DOGE NORTH: Another Chapter in the Fascist Playbook

It was called the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. This lofty-sounding legislation was the battering ram by which Hitler destroyed the independent civil service in Germany.

It was enacted on April 7, 1933, just after Hitler's rise to power. It gave him the power to fire anyone in the civil service who was not absolutely dedicated to the Nazi agenda.

Without a functioning and independent civil service, German democracy died.

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Elon Musk has now taken on that role for Donald Trump by establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk knows his history. That’s why he gave two fascist salutes during Donald Trump's inauguration.

Like Hitler’s Restoration Act, DOGE has become a full-on assault on all levels of government. The first attacks were against Trump's perceived enemies — racialized and minority workers in the DEI program.

But that was just a smoke screen for running a reckless chainsaw through all manner of departments, from national parks to health research, from the IRS to the military.

It has been an unmitigated disaster threatening everything from veterans' and seniors' benefits to research that protects people from foodborne illnesses.

Over 200,000 people have been fired — including nuclear safety inspectors and those who protect the United States from cyber threats.

And like in Germany …

Without a functioning and independent civil service, democracy dies.

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This is about following through on Trump's promise to "drain the swamp" and weed out the "deep state" — a concept rooted in the QAnon conspiracy world.

During his first electoral bid, Trump secured the support of extremist and conspiracy influencers by constantly invoking his hatred of the “deep state”.

In the book I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker detail how Trump genuinely began to believe in the existence of a deep state during his final year in power.

It didn't come in the form of some powerful cabal but in the advisors and civil servants in various departments who dared remind him of his obligation to the Constitution and the rule of law. In short, the people who thwarted his whims.

People like General Mark Milley, who earned Trump's wrath for refusing to allow the United States military to be used in a political parade for Trump.

Milley explained to the president that only dictators and tyrants used their military to show off political power.

Milley is gone.

Trump is getting his parade.

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Project 2025 was the blueprint for eradicating the checks and balances that would have held Trump in place.

DOGE is the tool.

Now, allegations are being raised that Musk may have used the unprecedented power of DOGE to tamper with investigations into his own company.

This week, Democrat Gerald E. Connolly wrote to the heads of the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board demanding an investigation into whether "individuals associated with DOGE have attempted to exfiltrate and alter data while also using high-level systems access to remove sensitive information—quite possibly including corporate secrets and details of union activities."

The thing about fascism in 2025 is that it’s not simply about suppressing rights but letting the insiders run a massive grift at the people's expense.

We have no idea where this ends, but rest assured, it will not end well.

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Canada’s Team DOGE

Watching from Canada, you'd think that Musk and DOGE would be a cautionary tale to the Conservative base.

Not a chance.

I found this out when Rebel News - the media machine for Canada's Maple MAGA - went after me for over my very public fight with Elon Musk.

They even set up a website: DOGENORTH.COM, calling for a Musk-style attack on Canada's civil service.

At first, I thought the notion of DOGE NORTH was ridiculous.

But this is how it starts — fringe online outlets and right-wing influencers are key in launching the trial balloons and pushing the yardsticks for Maple MAGA.

Before long, the fringe and the ridiculous are absorbed into the mainstream of the Conservative movement.

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Witness recent statements by Ian Brodie (former chief of staff to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper) on how Poilievre could unleash a DOGE-like attack on Canada's civil service.

The Ottawa Citizen reports that Brodie boasted at a Conservative meeting that Poilievre would move "at lightning speed" to target the federal civil service.

In fact, Brodie bragged that the DOGE formula would be even easier to enact in Canada.

"The good thing, compared to the United States, is that, for all sorts of constitutional legal reasons, the impediments to DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) moving quickly, we don't really have to worry about in Canada. Canada can move as quickly as it wants."

That’s chilling.

In Canada, we like to tell ourselves that our parliamentary system gives us protections from the abuses of Trumpland. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Conservatives have already scoped out how to bring about a DOGE playbook and are bragging about how easy it will be to enact.

Hitler knew that destroying democracy depended on destroying the key pillars that ensured democratic accountability: an independent media, academic freedom and research, and a non-partisan civil service.

Both Trump and Poilievre have been focusing their ire on these perceived enemies.

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Signs of Hope

But not all Conservatives are on board with the MAGA ideology.

Yesterday, I shared my concerns about Pierre Poilievre's threat to use the Notwithstanding Clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override the legal rights of Canadian citizens.

I am not the only one raising the alarm bells — including Benjamin Perrin, former legal advisor to Stephen Harper.

Perrin has written a powerful piece in the Toronto Star denouncing Poilievre's "cavalier attitude toward civil liberties”:

"Our fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, the presumption of innocence, the right to be told the reasons for being detained or arrested, the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause, equality rights and prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment... are vital to a free and democratic society.

"The premise of constitutionally entrenched rights is that they exist to protect each of us beyond political motivations of government… It is about creating the illusion of being 'tough on crime'… [Poilievre] betrays a lack of respect for our sacred rights and freedoms."

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Mr. Perrin and I probably don't agree much, but he comes from the Conservative wing that is still deeply rooted in the rule of law. And we must find ways to work across parties lines to protect democracy and the rule of law.

Fascism doesn’t always arrive with jackboots and torches - sometimes it wears a hoodie and tweets.

We all have a stake in fighting fascism - here at home and abroad.

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