On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a staffer at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) resigned after the paper inquired about some racist social media posts from an account linked to him.

The swift resignation was, at least at first, a breath of fresh air. President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly refused to adhere to basic societal norms or moral codes and have faced little to no consequences. Elon Musk refused to apologize for a gesture that, at the very least, appeared identical to a Nazi salute. A senior State Department official once tweeted that “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.” It could seem like public shaming no longer worked as a guardrail against corrupt or irresponsible governance.

So when Marko Elez — the 25-year-old staffer who had gained access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system — felt enough pressure to quit, it looked like maybe there was still a line that Trump and his allies couldn’t cross.

That is, until the following day, when Elon Musk, who leads DOGE, asked his followers on X to answer this poll: “Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?”

Vice President JD Vance then shared Musk’s tweet. “I obviously disagree........

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