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Bernie Sanders, who had been a vocal critic of Elon Musk, praised his new DOGE initiative and lambasted the Pentagon’s excessive spending.
Bernie Sanders praised Trump’s new DOGE, which will be co-led by Elon Musk to reduce government spending. (Reuters)
Bernie Sanders, a democratic Senator who was an outspoken critic of US President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, turned heads by supporting Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and criticised the Pentagon’s excessive spending, shocking some of his followers.
In a post on X, Sanders wrote, “Elon Musk is right. The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions. Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defence budget full of waste and fraud.”
Elon Musk is right.The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions.
Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud.
That must change.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 1, 2024
After winning last month’s election, Trump had announced that Tesla CEO Musk and Indian-American biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would serve as co-heads to lead the DOGE to improve government efficiency and remove wasteful expenditure till it concludes its work by 2026.
It is important to mention here that DOGE is not actually a government department but an outside organisation that will coordinate with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to root out wasteful expenditures.
‘Who Stole His Phone’: Netizens React After Sanders’ Statement
Notably, Sanders has long been an outspoken critic of US defence spending, which he called “bloated and wasteful” while calling for more resources towards social spending, according to the New York Post. His remarks came after the Defence Department said it failed its seventh independent audit in a row, which troubled both Republicans and Democrats.
The department had been authorised to receive $824.3 billion in government money during the 2024 fiscal year. Last week, Congressman Ro Khanna took a position akin to Sanders by suggesting that Democrats are willing to collaborate on curbing potentially wasteful spending.
Sanders’ support for Trump’s DOGE attracted attention from his long-standing adversaries. Musk, who has spent much of the post-election time at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, reacted with several American flag emojis and expressed interest in “finding a common ground”.
Former US Representative Matt Gaetz replied, “Welcome home, Bernie”, while another post read, “Has hell frozen over?”. Musk’s America Super PAC said, “ensible spending is not a partisan issue. The general public supports @DOGE holding government accountable to spend taxpayer money more wisely.”
Collin Rugg, the co-owner of Trending Politics, wrote, “Glad you realized Elon Musk is not the problem. The problem is the federal government which has wasted and lost trillions of dollars of taxpayer money.” Another individual wrote, “Who stole his phone?!”, while one said, “Bernie Sanders just went MAGA.”
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Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
