By Dana Craven
While on the campaign trail for nearly two years prior to his victory in November, President Trump made his intentions abundantly clear through his “America First” platform. Agenda 47 outlined exact actions he promised to take as soon as he would be sworn into office again. From securing the borders to mass deportations, from making America an energy and manufacturing superpower again to ending inflation and bringing large tax cuts to the working and middle classes, the newly elected president had his hands full on day one. Two of the top objectives of the Trump campaign—and now administration—have been to rein in wasteful federal spending and cut costly and burdensome regulations.
Considering the fact that the federal budget has not been balanced since the 1990s and the national debt continues to climb to over $36 trillion, something had to be done—and fast. In the 60+ days since implementing the Department of Government Efficiency, the newly formed agency claims to have saved the federal government over $155 billion in spending (March 21, 2025, doge.gov).
Before understanding the accomplishments of D.O.G.E., it’s important to understand the origin story and the directives it operates under.
The History of USDS
In the fall of 2024, launched by President Barack Obama and established by congressional appropriations, the U.S. Digital Service—or USDS—was established within the Office of Management and Budget and housed within the Executive Office of the President. Inspired by and created as a response to the healthcare.gov website crisis in 2013, USDS serves, essentially, as information technology (I.T.) support across many agencies within the federal government.
The Concept, Creation, & Implementation of D.O.G.E.
Soon after the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump while on the campaign trail in Butler, Pennsylvania, a very well-known businessman, Elon Musk, threw his support behind the Republican candidate. One month later, on August 13, 2024, Musk and Donald Trump hopped on X Spaces together for a live audio conversation. There, Musk took the opportunity to give somewhat of an elevator pitch for the whole world to hear. While proposing the idea of a “government efficiency commission” to reduce federal spending and bureaucracy, Musk also offered to serve in an advisory role. Trump responded with, “I love it,” and the inspiration behind “D.O.G.E.” was born.
Earlier in the campaign, Trump called on his longtime friend and fellow businessman, Howard Lutnick, asking for help. Well aware of the dire financial state of the country, Lutnick agreed to take on the role of balancing the federal budget.
On a recent episode of the “All-In Podcast,” titled “Howard Lutnick | All-In DC!,” Lutnick revealed that on a drive home from a campaign stop, he asked Trump, “If we can balance the budget, will you agree to waive all income tax for every person who makes less than $150,000 a year?” to which Trump candidly answered, “Sure.” Lutnick responded, “I’m going to recruit Elon.”
Lutnick set up a meeting with Musk that took place on October 13, 2024—after the incredible capture of the SpaceX Super Heavy in Texas. It was during that two-hour meeting where the foundations for D.O.G.E. were laid.
“We sit down and we map out the plan. I tell him what a gratis vendor is. A gratis vendor is an approved vendor for the United States of America that gives product to the government—doesn’t sell it. So, therefore, I don’t have to go through the whole process of becoming a proper vendor because you’re giving it to us. And then, if you give it to Article II, which is the President’s stuff, then the President can accept it because it’s a gift. (Like) software.
So I said, ‘I’m calling it DOGE…’ And I registered the name ‘Doge.’”
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, sparked by the “Doge” meme featuring the face of a Shiba Inu dog. It’s popular for microtransactions—like tipping content creators online or for charitable donations. Its price often jumps with social media buzz, especially from Elon Musk’s posts.
Lutnick continued, “In the Defense Production Act during World War II, in order to get all the great executives of America to help with production, they named everything after the things of the people who were on the committee that would make them laugh and smile. So I picked Doge so he would laugh and smile.
And he (Elon) said, ‘Get the f* outta here!’
Like when I said, ‘We’re gonna name it DOGE—the Department of Government Efficiency’—which I didn’t think of. It was on the Internet sort of floating around in June. But I literally registered it as ‘The Department of Government Efficiency’—like make it a real thing as a gratis vendor and I said, ‘This is how I’ve done it for me. So that I can run Cantor Fitzgerald, you can run SpaceX.’ You don’t have to sign the conflict form because you’re not working for the government; you’re just giving stuff to the government. You’re literally giving of yourself.”
Soon after that first meeting, Lutnick posted on X:
“Welcome to DOGE. We will rip the waste out of our $6.5 Trillion budget. Our goal: Balance the Budget of the USA. We must elect Donald Trump President.”
After defeating his opponent in a decisive victory, Donald J. Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States on November 5, 2024. Days later, President-elect Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) and appointed its primary advisors as Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump also announced that the goals of D.O.G.E. would be to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.” (Ultimately, Ramaswamy decided to turn down the advisory role and, since then, enter the Ohio gubernatorial race.)
The formalization of the new agency took place on inauguration day, January 20, 2025, by way of the first round of Executive Orders issued by the new president. In E.O. 14158, the U.S. Digital Service was renamed U.S. D.O.G.E. Service, and the leadership structure of the agency is defined with the directive (Section 4) of “Modernizing Federal Technology and Software to Maximize Efficiency and Productivity.”
Here are some of the Executive Orders that lay out the objectives for D.O.G.E. since inauguration.
January 20, 2025
EO 14158: Establishing and Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency
January 20, 2025
EO 14169: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid
February 11, 2025
EO 14210: Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative
February 19, 2025
EO 14219: Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative
February 26, 2025
EO 14222: Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Cost Efficiency Initiative
Taking Action
During his recent interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Nation, Elon Musk shared the moment he realized why his help would be necessary.
“We’ve got this enormous federal budget deficit, and it’s a two-trillion-dollar deficit. It keeps growing, and our interest payments are higher than our Defense Department budget. That’s, I think, was the real wake-up call for me—seeing that the interest payments (toward) the national debt exceeded the Defense Department budget—and that was only growing over time—which meant, if we didn’t do something about this, then there won’t be any money for anything.”
Musk and his team immediately took action—starting with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to President Trump, the agency did not enforce his Executive Order to suspend foreign aid (EO 14169).Musk also highlighted the fact that USAID lacked oversight—pointing to the billions of dollars being sent to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Musk said, “This is one of the biggest sources of fraud in the world—government-funded NGOs.” Since then, USAID has been merged into the State Department—led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio—and is now known as The Office of Foreign Assistance.
As more members of the Trump Administration were vetted by Congress and sworn in, Musk and his team have been able to analyze each and every department within the federal government. Though the Executive Orders are clear, the backlash and spin from certain media outlets and politicians have led to efforts to assure the American people that Elon Musk does not have decision-making power.
From the February 12 declaration by the Director of the Office of Administration, Joshua Fisher, it was made clear that “Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors. Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives.”
Unfortunately, Democratic leaders and liberal media outlets have chosen to take aim at Musk—vilifying him, his businesses, his D.O.G.E. team, his employees, and his customers. As a result, there have been multiple violent attacks on Tesla dealerships, charging stations, and even Tesla vehicle owners. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued many warnings that these are acts of domestic terrorism—charging three individuals already.
The actions taken as a result of the findings of Elon Musk and his team can be overwhelming to even begin to interpret. Musk promised “maximum transparency,” so the agency frequently posts their actions on X via the handle @doge, along with the website www.doge.gov (http://www.doge.gov).
President Trump outlined some of the jaw-dropping line items eliminated as a result of the findings by the newly rebranded USDS, in his Joint Address to Congress on March 6.
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- Tesla cars vandalized at service center in Las Vegas (image: YouTube)
- Pam Bondi and Marco Rubio photos courtesy of The White House
