Cleaned up transcript. The host speculates (unsupported by Vinton):
[MEISELAS:] Well, it seems we need to audit Doge. It [0:03] seems like Doge has been the least [0:05] efficient thing uh with the government. [0:07] Elon Musk promised two trillion in cuts [0:10] and now he’s saying maybe 150 billion [0:14] but that all seems BS as well. I think we [0:17] need to investigate and look into what [0:19] the heck Doge was doing. Was it ever [0:21] about efficiency? I don’t think so. Or was [0:24] it about taking the data of people, [0:27] getting access to people’s private [0:29] medical information or Social Security [0:32] information and other sensitive data?
And Vinton:
[VINTON] I’ll [6:51] never forget one of the first [6:54] conversations. You know we’re kind of in [6:56] this a bit of a brainstorming and one of [6:59] the Doge people goes “So everyone just [7:02] imagine there are no laws.” And if [7:05] you’ve ever met anybody at the IRS the [7:08] only thing that they’re really [7:09] passionate about is the law, taxes and [7:13] tax law, and it was just this jarring [7:15] experience of somebody who’s like, you [7:17] know,. imagine there are no laws. Like [7:19] typically you would say wave a magic [7:22] wand or you know blue sky thinking and [7:25], they just took a really different [7:27] approach and from there it went like [7:30] they did at several other agencies, which [7:33] is you ask for control and access over [7:36] the personnel systems so you can fire [7:39] people; you ask for access to [individuals’] data [7:43], … [7:45] guessing to make determinations about [7:47] benefits; and then finally you ask for [7:50] access to procurement systems. and that [7:52] was so that you could cut contracts
More:
[VINTON]: A lot [15:14] of the destruction that has been [15:16] happening across the Federal government [15:19] … seems like a [15:21] constitutional crisis in the sense that [15:24] uh you can try to eliminate or delete a [15:27] Federal agency overnight, and that is [15:29] something that was set up by Congress [15:31] and paid for by taxpayers, and I don’t [15:34] understand how Doge has been able to do [15:38] this legally, and I hope that this is [15:39] something that there will be [15:40] accountability for, and that’s what we [15:42] should be demanding is accountability [15:44] for the actions that have happened, and [15:46] are continuing to happen. I do think and [15:50] really hope that we can rebuild [15:54] from this…. [15:57] [W]hat gives me hope and optimism is that [16:00] when we kind of take a step back and [16:03], I’ll be honest the status quo was not [16:05] helping most people, our institutions [16:08] were not super responsive to today’s [16:11] problems, and so there is an opportunity [16:13] to rethink how we do this, but we have to [16:16] do it the right way, and we have to do it [16:18] in a way that actually puts people and [16:20] their needs first and really [16:22] understands the mission of government [16:24], the mission of what it is… [16:26] people need and and what government’s [16:28] trying to deliver, and that’s what [16:30] I hope we can do in a few years [16:33] if we’re given a chance.
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