DOGE

The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a team of tech workers working on behalf of billionaire Trump megadonor Elon Musk to dismantle government agencies and fire thousands of federal employees in an alleged effort to reduce wasteful spending. In reality, Musk and his loyalists are slashing away at institutions that regulate his various companies while carrying out President Trump’s reactionary nationalist agenda by canceling foreign aid, educational and research grants, diversity initiatives, and policies that protect LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination.

DOGE effectively took over the United States Digital Service, a technical office under the direction of the president, with Musk often stating that he provides “tech support” for the Trump administration. After dodging questions on the topic of DOGE leadership for weeks, the White House claimed that a former healthcare worker named Amy Gleason is the “acting” administrator of the department, though she was on vacation in Mexico at the time, and DOGE appears to operate entirely at the direction of Musk, who continually shares misleading claims about the money it is saving taxpayers. 

DOGE staffers include young male programmers, some without college degrees and virtually all without government experience, who have ties to Musk’s companies or those of Peter Thiel, his former PayPal colleague and fellow right-wing tech billionaire. Their level of access to sensitive human resources data at U.S. Office of Personnel Management, payment systems at the Treasury, and records at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have raised alarm among career government employees.    

The group’s acronym is a joking reference to “doge,” a meme of a Shiba Inu dog that was popular in 2013 and became the mascot of dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that Musk has promoted.