doge; enemedia; janectimm; journalism; media; press; theskyisfalling; trump; trysellingthetruth
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1 posted on 02/19/2025 3:12:05 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I can think of a whole bunch of claims made by NBC that it never backed up.
2 posted on 02/19/2025 3:16:52 PM PST by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

NBC. No Believable Credibility.


3 posted on 02/19/2025 3:19:48 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (The U.S. Government was never meant to be a jobs program.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

“NBC. No Believable Credibility.”

Needs repeating. They must be controlled by the deep state.


4 posted on 02/19/2025 3:24:45 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Oh, NBC and Comcast? That's a reliable source.   /sarc

5 posted on 02/19/2025 3:25:16 PM PST by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy endureth forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: Steely Tom

BS from the non stop rat propaganda machine, every channel all day every day. DOGE has saved a lot money and they are just getting started


6 posted on 02/19/2025 3:27:48 PM PST by iamgalt
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Even if there are a few misses Fedzilla is so large they could work for the next 4 years and still find enormous savings and efficiencies.


7 posted on 02/19/2025 3:35:38 PM PST by xp38
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Two of the most notable claims — around Social Security fraud and $8 billion savings found in a Department of Homeland Security contract — have been debunked.

You liars don't get to "debunk" anything. We've seen how you "debunk" stuff in the past, and you are just lying about it.

From now on, when you liars say "debunked", I am going to believe it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, else you wouldn't have said it was "debunked."

8 posted on 02/19/2025 3:36:17 PM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Sniff, Sniff. Yep, desperation.


9 posted on 02/19/2025 3:37:31 PM PST by Fledermaus (GOP RINOs - Get on Board or Get Out!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

10 posted on 02/19/2025 3:40:44 PM PST by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Trump & Vance, 2024! (Formerly) Goldwater & Thomas Sowell)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Other then scream “Debunked” every time the Democrat party are caught in a scam, I have yet to see any of this supposed “debunking” NBS claims to have happened


11 posted on 02/19/2025 3:43:46 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Don't blame me, my congressman is MTG!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

You bastards! DOGE says they finds massive fraud, which should perk up the ears of any true news organization and yield their own investigation. Instead, they say “prove it!”, and try to hide it.


12 posted on 02/19/2025 3:45:28 PM PST by power2 (JMJ)
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To: power2

Watch out, NBC News might start blowing up Chevy Pickups and Ford Pintos again.


13 posted on 02/19/2025 3:53:12 PM PST by Colt1851Navy (What was wrong with Nixon?)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Lol. The biggest cult of chronic liars on the entire planet are triggered. ROTFL.


14 posted on 02/19/2025 3:53:38 PM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: DiogenesLamp

The social security “debunking” was hilarious.

The “debunkers” claimed that a computer glitch showed social security recipients as 150 years old.

Of course they had no explanation for the social security recipients that were 149 years old and 151 years old!


15 posted on 02/19/2025 3:57:31 PM PST by cgbg (The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

NBC, et al, won’t EVER stop.

Just enjoy the winning.


16 posted on 02/19/2025 4:06:23 PM PST by simpson96
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To: iamgalt

Why are DOGE claims so easy to debunk though?


17 posted on 02/19/2025 4:07:15 PM PST by nwrep
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who ran the Social Security Administration under President Joe Biden. “There’s unelected people that are being given powers to go through and rummage through our personal data for reasons that nobody can quite figure out yet. It’s not for efficiency.”

One can stop reading after O'Malley, but if that isn't enough his drama queening debunks himself.

18 posted on 02/19/2025 4:12:55 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Nbc “ News” is an opinion org, not a news organization, and should be treated as such.


19 posted on 02/19/2025 4:26:50 PM PST by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING 0F AMERICA, AND HE WILL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE HIM!)
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To: nwrep

I think they need to check and carefully verify any claim going forward. The MSM are not news outlets they are tools of DNC they are waiting for any mistake to pounce on.


20 posted on 02/19/2025 4:31:21 PM PST by iamgalt
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