What Musk, Ramaswamy and Vought are trying to do
There's a precedent for the extreme budget cutters, and it carries lessons for today
In 1980, a little-known young congressman from Michigan caught the attention of presidential candidate Ronald Reagan by impersonating a rival in a mock debate.
His performance was so good that Reagan’s team asked him to play President Jimmy Carter in preparation for a general election debate.
David Stockman aced it.
Thin, driven, titanically ambitious — this was the persona Stockman projected when he sought and won the key job of director of the Office of Management and Budget in the administration that took office in 1981. “His shaggy hair was streaked with gray, and yet he seemed like a gawky collegian, with unstylish glasses and a prominent Adam’s apple,” wrote The Washington Post’s William Greider.
A former anti-war protester who had dropped out of Harvard Divinity School, he was skilled at attracting influential mentors, including Rep. John Anderson…
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