Nah, they've been paying out contracts to the tune of billions of dollars they ended, like USAID and the dept of ed. A report recently came out that they've had to pay out $2B dollars to contractors of ended USAID contracts. That's $2B for people not to do work. Only the smartest people in this administration.
662
FearMeIAmRoot3 days ago
+586
The purpose of DOGE was not to save money. It was never about money. It was about cancelling 'liberal' programs and eliminating oversight of corporations.
586
dPaul213 days ago
+354
And to end investigations into Musk's companies.
354
Etheralto3 days ago
+194
The cancellation of investigations on his companies was Musk’s reward for using DOGE to steal everyone’s personal and voter data so they could effectively target their enemies.
194
crafty_alias3 days ago
+56
Mostly the data part.
56
eh_steve_4203 days ago
+41
If you asked Elon, and he wasn't being completely full of shit like he always is, I'm sure he was just giddy with the entire dogecoaster.
Think...
Having a politician vote for legislation you've paid for is kid shit. Even *millionaires* can do this. Elon actually got to become the head of a government department he and the president created out of thin air, completely ignoring congress, and then personally used it to get rid of entire agencies that were "inconvenient" for his business, as well as take a direct stab at a few for strictly ideological reasons. Not only did extraordinarily wealth give him the power to shape political outcomes, but it let him be dictator for a day and he got to impose his will on the collective rights and interests of his fellow citizens, without even being an appointed official, let alone elected. Definitely needed some ketamine to calm his nerves after that rush!
Not that the data thing isn't just as appalling. The federal government has always been decentralized itself, where different agencies are completely separate and disconnected. It can be a pain sometimes, like when you have to recertify income based repayment every year for student loans by authorizing Ed to see the IRS data on you. But musk had his people just build a database from all of these agencies. Uh oh! The entire thing was leaked onto a server in Russia. Well, good things he's so rich or what there'd probably be some... I dunno.... Serious consequences or something. Who wants more ketamine?
41
Muvseevum3 days ago
+9
I think entities that are in charge of our data need *extremely* high security requirements, plus serious fines/sanctions if they lose it, rather than sending an email: “We lost your data kthxbye”.
9
AntiAderall1 day ago
+1
I’m glad Trump ended the EV tax credit if for nothing else then to watch
Tesla’s pockets hurt. I hate the idea of not going towards electric vehicles but I think I’ve learned something:
If Elon decides something is bad for him, regardless of what it looks like on top, it will be good for the public.
1
Moneia3 days ago
+5
And to steal all of your personal data
5
Renoruke3 days ago
+3
And give himself even more government contracts.
3
SoftlySpokenPromises3 days ago
+2
Also to scrape as much of citizens information as they could.
2
pacificspinylump3 days ago
+41
I have to wonder if demoralizing the federal workforce was at least a side goal as well, it was really depressing having to run every decision we made past a 20 year old with no work experience last year.
41
JustHereForCookies173 days ago
+15
IDK about other metro areas, but I know it also meant a lot of people moved out of DC due to losing their jobs & the local job market subsequently being flooded with former government employees. The DC area is a one of the highest cost-of-living regions in the country, so that's a lot of available real estate in an area that's historically been immune to drops in housing values. Great investment opportunity for private equity.
15
Corellian_Browncoat3 days ago
+13
It was absolutely a goal, of the Administration even if not of DOGE directly.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/10/who-is-russell-vought-trump-office-of-management-and-budget
13
StickyTaq3 days ago
+6
That was explicitly stated as a goal by the current Management and Budget Director.
6
jupiterkansas3 days ago
+3
Newshour just did a story on how a few of them are now running for office.
3
thisvideoiswrong3 days ago
+14
We can't forget that it was also about giving Russia unfettered access to government databases. We know that DOGE was passing their logins to Russia within minutes of being given access themselves.
14
JustHereForCookies173 days ago
+11
And getting access to our personal data. They got into the Social Security Administration early on.
11
True_Window_93893 days ago
+11
A lot of it wasn’t about anything. It was just being vindictive in the moment.
The simple story is that Rubio put stop work orders on everything at USAID, including programs that were critical for things like disaster response and disease prevention. Or “administrative” contracts like security for USG and contractor personnel. People at USAID kept trying to keep the lights on just so people literally weren’t dying, and Doge took that as insubordination and fired and canceled programs in response. There might have been underlying motivations around targeting librul foreign aid or hurting government morale, but most of what happened was even stupider and less purposeful than being emotional assholes in the moment.
Doge was just a team of little b**** trolls who didn’t know how anything worked and didn’t care about consequences. They, like all maga, think of everything as a tv show and power play.
11
0tanod3 days ago
+8
According to project 2025 its also to get regular folks to quit so the GOP can than hire their loyal dogs to sabotage any changes a democrat tries to enact iin the future.
8
EricSanderson3 days ago
+6
And to privatize. They've already got defense, but they desperately want to get their claws into education, health care, and foreign relations.
It's a simple plan - destroy the current systems, complain that they aren't working, then award contracts to your rich benefactors.
If this shit keeps going unchecked we're gonna be paying for public school by 2037
6
Discount_Extra3 days ago
+6
It was about hurting the right people.
6
redyellowblue503121 hr ago
+1
Vought wanted trauma on the federal workforce. He got it.
That f****** slime is still doing his dirty work, just without as much attention on himself. Wish the media would bring him back into the spotlight.
1
Rogaar20 hr ago
+1
You forget about all the back door access into all that data.
1
Korietsu3 days ago
+43
That's the point. They'd rather they pay that out and never hire anyone ever again to replace them.
It's called RAGE. Retire All Government Employees.
It's in the project 2025 handbook.
43
lunaticfridgeprime3 days ago
+27
It's insane that you can just break the law and then we have to wait months to years to get a court to say "you broke the law". No shit guys, that is why we had the law to say that it's the law.
This admin has completely broken our system, and I don't see it ever returning to a state of functioning.
27
_wawrzon_3 days ago
+2
Of course you can gut it in a week. Reinstating it within a week ? Impossible. Best I can give you is a year.
2
recyclopath_1 day ago
+2
And all of the nonprofits went out of business or shrank to absolutely nothing.
Not to mention all of the scientific research.
It's unrecoverable.
2
Momoselfie1 day ago
+1
Has it only been a year? Ugh.
1
AudibleNod3 days ago
+388
>“There can be no serious dispute that the review process implemented by DOGE did not conform to, or even resemble, NEH’s ordinary grant-review process,” Judge McMahon wrote.
[That's because these aren't serious people.](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/kash-patel-fbi-bourbon/687066/) No Trump appointee is in office to serve the American people.
388
fattmarrell3 days ago
+55
There's a larger access process when I enter Costco than what happened with my PII because of DOGE
55
some_person_guy3 days ago
+40
DOGE's existence defied the point of having three branches of government. Congress never voted that executive funding could be used in this fashion, and there was not a lawful mandate to redirect Congressional funding for the purpose of gutting Executive branch programs and eliminating its employees.
That they were allowed to even do what they did shows how neutered and corrupt Congress is, and the same for any Supreme Court decision to let those outcomes slide. The only hope we have is having fair and free elections in November that put Democrats back in power. But I know it's going to be a shit show that Trump and his wannabe mafia goons will try to stop this by force.
40
sonicsludge2 days ago
+7
If that happens, then we, the people, have to get our hands dirty, plain and simple.
7
bedrooms-ds3 days ago
+2
Reminds me of mafias. Mafias make careers by building schemes to overcome courts' actions.
You may capture mafias, but only if you overhaul the judicial system specifically to capture a particular mafia.
2
biggsteve813 days ago
+1
I know of at least one exception - NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.
1
TylerHyena3 days ago
+236
Wasn’t it obvious after that interview with the little twenty-something shithead kid who admitted that they were just there to get rid of anything that sounded even remotely DEI-like?
236
myislanduniverse3 days ago
+59
"I understand the definition of DEI. It's whatever is written on the paper."
59
Tibbaryllis23 days ago
+45
One of my coworker is a parasitologist that regularly publishes. They were in the middle of doing final revisions with some students before publishing, and DOGE removed dozens of critical articles/reports from the CDC website for using the term “diversity” when referring the patients with multiple parasitic infections from multiple different organisms (I.e. species diversity).
Fortunately, I introduced them to the [wayback machine](https://web.archive.org) where the CDC archive still had the articles intact.
45
Creative_Ad_83382 days ago
+4
You mean Mr. Big Balls isn't an upstanding citizen?
4
krw133 days ago
+4
Like vacuum museums!
4
phil_the_builder3 days ago
+109
That, too me is the most infuriating part. Even if the courts eventually catch up to these scumbags. The damage is done and a whole mountain of other bullshit is still waiting to be on the docket.
This strategy of burrying everyone with fast paced lies and dirty deeds done dirt c**** is frightingly effective.
109
PontifexPrimus3 days ago
+49
Exactly. Breaking is so much easier than re-building. It should simply not be possible for someone from outside the system to do so much damage by just saying "no money for that shit anymore, because f*** you".
49
phil_the_builder3 days ago
+33
All the checks and balances have faliled, because the system seemingly does not account for malicious actors.
I think the clean up operation of the next administration would need to be monumental, which would make them probably pretty unpopular, and come.the next elections the cycle begins anew.
33
Politicsboringagain3 days ago
+18
That been the cycle for my 26 years of voting.
Democrats mostly fix thugs after republicans broke.
It takes more than 1.6 years to fix it, so voters give the house or senate away to republicans who stop everything Democrats were doing.
Then things barely change or get better because republicans vow to block everything Democrats want,so voters stay home or give more power to republicans. Then Republicans get all the power and break things even more. Then voters barely vote a majority in for Democrats to fix again.
It then takes more than 1.6 years to fix so voters give power to republicans again in the house and or senate.
And the cycle continues.
18
phil_the_builder3 days ago
+7
Yes, it is just sad. It is similar in Germany where I live, a litte less dramatic but still more standstill than progress.
I am really anxious to see how the cycle evolves in 2028. In my mind both parties should work together to fortify the US democrazy, but that will never happen... I have no idea how all this can be fixed. I think the loss of trust with the US's allies alone will take decades of rebuilding.
7
bp920093 days ago
+7
The big issue is that in the law, there is zero personal liability for actions taken, if someone can claim they are a political appointee or doing so as part of their political office.
Sounds reasonable in theory (any decision made will annoy someone), but it results in there being an issue where a malicious actor gets in a position, causes massive damage, and the system itself takes all the blame, with the perpetrator getting away with zero actual punishment.
7
JerryDipotosBurner3 days ago
+105
“No f****** shit” - literally everyone who watched this happen in real time over a year ago.
105
Tuesday_6PM3 days ago
+93
When we end the current regime, ever member of DOGE needs to be held criminally liable for their wanton destruction of our institutions
93
TubeAlloysEvilTwin3 days ago
+36
The only way the US will recover is if the next government fights for the entire term to reinforce and rollback the institutions. We're talking about something on the scale of several Nuremberg trials.
Whoever the president is needs to use that stupid immunity to dissolve and reform the supreme court. After all if it's in the pursuit of their duties the supreme court has ruled for full immunity. I'm sure it will never happen but it might at least put a scare into them
36
thisvideoiswrong3 days ago
+12
Yeah, it's hard to believe no one ever floated the point that if the president is immune to criminal charges for assassinating a political rival, which was explicitly discussed in oral arguments, then they would be similarly immune for assassinating a Supreme Court Justice. Maybe they would have been a little less eager to rule against our most basic principles if it were explicitly their necks on the line.
12
phil_the_builder3 days ago
+35
De-nazification comes to my mind.
35
getbackjoe942 days ago
+6
We didn't even do Reconstruction right after the Civil War. After WW2 [we brought Nazis into our government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip) and let the American Nazis rebrand as conservatives. [There are](https://time.com/6322156/history-of-nazi-immigration/) [quite a few articles](https://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/the-nazis-next-door/) [about the thousands of Nazis](https://www.npr.org/2014/11/05/361427276/how-thousands-of-nazis-were-rewarded-with-life-in-the-u-s) that were allowed to immigrate and thrive in America. Over 40 years after the end of WW2, they finally "caught" 2 former Nazis and extradited them to Germany. 2 out of thousands. [There are photos of people like SS officer Kurt Debus acting as NASA director while sitting next to JFK.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/JFK_Tour_of_KSC_-_GPN-2000-000605.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original) There will be no de-Nazification in America.
6
doneandtired20143 days ago
+16
*All* of them deserve nothing less than to spend the remainder of their lives in ADX Florence.
16
Dvscape2 days ago
+1
On taxpayer money
1
doneandtired20142 days ago
+1
If we didn't execute Aldrich Aimes, we won't be executing them.
1
ailish3 days ago
+17
Wow, that was all illegal? No shit, we needed a court to take an entire year to tell us that? 🙄
17
Who_Dafqu_Said_That3 days ago
+4
I'm totally sure people who did this will be charged and everything will be set right...
4
ailish3 days ago
+3
Oh yeah, especially that Big Balls kid.
3
That_Communication713 days ago
+10
The illegal cuts and activities of DOGE are constantly called out but Musk still hasn't been charged with anything. Should have been called DODGE.
10
myislanduniverse3 days ago
+7
Oh good the courts have caught up to last March and are "troubled" by what they're seeing. Can't wait till they get to last June!
7
CrunchyAssDiaper3 days ago
+8
I'm tired of this country, where the legal system moves at 1700s speed.
I'm an idiot and I could tell the grant terminations were unlawful when they happened.
Meanwhile, real people have been hurt because of these terminations.
8
Equivalent-Resort-633 days ago
+10
The damage is done and they relish in it. No different to what continues to happen and neither Congress or the courts have have the will nor power to stop the illegal activities of this administration.
10
LeoSolaris3 days ago
+3
The judicial push back has been limiting the damage. The tariff fiasco is dead, for instance. Don't confuse limiting damage with preventing damage altogether. The time for prevention has long passed.
3
Any-Progress-3 days ago
+3
Yeah, guess they didn’t read the article about a court stopping the illegal activity of this administration… seems strange to be a defeatist even about a win.
3
Equivalent-Resort-633 days ago
+3
Read the article and have been following court actions. Most have been too little - too late. I’m hopeful that fallow through and accountability will improve but so far this admin has shown blatant disdain to follow court orders or written laws. Turning back the damage that has been done will take decades and w re still have over two more years of this cluster f***. Hoping for a strong November turnout.
3
kevendo3 days ago
+5
Justice in America is too slow to matter. The damage is both already done and impossible to undo.
5
Smashmasta2 days ago
+3
And what’s going to be done about it?
3
despenser4122 days ago
+3
Woah! The nonsense department the billionaire president created for his billionaire friend is 'troubling'? Wha? That's crayyzeee!
It's almost as if electing a wealthy businessman with no experience in politics, military, or government was a bad idea!
3
wilonwheels3 days ago
+3
*No shit! Citizens hired a fox to guard their hen house.
3
VerrikInc3 days ago
+3
Troubling? No shit. That's an understatement
3
Any-Progress-3 days ago
+5
I think that’s “judge speak” for “criminal”.
5
trackday212 days ago
+3
2 trillion federal deficit. I don't want DOGE making cuts I want Congress making cuts because it's their job.
3
jiggythejigsaw3 days ago
+2
So they are illegal. Will charges be brought against the members of DOGE and leadership that did this? Oh who am I kidding. Laws only apply to the peons. Never to the rich, politicians or the government.
2
NRBQ3 days ago
+2
Great. So I get my job back?
F*** you, Nazi.
2
Sreg322 days ago
+2
Good, so move onto gerrymandering which is more problematic
2
MadCat4173 days ago
+1
Word choices matter. Troubling might be one of the biggest understatements I've ever heard. It is wholly inadequate in this situation. I'm returning this exam for you to correct. You can get half credit for all corrected answers. It might just give you a chance to pass the class.
1
BWWFC3 days ago
+1
slow your roll justice system... no hasty calls till we see where this shit show is heading. no sense in leaning on years/decades/centuries of lessons or people who've literally done this their whole careers. looking before leaping and procedure just slows progress/s to the bottom.
1
cailenletigre2 days ago
+1
Saved a few billion to spend trillions on a war we didn’t need. Good job Elmo.
1
HilaryVandermueller18 hr ago
+1
I had a six-figure grant cancelled with a year left- f*** them. We were trying to help the people who needed it most. I’ll be forever heartbroken about it.
1
LordSoren3 days ago
+1
Don't worry, it will be overturned in an appeal by a higher judge who was appointed by Trump. I wish this was /s
81 Comments