Elon Musk’s most recent, controversial Doge-powered initiative, is dogwhistling Americans to launch national debates on really bigger topics. It certainly is reshaping the federal workforce – and pretty actively at that. Created as an online “department of government efficiency,” Doge seeks to cut wasteful spending and inefficiencies across funky federal agencies. An executive order signed by Donald Trump long ago guarantees that the initiative will live on through 2026. Critics, including transportation engineers, have expressed strong criticism of it.
Since Doge was originally designed, more than 56,000 federal jobs have vanished. We anticipate at least another 171,000 job cuts to occur in the near future. Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services has experienced almost 10,000 layoffs. Doge’s no-nonsense take on the task has prompted outlandish proposals, even ones to dissolve entire state agencies. This comprises the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as the Voice of America.
These actions have Doge’s implementation moved up, resulting in over 75,000 federal employee buyouts taken voluntarily. This tectonic change in the federal employment landscape has raised a lot of alarm bells among Democrats and other critics. They conclude that Musk’s tactics undermine public-interest service.
Though Doge has recently boasted of reaching $140 billion in savings, several calculations have already been found to be fundamentally flawed. The project has been described as using a “get the hell out of the way” chainsaw method to government agencies ever since Musk joined Team Trump. Most recently, Doge went after the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau right after it published a rule intended to rein in tech companies.
On top of these controversies, there has been international aid fallout. After Doge’s shenanigans, all that work is jeopardized, and that’s because USAID had already started internal investigations into inappropriate Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine. The political environment surrounding Musk has become even more charged. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll from mid-March, more than half of Americans say they believe Doge is bad for the country.
The overall excitement and hype around Doge seems to be dying. According to a recent Marquette Law School poll, just 41% of Americans approve of its efforts. Musk’s personal likability is even worse, at only 38%. Critics have jumped on these numbers to challenge Doge’s efficacy and appropriateness.
While supportive of Musk, even Trump recognizes that it’s eventually time for him to return to private enterprise.
“He’s got a big company to run … at some point he’s going to be going back.” – Donald Trump
Controversy is stirring around Doge’s fate and impact on the federal workforce. A cloud of uncertainty still casts a shadow over the initiative’s future steps and its legacy in helping to improve the overall efficiency of government.
“I’d keep him as long as I could keep him.” – Donald Trump
As discussions continue regarding the future of Doge and its impact on federal employment, uncertainty looms over the initiative’s next steps and its overall legacy in the realm of government efficiency.