Bernie Sanders aligning with Elon Musk? You read that right. The Vermont senator, known for railing against the billionaire class, appears to have found common ground with Musk on one thing: government waste.

Sanders recently posted on X (formerly Twitter), endorsing Musk’s criticism of the Pentagon’s $886 billion budget after its seventh consecutive failed audit. Sanders bluntly admitted, “Elon Musk is right,” adding fuel to a bipartisan critique of reckless spending.

This unusual alliance comes as President-elect Donald Trump rolls out the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative aimed at cutting through the federal government’s notorious bloat. Musk, alongside former GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy, has been tapped to lead DOGE. The department’s mission? To bring an entrepreneurial mindset to government and curb wasteful spending that’s bleeding taxpayers dry.

Sanders, who has long criticized the “Military-Industrial Complex,” used the Pentagon’s fiscal failures as his rallying cry. Highlighting billions in unaccounted funds, he called for an overhaul, emphasizing the need for accountability in a defense budget he believes is rife with fraud. Musk responded to Sanders’ post with two American flag emojis, signaling rare agreement between ideological opposites.

Elon Musk is right.

The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions.

Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud.

That must change.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 1, 2024

Musk isn’t just focused on defense spending. He’s using his platform to shine a spotlight on boondoggles like California’s High-Speed Rail Project. Originally budgeted at $33 billion in 2008, the project’s costs have ballooned to as much as $128 billion, with little to show for it. Musk lambasted the project as emblematic of government inefficiency, reposting DOGE’s findings that billions in federal funds have been wasted on a rail line that remains mostly unbuilt. “The government needs to stop wasting your hard-earned money!” he declared.

The *Wall Street Journal* recently published an op-ed by Musk and Ramaswamy outlining their approach for DOGE. They emphasized that their work will be strictly voluntary, focusing on structural reforms that make government function more like a lean, agile startup.

Their message aligns with Musk’s frequent warnings about the national debt, which has skyrocketed past $36 trillion. Musk has repeatedly highlighted that interest payments on this debt now exceed the defense budget, calling it a “fast track to bankruptcy.”

Musk’s critiques go beyond inefficiency. He’s tying government overspending directly to inflation, asserting that every dollar of government spending—whether raised through taxes or inflationary money printing—ultimately comes out of the pockets of Americans. His plain-spoken warnings have struck a chord, especially as inflation continues to squeeze families nationwide.

DOGE is poised to be a high-profile experiment in reining in government waste, but its success will depend on overcoming entrenched bureaucratic resistance. Sanders, while unlikely to agree with Musk and Ramaswamy on much else, seems to recognize the urgency of addressing the nation’s fiscal crisis.

For now, the unlikeliest of alliances has emerged, united by a shared concern: America’s ballooning debt and its corrosive impact on the nation’s future.