Antonio Gracias: DOGE updates, Voter fraud, Finding 'Big Balls' | All-In Live from Miami

Antonio Gracias said DOGE found the federal government vastly more complex than Twitter, with his border-to-benefits process map stretching roughly 40 feet. He estimated about 15% of federal spending could be removed without cutting core entitlements, while acknowledging that estimate reflected his judgment rather than a completed audit.

At Social Security, Gracias said DOGE found an almost-empty headquarters and field offices still partly organized around COVID-era phone operations. His team pushed employees back into offices without closing field locations and began publishing service metrics, arguing that visible performance mattered more than financial incentives.

DOGE is attracting unusually strong private-sector talent by offering short, mission-driven government service rather than conventional federal careers. Gracias cited a Harvard student who left with two classes remaining and a rising KKR executive who quit his job, while describing peer referrals as a recruiting flywheel.

Gracias said DOGE manually matched DHS immigration records against voter rolls and referred suspected noncitizen voting cases to federal investigators. DOJ records confirm DOGE assisted investigations involving two Ukrainian noncitizens charged with voting in Florida; Gracias nevertheless said his sampling could not establish the nationwide scale. (Department of Justice)

Gracias’s preferred structural reform is a third category of federal worker: temporary public servants serving months or a few years before returning to private life. He argued that importing technical talent this way could improve government while giving more Americans firsthand experience of how difficult federal institutions are to operate.

Musk’s recruiting advantage appears to combine mission, personal magnetism and an unusually credential-blind search for people who can actually solve problems. The hosts described him spotting ideas in emails and posts, routing promising people for vetting, and sometimes favoring demonstrated ability over prestigious résumés.

Gracias supports a controlled border alongside substantially easier legal immigration for both skilled workers and lower-wage labor. After mapping immigration processing across DHS, State and Labor, he described the programs as disconnected and difficult to navigate and said his team wanted to leave behind reforms to both legal and illegal immigration systems.

Gracias presented easier citizenship verification as the practical answer to noncitizen-registration concerns, pointing to the federal SAVE system and making its use free for states. DHS eliminated SAVE transaction fees in 2025, although the system supplements rather than independently determines voter eligibility. (ncsl.org)