DOGE is Not Efficiency—It’s a Hostile Takeover

It’s been 37 days since Trump took the oath of office, and in that time, the administration has been running at a breakneck pace. Every morning, a new headline drops: executive orders flying off the desk, backroom deals, petty feuds turning into policy. The usual chaos. The usual dysfunction. But this time, there’s something different—something bigger lurking beneath the headlines.

Two names stand out from the noise, not just as players but as architects of something much more sinister: Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

Some are calling DOGE the biggest restructuring of the federal government in modern history. Others see it as a full-scale hostile takeover. Either way, there’s no debating the impact—it’s already reshaping how the U.S. government functions, who it serves, and, more importantly, who it leaves behind. And it’s moving fast.

In just over a month, DOGE and a flurry of executive orders have torn through federal agencies like a wrecking ball. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs? Gone. Over 30,000 federal employees? Fired. Entire agencies? Hollowed out.

The Department of Justice? Purged of prosecutors investigating January 6 rioters and high-profile corruption cases. The IRS? Stripped of 6,000 employees—right in the middle of tax season—crippling its ability to enforce tax law when Americans are literally filing their returns. The NIH? Down 1,500 scientists. The CDC? Short 1,300 personnel, leaving pandemic preparedness, infectious disease monitoring, and food safety oversight hanging by a thread.

And then there’s the Federal Aviation Administration. It let go of 400 people in the middle of what was already being called an airline safety crisis, including a mid-air collision over Washington’s Reagan Airport between an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ and a U.S. Army UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter, which killed 67 people.

The Department of Education has lost key personnel responsible for federal student aid, creating bottlenecks that could derail financial assistance for millions of students. Meanwhile, FEMA—stripped of critical resources—is now barely capable of responding to disasters, leaving communities to fend for themselves.

And at the heart of it all, there’s DOGE. What was sold as a government efficiency measure has quickly become a high-speed pipeline for consolidating power into the hands of unelected tech executives, billionaire allies, and right-wing loyalists. David Sacks—better known as “Big Balls” to his inner circle—has gained access to classified intelligence despite having no security clearance.

Career officials across agencies are being forced out, and their positions? Handed over to Musk’s friends and Trump’s cronies—most of whom have zero experience in governance. And this is just what has happened in 37 days.

The consequences are already piling up. Investigations into Trump’s allies? Stalled or abandoned altogether. The tax system is in freefall, opening the door for fraud, evasion, and billions in lost revenue. Food and medical safety oversight has all but collapsed, meaning fewer inspections, fewer safeguards, and a higher risk of contaminated products reaching the public. Airline safety is under scrutiny after crashes occurred just weeks after key personnel were fired.

The loss of education staff could mean mass delays in student aid processing, leaving thousands in financial limbo. FEMA, stripped of critical resources, is no longer capable of responding effectively to disasters, forcing communities to fend for themselves.

And at the highest levels, classified intelligence is being passed around by unvetted insiders with no oversight, no expertise, and no accountability. This isn’t just about government secrets—it’s about your personal data now sitting in the hands of unvetted billionaires and their friends.

Tax records, Social Security data, healthcare files—all the information the government safeguards is now accessible to people with no security clearance, no accountability, and no experience handling sensitive data.

When the IRS is gutted and enforcement is slashed, who’s making sure your financial records aren’t sold to the highest bidder? When cybersecurity teams are fired, who’s protecting government databases from being hacked? DOGE hasn’t just made the government weaker—it’s made you more vulnerable.

And it’s only been 37 days.

This is just a drop in the ocean of what has occurred. If I were to name it all, you’d be frozen in place like a deer in headlights—except the deer has student loans, the headlights are on fire, and the driver is doomscrolling. But let’s make one thing clear: all of this is being done under the banner of government efficiency. That’s the sales pitch.

Look, let’s be real for a second—the federal government does waste an absurd amount of money. No one’s arguing that. In fiscal year 2023 alone, the Government Accountability Office reported an estimated $236 billion in improper payments. That’s billions lost to fraud, overpayments, underpayments, and plain old bureaucratic incompetence.

Want something even uglier? A bipartisan commission found that during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, over $30 billion was lost to waste and fraud in military contracting. Contractors got rich. Soldiers got faulty gear and underfunded VA hospitals.

And let’s not even start on the Pentagon. A department with an $850 billion annual budget that has never once passed a full audit. Not once. Ever. And in case that number didn’t hit—$850 billion is six times the budget of the second-highest-funded federal department, Health and Human Services.

So yeah, government waste is real. It’s a problem. And Donald Trump is, by no means, not the first president to go after it.

Two months after Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he turned to his Vice President Al Gore with a task: make the federal government cheaper and more efficient. As Clinton put it, the goal was to "change the culture of our national bureaucracy away from complacency and entitlement toward initiative and empowerment."

And for five years, that’s exactly what Gore did. His National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) took a scalpel to bureaucracy and eliminated over 200 outdated programs, reduced 377,000 federal jobs, and saved taxpayers an estimated $136 billion.

It digitized government services, reduced paperwork, made Social Security more accessible online, cut wait times at the IRS, and introduced cost-saving measures at the Pentagon that shaved $30 billion off defense logistics and procurement.

And despite the intense partisan gridlock after Republicans swept Congress in 1994, NPR didn’t become a political football. While some conservatives dismissed it as bureaucratic tinkering and some unions worried about job cuts, the initiative largely avoided controversy because—at its core—it worked.

Granted, it wasn’t always successful. Part of Gore’s reinvention of government came with a strong emphasis on efficiency—sometimes, arguably, at the cost of oversight. It was part of a broader Clinton-era push toward market-driven governance, where privatization and deregulation were seen as solutions not just for corporations but for government itself.

That mindset didn’t stop at trimming bureaucratic waste. It also influenced the administration’s approach to financial regulations—including the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. While NPR had nothing to do with financial policy, both came from the same belief that outdated systems were holding back progress. One sought to make government run more like a business; the other let businesses operate with fewer restrictions.

The repeal of Glass-Steagall wasn’t an act of reckless negligence—it was part of the same Clinton-era belief in modernization and efficiency. Just as NPR sought to streamline federal agencies, deregulation aimed to “modernize” financial markets by removing what many saw as outdated restrictions.

But just as government efficiency measures can go too far, so too can deregulation. By allowing commercial and investment banks to merge, Glass-Steagall’s repeal unknowingly helped create the conditions for the financial collapse of 2008. It didn’t cause the crisis on its own, but it made it easier for banks to take unchecked risks—risks that eventually led to global economic devastation.

At a glance, NPR and DOGE might seem like distant cousins. Both claim to be about efficiency. Both promise to cut waste and modernize government. Both say they want the system to run more like the private sector.

But that’s where the similarities end.

When Gore took on government waste, he had a plan. He spent six months consulting agency heads, policy experts, and frontline government employees before making his first major move. He did the homework. He didn’t just slash budgets—he made sure critical services stayed intact.

As Elaine Kamarck, a senior adviser to Gore during the initiative, put it: "We did it without a constitutional crisis... Our mandate was: Works better, costs less."

And even then, most of what was cut actually needed to be cut. Because NPR’s goal wasn’t just to make a political statement. It was to make government work.

DOGE, on the other hand, isn’t efficiency—it’s demolition. Unlike NPR’s methodical, data-driven approach, DOGE has operated like a reckless wrecking ball—swinging first, asking questions never.

There’s no strategic planning, no consultation with experts, no effort to ensure that what’s being cut actually makes sense. It’s chaos dressed up as reform.

And the question isn’t just how it’s happening. It’s who benefits.

When Al Gore led the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, his incentives were simple—make government run better. He wasn’t profiting from it. He wasn’t angling for a payday, and he couldn’t even if he wanted to. His success was measured by whether agencies became more efficient, services improved, and waste was actually reduced. There was no stock price to inflate, no private empire to expand.

Elon Musk, by contrast, has everything to gain and nothing to lose. As the world’s richest man, he has a direct financial interest in gutting regulatory agencies, slashing labor protections, and shifting public services into private hands—many of which sit under his control.

DOGE isn’t about efficiency. It’s about consolidating power, eliminating oversight, and stacking the deck in favor of the very people wielding the axe.

Take the Environmental Protection Agency, where regulatory experts were dismissed without replacements, leaving polluters unchecked. Or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where pre-negotiated efficiency contracts were axed under misleading claims of wasteful spending—crippling the agency’s ability to protect consumers from corporate fraud.

DOGE claims it has saved $65 billion. The reality? Estimated at just $9.6 billion. And even that number comes at the expense of cutting programs that were already boosting efficiency.

DOGE isn’t cutting government waste. It’s manufacturing dysfunction.

And the people reaping the rewards are the ones holding the axe.

In other words, DOGE is failing at its surface mission. Badly.

So if DOGE isn’t about boosting government efficiency, then what exactly is its mission? Simple. Just look at what it has targeted first—the things Musk and the Trump administration have deemed most important.

The pattern is impossible to ignore. At a glance, these cuts might look like an attempt to eliminate inefficiencies. But look closer, and a common thread emerges.

One of DOGE’s very first moves? The total erasure of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across federal agencies. Not scaled back. Not revised. Wiped from existence—immediately, decisively, and absolutely.

Was this about saving money? These programs made up a microscopic fraction of the federal budget—if they were meaningful expenses at all.

What they did do, however, was promote workplace policies that emphasized equity and representation. And that alone made them a target.

But that was just the beginning.

More than 30,000 federal employees have been fired under DOGE’s direction, and the rationale behind those cuts is just as telling as the numbers themselves. If this were really about trimming government fat, the layoffs would have been methodical—targeting inefficiencies, not entire sectors.

Instead, the cuts have fallen hardest on agencies that regulate business, protect the environment, enforce civil rights, and oversee financial systems. The EPA lost regulatory experts with no replacements. The DOJ saw its top corruption prosecutors forced out. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had critical management consulting contracts canceled.

These weren’t just bureaucratic shake-ups. They were calculated moves to strip away oversight.

The Department of Transportation fired aviation safety inspectors—in the middle of multiple plane crashes and near misses. The CDC and NIH lost pandemic preparedness scientists. The IRS, right in the middle of tax season, was stripped of 6,000 enforcement employees.

These aren’t just budget cuts. These are the pillars of the federal government being hacked away with no regard for the fallout.

And what do they all have in common?

They cripple the government’s ability to regulate corporations, financial institutions, and public health—all sectors where deregulation benefits the wealthy and powerful.

This was never about reducing costs. It’s about control.

DOGE isn’t just gutting regulatory agencies. It’s replacing them with privatized alternatives. Religious charter schools are being fast-tracked while federal education programs are being dismantled. Public institutions are losing funding, while private entities aligned with the administration are stepping in to fill the void.

And make no mistake—these aren’t efficiency measures. They are deliberate moves to dismantle public institutions and shift power into the hands of private interests.

One of the most blatant examples?

DOGE claimed it saved taxpayers $100 million by eliminating diversity training programs at the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. The reality?

The actual expenditure was just over $400,000. Canceling the contract only saved $121,770. Not even a rounding error in the federal budget.

And it’s not the only time DOGE’s so-called savings turned out to be smoke and mirrors.

An $8 billion "cut" from ICE enforcement? Later revealed to be just $8 million. A difference of three orders of magnitude.

So what is DOGE actually doing? It isn’t cutting government inefficiency; it’s cutting the government’s ability to function at all. The agencies being stripped of funding and personnel aren’t just any agencies—they are the ones responsible for oversight, enforcement, regulation, and public safety.

The people being pushed out aren’t just bureaucrats—they are the ones with the expertise and institutional knowledge to keep the system working. The programs being eliminated aren’t just wasteful expenditures—they are the ones that serve as guardrails against unchecked power.

Efficiency was never the goal. Power was. DOGE isn’t just dismantling government waste. It’s dismantling government itself.

If DOGE’s mission isn’t efficiency but rather a systematic dismantling of government oversight, then the question becomes: what can we do about it? It’s too late to prevent Trump from taking office. The damage is already being done. But that doesn’t mean it’s too late to fight back.

First, transparency is key. DOGE thrives on chaos and misinformation, exaggerating its so-called savings while obscuring the consequences of its actions. Call your representatives—Democratic or Republican—and demand oversight hearings into DOGE’s budget claims and the impact of its cuts. Congressional investigations may not reverse the damage overnight, but they create public records and slow down further actions.

Second, support independent journalism and watchdog organizations tracking these cuts. The mainstream press is already covering the most high-profile agency guttings, but watchdog groups are monitoring every single move in real time. Subscribe, donate, and share verified reports that expose the reality of what’s happening—not just the administration’s spin.

Third, pressure state governments to act where the federal government won’t. Many of the gutted programs—especially regulatory, environmental, and civil rights protections—have state-level equivalents. Call your state legislators, push for state-level protections, and support ballot initiatives that reinforce the safeguards being stripped away at the federal level.

Fourth, get loud. Protests, walkouts, and social media campaigns won’t change everything overnight, but they do shift public perception. If agencies that directly impact people’s lives—like the IRS, FAA, CDC, and DOJ—are being stripped down to the bone, people need to understand what that means for them personally. Organize at the local level and demand accountability.

A nationwide economic blackout is scheduled for tomorrow, February 28, 2025, urging Americans to halt spending at major chains and instead support local businesses to disrupt corporate power and government influence. The Huron County Democratic Party is holding a protest at the Huron County Courthouse in Michigan, with similar events happening across the country.

Federal employees affected by DOGE’s actions are pushing back with protests and resignations, and showing solidarity with these workers is essential. This is not the time for silence.

And if direct action isn’t possible, there’s another way to hit where it hurts: boycott.

Musk isn’t just overseeing DOGE—he’s profiting from it. His business empire is deeply intertwined with government contracts, regulatory decisions, and public funding. He is gutting federal agencies while his own companies continue to reap billions in government subsidies and defense contracts.

If Musk wants to use public money to undermine public institutions, then the least we can do is stop footing the bill.

Tesla benefits from federal subsidies for electric vehicles, SpaceX has lucrative deals with NASA and the Department of Defense, and Starlink has been awarded contracts to provide internet services in politically strategic regions. His influence over government operations isn’t just ideological; it’s financial.

If Musk lost just 50% of his business from Tesla and X, it would amount to tens of billions in lost revenue. Tesla, which made over $96 billion in revenue last year, is already vulnerable due to increased competition in the EV market. A consumer shift away from Tesla toward other electric vehicle companies—whether it’s Ford, Rivian, or BYD—would send a clear message.

X, formerly Twitter, has already seen a significant drop in ad revenue. Continued divestment from the platform—particularly by users and advertisers who oppose Musk’s policies—could accelerate its decline.

Boycotting Tesla, canceling X subscriptions, and refusing to engage with Musk-owned platforms like Starlink and companies that partner with them, such as T-Mobile, won’t cripple him overnight. But it will weaken his grip on the very system he’s trying to dismantle for his own benefit.

Because make no mistake—this isn’t just about ideology. It’s about money. The fewer regulators, the fewer watchdogs, the fewer career experts standing in the way, the easier it is for Musk’s empire to profit without restriction. If there’s no one left to hold him accountable, he doesn’t just win—he owns the game.

Every dollar not funneled into his empire is a dollar not spent enabling the gutting of federal institutions.

This fight isn’t just about one man, one agency, or one administration. It’s about whether the government exists to serve the public—or whether it’s being hijacked to serve a handful of billionaires and political operatives. The only way to stop it is by making sure that, when the history of this moment is written, it includes the names of those who fought back.

Finally, prepare for the long fight. DOGE is moving fast, but resistance has to be strategic and sustained. Every major administration rollback in U.S. history—from the Patriot Act to the repeal of Net Neutrality—was met with public pressure that, over time, forced policy shifts and legal reversals.

This will be no different.

The institutions being dismantled today can be rebuilt, but only if the cost of their destruction is made too high for those in power to ignore. That means relentless scrutiny, continued activism, and a refusal to accept these changes as inevitable.

Musk and the Trump administration are betting on exhaustion. They’re banking on the idea that people will see government as too distant, too complicated, too dysfunctional to fight for.

But this isn’t some abstract political reshuffling—these are the systems that ensure your food isn’t contaminated, your flights don’t crash, your medications are safe, your tax dollars aren’t siphoned off by fraud.

This is about whether the government functions at all or whether it becomes just another extension of private interests, serving only the wealthiest and most connected.

DOGE is not about efficiency. It never was. It’s about control—who has it, who loses it, and who profits from its absence.

The fewer regulators, the fewer watchdogs, the fewer career experts standing in the way, the easier it is to consolidate power at the top. The government doesn’t just belong to those who run it; it belongs to the people it serves. And right now, those people are being pushed out of the equation.

This moment isn’t just about resisting the damage already done—it’s about laying the groundwork for what comes next.

That means supporting investigative journalism that exposes corruption. It means showing up to local meetings where federal decisions trickle down to the state level. It means backing legal challenges against unconstitutional overreach.

It means staying engaged even when the headlines shift to the next crisis—because that’s exactly what those in power are counting on.

If there’s one lesson from history, it’s that power grabs don’t happen all at once. They happen incrementally, under the guise of reform, with just enough legitimacy to pacify the public.

Until one day, what was once unthinkable becomes reality. Until one day, what was once a government of laws becomes a government of men.

But history also teaches us something else: nothing is inevitable.

The fight against DOGE is not just about preserving the institutions being dismantled today—it’s about proving that the people they serve still have the final say. Because once government is no longer a check on power, it becomes a tool of power. And when that happens, democracy doesn’t just erode—it ceases to exist.