Elon Musk Says He’ll Gameify Fighting Government Waste Through DOGE

Yesterday Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would caput up an extra-government bureau called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and already the epic memes are flowing. Are you having amusive yet? It’s important to Musk that you’re having fun.

To that end, he’s promised to marque the combat against authorities waste, fraud, and maltreatment a signifier of nationalist entertainment. “All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency volition beryllium posted online for maximum transparency,” Musk said successful a station connected X. “Anytime the nationalist thinks we are cutting thing important oregon not cutting thing wasteful, conscionable fto america know! We volition besides person a leaderboard for astir insanely dumb spending of your taxation dollars. This volition beryllium some highly tragic and highly entertaining 🤣🤣.”

DOGE volition not, technically, beryllium a caller department. Only Congress tin make caller national agencies. In practice, that whitethorn not matter. “The Department of Government Efficiency volition supply proposal and guidance from extracurricular of Government, and volition spouse with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to thrust large-scale structural reform, and make an entrepreneurial attack to authorities ne'er seen before,” Trump said successful a connection announcing the project.

What DOGE really accomplishes volition beryllium anyone’s guess. The way to combating authorities discarded is fraught and, contempt what you mightiness deliberation from Musk’s committedness to marque it transparent, has been fought successful the unfastened for decades. At astir $7 trillion, the U.S. fund is enormous. The immense bulk of that fund is spent connected Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Health, and the Pentagon.

Conservatives person been crowing astir cuts to nationalist spending for a agelong time. It’s truthful predominant that it’s go a brand. Some NGOs people yearly catalogs afloat of amusive graphics and colorful connection decrying perceived authorities outgo overruns. Even politicians person gotten successful connected the act.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has been banging connected astir it for decades and sends retired play missives astir authorities waste. On style, Grassley can’t vie with Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) annual “Festivus” report. In his latest Festivus report, Paul identified $900 cardinal successful discarded helium wanted to spot cleaned up.

What’s successful there? Paul called retired South Carolina’s Monkey Island ($33.2 million). Yes, this is the aforesaid land from which much than 40 monkeys precocious escaped. If lone they’d had much backing to support them locked down. He decried $6 cardinal spent to beforehand tourism successful Egypt, portion of a larger assistance package and a semipermanent diplomatic task betwixt the U.S. and Egypt. Not each of Paul’s examples are frivolous. The Pentagon—one of America’s biggest spenders—is talented astatine wasting money, and Paul called it retired 3 times successful his report.

The U.S. besides already has authorities agencies that catalog and combat wasteful spending. All 3 of Paul’s Pentagon discarded examples travel from Pentagon Inspector General reports, an bureau that spends its clip looking into DoD fuck ups. There’s a batch of them. And past there’s the Government Accountability Office.

Established successful 1921, the Government Accountability Office investigates and reports connected outgo overruns and different Washington abuses. It precocious called retired the U.S. Navy and defence contractors for spending excessively overmuch connected atomic submarines. For the past 14 years, it’s published a study identifying places wherever America could prevention money. “These efforts person resulted successful astir $667.5 cardinal successful fiscal benefits, an summation of astir $71 cardinal since our 2023 report,” it said successful the astir caller mentation of this report, published successful May.

We person nary thought however DOGE volition tally different than what Musk is posting astir it online. The projected interactive leaderboard is conscionable the online improvement of what Grassley and Paul person been doing for years. It’s a dumbed-down mentation of the authorities reports published play by the DoD IG and GAO.

DOGE is besides an aboriginal indicator of the 2008 Reddit-era meme nightmare that Musk volition propulsion into the Trump administration. According to reports from wrong Mar-a-Lago, the billionaire is following Trump around similar a mislaid dog.

Musk is sitting successful connected calls with satellite leaders, appearing successful Trump household photos, and taking recognition for Trump’s triumph each accidental helium gets. “He’s behaving arsenic if he’s a co-president and making definite everyone knows it,” a root told NBC News.

Trump met with a closed league of House Republicans contiguous for the archetypal clip since his victory. Musk was close beside him. “He thanked Musk for everything helium did successful the predetermination and said present helium can’t get escaped of him,” writer Jake Sherman said successful a station connected X.