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After DOGE slashed jobs, this writer tried to do them herself. How'd it go?

Elon Musk speaks during an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on March 30, 2025. (Jeffrey Phelps/AP)
Jeffrey Phelps/AP
Elon Musk speaks during an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on March 30, 2025. (Jeffrey Phelps/AP)

After the Department of Government Efficiency axe fell on government jobs and funding, writer Alexandra Petri fell into a sort of panic. Who would forecast the weather, or track food safety? Who would maintain parks? How would critical scientific research continue?

Her temporary solution was to try to do those jobs herself. She wrote about it in the Atlantic in an article, “I Tried to Be the Government. It Did Not Go Well.”

She joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young to talk about what she did and why it mattered.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom