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PODCAST

Stephen Miller Rages at CNN Host as Musk’s Latest DOGE Fiasco Implodes

As Miller and Elon Musk push new absurdities about the Department of Government Efficiency, a shrewd observer of Musk explains what all this says about MAGA’s collapsing “deep state” mythology.

Elon Musk smiles and gives a thumbs-up sign, while standing between Howard Lutnick and Stephen Miller.
Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff for policy, in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, February 13, 2025

On Tuesday, top White House adviser Stephen Miller unleashed a wild, angry rant on CNN after tough questioning from CNN’s anchor about Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. This comes even as one of Musk’s silliest absurdities yetthe idea that DOGE found rampant fraud in Social Securityimploded spectacularly under basic scrutiny. There’s a through line here: The great illusion that Musk, Miller, and President Trump are trying to pushthat they’re rooting out immense amounts of governmental waste and fraudis collapsing all around them. We talked to writer Jill Lawrence, who has a new piece for The Bulwark arguing that the Musk enterprise has been exposed as a sham, about the larger MAGA mythology about the “deep state,” and why it’s proving unsustainable. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.