"It's an anticlimactic end to a period of rash destruction engineered by the world's richest man, who was handed the keys to the U.S. government to play with at his pleasure. A possibly drug-addled Elon Musk handled the executive branch with all the diligence of a 5-year-old tending to a Barbie: a dramatic haircut here, a permanent-marker makeover there, a week or two lost in the dog's bed."
"By its own stated metrics-slashing spending and waste-DOGE was an utter failure. When Elon Musk was first tapped to lead the hastily founded department after Trump's 2024 election, he pledged to cut $2 trillion in federal government expenditures within his first year. Before Donald Trump even took office in January, Musk cut his ambitions in half, estimating cuts of $1 trillion instead. After a few months, he downsized the promise further, to about $150 billion."
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) collapsed after ten months of aggressive restructuring that disrupted hundreds of thousands of federal workers, millions of Americans, and global partners. Leadership under Elon Musk enacted chaotic interventions and symbolic alterations while promising massive budgetary savings. Initial claims to cut $2 trillion in spending were reduced to $1 trillion, then roughly $150 billion. Reported savings repeatedly unraveled under scrutiny. Centralized leadership became uncertain as officials denied the department's formal existence while similar principles persisted informally. The campaign caused operational harm to agencies and created long-term consequences for public services and trust.
Read at Slate Magazine
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