Miller Discusses DOGE Operations During Interview
Alright, folks, let’s talk about what’s really going on here. We’ve got a heated debate over government waste, a courtroom battle over Elon Musk’s role in Washington, and a media that seems more interested in playing defense than actually addressing the problem. And at the center of it all? The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Trump’s aggressive new effort to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal bureaucracy.
Let’s start with the fireworks on CNN News Central, where Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller went head-to-head with host Brianna Keilar. Miller, never one to mince words, couldn’t understand why Keilar wasn’t “celebrating the cuts” being made to the bloated federal government. “The U.S. government has $36 trillion in debt,” he reminded her.
“The interest payments on the debt exceed the national defense budget.” In other words, Washington has been spending taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor for decades, and finally, someone is doing something about it.
NEW: Stephen Miller starts yelling at CNN's Brianna Keilar after she gaslit her viewers by acting like she supports cuts in the federal government.
Miller: "You may assert there's no waste in the Pentagon. You may assert there's no waste in Treasury..."
Keilar: "I'm not… pic.twitter.com/PAqD22HRwQ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 18, 2025
Keilar, clearly uncomfortable, tried to push back, but Miller wasn’t having it. “If you agree there is waste, if you agree there is abuse, if you agree there is corruption, why are you not celebrating the cuts!?” he pressed. Keilar’s response? “Stephen, let’s calm down.” Classic. When faced with the cold hard truth, the best she could do was try to dial down the intensity. But Miller wasn’t going to let that slide: “You may not care about this issue. Your colleagues may not care about this issue.”
Meanwhile, in the courts, Democrats are scrambling to halt DOGE’s work, particularly when it comes to Musk’s involvement. Fourteen Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit arguing that Musk has been given “virtually unchecked authority” over government operations.
But here’s the kicker: a federal judge, Tanya Chutkan—an Obama appointee, no less—denied their request to halt DOGE’s work. Why? Because, as she put it, there was no “clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm.”
That’s a huge win for Trump’s efficiency agenda, but Chutkan wasn’t done. She did raise questions about Musk’s role, echoing the Democratic AGs’ concern about “the unchecked authority of an unelected individual.” The White House quickly responded with a court filing that—interestingly—downplayed Musk’s influence, insisting he is merely a “Senior Advisor to the President” with “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.”
Now, hold on a second. That directly contradicts the way Musk, DOGE, and even Trump have publicly described his role. When Trump first announced DOGE, Musk was front and center, and just last week, he was in the Oval Office discussing the agency’s actions as if he were running the show. The White House’s attempt to legally distance itself from Musk is raising more questions than answers.