The so-called Department of Government Efficiency—the advisory commission that President Donald Trump tasked co-President Elon Musk to run in order to find ways to cut the federal budget—has been an abject disaster.
Indiscriminate firings of federal employees are leading to national security threats. Staff purges, largely spearheaded by DOGE, are putting safety of the country’s air travel, food supply, air and water quality, and personal health at risk. And unqualified and unvetted DOGE staffers’ access to critical government payments systems and Americans’ personal information has led to concerns about the security of Americans’ private information.
Yet, as states, unions, research universities, and federal employees sue to try and stop DOGE’s destruction, the Trump administration is now claiming that Musk’s DOGE has nothing to do with the firings.
"Nowhere have my friends offered a shred of anything, nor could they, to show that Elon Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decisions himself," a Department of Justice lawyer told a federal judge on Monday during a hearing on a lawsuit that seeks to block Musk and DOGE from accessing government data and carrying out mass firings.
The judge, Tanya Chutkan, basically told the DOJ they were liars. "I think you stretch too far," she said. "I disagree with you there."
All evidence points to the fact that Musk and DOGE are leading to the cuts.
Trump signed an executive order on Day 1 of his disastrous second term that created DOGE, and put Musk in charge. Since then, the unelected billionaire has given news conferences from the Oval Office to provide updates on DOGE’s actions, has tweeted hundreds of times a day—often with lies or misinformation—about DOGE's actions, and Trump himself has said Musk is the one working to find cost reductions.
“I’m going to tell [Elon Musk] very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News that aired ahead of the Super Bowl. “He’s going to find the same thing … Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military.”
So far, DOGE has been a disaster.
For example, in the name of cost savings, Musk and DOGE spurred a mass firing of government workers. That led the administration last Thursday to fire more than 300 people at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons stockpile. Realizing this was a mistake with potentially devastating implications, the Trump administration scrambled to rehire those workers. According to CNN on Tuesday, all but roughly 25 have been reinstated.
The offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID
What’s more, after receiving criticism for its opaqueness, DOGE then created a website to show the cuts it's made. But according to Wired, the website is a "security mess," with anyone on the internet able to edit its databases.
DOGE also blew through its own self-imposed deadlines to release information on what exactly it has cut and how much money it has supposedly saved taxpayers. But now that the information is on the website, DOGE has posted personal information of people whose contracts have been canceled.
The website also claims it has saved $55 billion. However, Daily Kos reviewed the savings DOGE listed on its website, and the two categories of receipts it provides (contracts and real estate) total less than half of what DOGE claims to have saved. The site says there are “savings” in other categories, like workforce reductions and fraud elimination, but it doesn’t currently provide data for those, so it is impossible to verify their top-line claim of $55 billion.
What’s more, even if DOGE has saved $55 billion, that is only 0.8% of the $6.75 trillion federal budget in fiscal year 2024. Much of those savings are from slashing the U.S. Agency for International Development, an action that has directly led to human suffering, including the pregnant wife of one USAID worker who was abandoned by the Trump administration while suffering a life-threatening pregnancy complication.
Those supposed savings also don't take into account how much money DOGE is spending on its own staff, nor how much money the federal government has to spend to defend against the bevy of lawsuits DOGE is being hit with.
With DOGE in destructo mode, Democrats are urging their constituents to call their lawmakers and show up to lawmaker events to voice their concerns, as lawmakers react to public outcries.
“They only win if their tactics convince us to stay silent,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on Friday. “We have power in numbers and solidarity. If we respond by getting LOUDER, instead of going silent like they want, we send a clear message that they can't win. Show up more. Organize more. Post more.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of fired nuclear-stockpile staff who returned after being fired. To date, most have returned, according to CNN; approximately, 25 have not.
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