If there’s one thing that gets Democrats’ goat, it’s cutting the power and bureaucracy of the federal government.

In response to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk, and its efforts to reduce wasteful and even unconstitutional spending, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer couldn’t resist going on the attack. “DOGE is not a real government agency,” the senator complained … on Musk’s X. “DOGE has no authority to make spending decisions. DOGE has no authority to shut programs down or to ignore federal law. DOGE’s conduct cannot be allowed to stand.”

Musk responded, “Hysterical reactions like this is how you know that @DOGE is doing work that really matters.” In fact, he added, “This is the one shot the American people have to defeat BUREAUcracy, rule of the bureaucrats, and restore DEMOcracy, rule of the people. We’re never going to get another chance like this. It’s now or never. Your support is crucial to the success of the revolution of the people.”

Schumer went one step further, introducing a bill with House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries to “ensure the Treasury payments can only be accessed by those with proper clearance.”

In explaining his bill, he said, “DOGE’s scorched earth policies are dangerous and unlawful. That’s their approach. History shows that when this kind of stuff is done in the dark of night, with no guardrails, by a limited group of people who don’t really know the programs they’re dealing with, it leads to bad results.”

Schumer wasn’t alone, of course.

“We are witnessing a constitutional crisis,” wailed Ilhan Omar. “We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one. And here we are.” Trump must be the worst dictator ever, since dictators usually acquire power, not shrink government.

Maxine Waters joined in, too. “We’re in a crisis in this country because Trump and Elon Musk and the billionaires have decided they’re going to put us all in our place,” she shouted during a four-minute rant. “They’re going to run this country. They’re going to make sure that they take over everything.”

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ted Lieu, Juan Vargas, Kathy Castor, Patty Murray, Elissa Slotkin, Tammy Baldwin, Tammy Duckworth, Tina Smith, Amy Klobuchar, and others all got the same memo, calling Musk an “unelected billionaire” in seemingly coordinated rants on his X platform. They have no problem with Joe Biden giving a Medal of Freedom to George Soros, the ultimate behind-the-scenes leftist billionaire. Nor did they mention that more billionaires financially supported Kamala Harris than donated to Trump.

Isn’t that rich? This hypocrisy would be humorous if it weren’t coming from the same people with a long record of advancing their twisted idea of democracy by force-feeding a radical agenda on the rest of us in the dark of night. Guardrails? When have Democrats ever let guardrails stop them?

Additional efforts by Democrats to subpoena Musk failed by a vote of 20-19 in a House Oversight Committee meeting. Democrat Ro Khanna, who seems open to discussing DOGE’s role, abstained from the vote.

Democrats didn’t seem to worry too much about DOGE until their precious USAID program was on the chopping block. USAID is the epitome of unaccountable government fraud, waste, and abuse under the guise of helping others. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted some of USAID’s waste, which includes funding a transgender opera in Colombia and a DEI musical in Ireland. Don’t forget the $174 million in tax dollars promoting gender and trans ideology.

More broadly, the childish antics and fearmongering by Democrats about our democracy being attacked is an overreaction to the reality that Trump 2.0 seems ready and willing to do what he’s promised and what Republicans have failed to do for decades: reduce the federal bureaucracy and return power to the states, local governments, and the people.

For now, Republican leaders are standing their ground and defending DOGE and Elon Musk.

House Speaker Mike Johnson backed the administration by saying, “[DOGE] is using that authority right in a way that hasn’t been used in a long time. So it looks radical. It’s not. This is not a usurpation of authority in any way. It’s not a power grab. I think they’re doing what we’ve all expected and hope and asked that they would do.” He and the administration know the legal challenges will keep coming, though other Republicans in Congress are content to watch the work proceed.

Concerns over Musk’s access to federal payment systems were quelled this week when the U.S. Treasury explained in a letter that DOGE’s access to payment system codes is “read only and no Social Security or Medicare payments have been delayed or stopped.”

It’s no surprise Democrats are criticizing DOGE and the Trump administration’s efforts to cut the fat out of our bloated federal government when Democrats are largely responsible for creating the administrative state, a.k.a. the fourth branch of government busybodies who tell the rest of us how to live. They think the administrative “experts” know everything and the very notion of the American people self-governing as our Founders intended threatens the power they’ve had for years.

With a new sheriff in town, it looks like the Democrat house of cards is about to collapse. Hopefully it does and the American people will then have a government that looks out for their needs instead of the interests of politicians. That possible reality keeps Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest awake at night, and that’s a good thing — not only for our Republic, but also for the freedom and prosperity of Americans.