Dear DOGE: Save a trillion, but by cutting red tape, not services

When Elon Musk brandished a chainsaw on television, promising to slash government spending, many Americans cheered. Others panicked. Neither side addressed the real problem with government inefficiency — or its solution.

Musk’s recent shift in tone — acknowledging the need for caution, to measure twice and cut once — suggests the Department of Government Efficiency is learning this lesson, too.

DOGE fired probationary employees without understanding their roles and inadvertently...