Is there a reciprocal Gelman where ignorant outsiders assume things are unreasonable and wasteful but anyone with expertise knows better? (Examples come to mind of Sarah Palin ridiculing fruit fly genetics work or DOGE’s press conferences about children receiving social security when they were just receiving survivors benefits)

I don't see that in practice. The headlines have historically been pretty blunt on a lot of wasteful spending. They openly discuss obvious waste in congress: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/01/28/pentagon-tell... https://reason.com/2025/01/12/materiel-loss/

Well... unless it's for temporary projects, government should just create the capacity in-house. Having to bring in consulting for everything because there is no know-how left is pointless.

Exactly. Gell-Mann Amnesia. The first thing that came to mind.