Why did DOGE fail?

[Greenbeard]

The damage from DOGE is real, but ultimately the ostensible project of saving trillions and "fixing" the budget or making government operate for efficiently has been a dismal failure. It's been a good six months since the DOGE reign of terror kicked off in earnest and two months since Musk himself was booted, so perhaps it's time to reflect on what went so horribly wrong.

Why did DOGE fail so spectacularly?

 

[j brown's body]

It didn't fail. This is exactly what Trump wanted. It ended programs Maga doesnt like.

 

[Greenbeard]

It didn't fail. This is exactly what Trump wanted.

I think that falls under the "It was a deliberate scam from the start" option.

 

[tshade]

The damage from DOGE is real, but ultimately the ostensible project of saving trillions and "fixing" the budget or making government operate for efficiently has been a dismal failure. It's been a good six months since the DOGE reign of terror kicked off in earnest and two months since Musk himself was booted, so perhaps it's time to reflect on what went so horribly wrong.

Why did DOGE fail so spectacularly?

because it was based on misinformation, which eventually gets exposed...............

 

[Bok Tuklo]

They are morons.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

It was unlawful. Congress appropriates funds. Congress has the power of the purse. Not Trump. Not Musk.

 

[Gatsby]

Yes, DOGE failed — and it matters

You can't drastically reduce government spending without hurting people

www.slowboring.com

 

[Helix]

If the goals were looting and destruction, it succeeded.

 

[roberthughey]

The damage from DOGE is real, but ultimately the ostensible project of saving trillions and "fixing" the budget or making government operate for efficiently has been a dismal failure. It's been a good six months since the DOGE reign of terror kicked off in earnest and two months since Musk himself was booted, so perhaps it's time to reflect on what went so horribly wrong.

Why did DOGE fail so spectacularly?

It hasn't failed. You have it wrong.

That's why the left is bitching so much about budget cuts.

 

[Luce]

It was a scam from the very beginning.

 

[Visbek]

Why did DOGE fail so spectacularly?

The intention was never to "eliminate waste and fraud."

The intention was always to sabotage legitimate functions of government, and to give Elmo an opportunity to steal tons of private data from the federal government.

 

[Greenbeard]

It hasn't failed. You have it wrong.

That's why the left is bitching so much about budget cuts.

The federal government is spending more this year than it did last year or the year before. And the GOP just passed major legislation to blow up the deficit by trillions more.

 

[roberthughey]

The federal government is spending more this year than it did last year or the year before. And the GOP just passed major legislation to blow up the deficit by trillions more.

The spending for the 2025 budget year was already decided in 2024. It's not Trump's budget.

Of course 2025 spending higher than 2024.

Future budgets trim a trillion dollars from Medicaid over the next decade.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Even if 50% of federal ‘discretionary’ spending was cut (obviously, mission impossible) there would still be annual federal deficit (stimulus?) spending. Federal ‘discretionary’ spending was about $1.8T for FY 2024.

Without significant cuts to federal ‘mandatory’ spending, which only congress critters can cut, there’s no hope of having a balanced federal “budget”. The major problem is engaging in continuous annual federal deficit (stimulus?) spending results in re-election rates of over 90% for congress critters. There’s simply no political downside to continuous annual federal deficit (stimulus?) spending.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Voted other, it was doomed to fail from the get go. Two massive egos like Trump's and Elon's, and someone out there really thinks DOGE was going to end well?

 

[Greenbeard]

The spending for the 2025 budget year was already decided in 2024. It's not Trump's budget.

Current spending was signed by Trump in March.

Trump signs GOP's 6-month government funding bill passed by Congress

President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation funding the government through the end of September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown and capping off a struggle in Congress that deeply divided Democrats.

www.pbs.org

But you're right that the existence of DOGE has been irrelevant to the spending trajectory. The thread's question is why.

 

[ttwtt78640]

It hasn't failed. You have it wrong.

That's why the left is bitching so much about budget cuts.

What “budget cuts”? Annual federal spending increases every year. The ‘hope’ is that federal revenue will ‘eventually’ grow faster than federal spending, but having that actually occur is unlikely.

 

[Gatsby]

The spending for the 2025 budget year was already decided in 2024. It's not Trump's budget.

Of course 2025 spending higher than 2024.

Future budgets trim a trillion dollars from Medicaid over the next decade.

That wasn't DOGE that cut Medicaid, it was an act of Congress. An act of Congress which also managed to put not a dime of those Medicaid cuts toward deficit reduction, but instead put it toward *partly* offsetting a tax cut for billionaires while blowing up the deficit.

 

[roberthughey]

Current spending was signed by Trump in March.

Trump signs GOP's 6-month government funding bill passed by Congress

President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation funding the government through the end of September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown and capping off a struggle in Congress that deeply divided Democrats.

www.pbs.org

But you're right that the existence of DOGE has been irrelevant to the spending trajectory. The thread's question is why.

We are talking about future spending.

The blue print for the current spending was set last year.

 

[Greenbeard]

Even if 50% of federal ‘discretionary’ spending was cut (obviously, mission impossible) there would still be annual federal deficit (stimulus?) spending. Federal ‘discretionary’ spending was about $1.8T for FY 2024.

Without significant cuts to federal ‘mandatory’ spending, which only congress critters can cut, there’s no hope of having a balanced federal “budget”. The major problem is engaging in continuous annual federal deficit (stimulus?) spending results in re-election rates of over 90% for congress critters.

There were moments (like when he railed against the concept of Social Security) that Musk seemed to acknowledge this, but he fell back on the "waste, fraud, and abuse driving spending" lie early and often.

 

[roberthughey]

That wasn't DOGE that cut Medicaid, it was an act of Congress. An act of Congress which also managed to put not a dime of those Medicaid cuts toward deficit reduction, but instead put it toward *partly* offsetting a tax cut for billionaires while blowing up the deficit.

F'ing duh.

 

[roberthughey]

What “budget cuts”? Annual federal spending increases every year. The ‘hope’ is that federal revenue will ‘eventually’ grow faster than federal spending, but having that actually occur is unlikely.

Future budgets trim a trillion dollars from Medicaid over the next decade.

 

[Gatsby]

F'ing duh.

You have a great day!

 

[Greenbeard]

We are talking about future spending.

The blue print for the current spending was set last year.

We’re also talking about current spending, which was signed into law by Trump several months ago.

 

[Airyaman]

The damage from DOGE is real, but ultimately the ostensible project of saving trillions and "fixing" the budget or making government operate for efficiently has been a dismal failure. It's been a good six months since the DOGE reign of terror kicked off in earnest and two months since Musk himself was booted, so perhaps it's time to reflect on what went so horribly wrong.

Why did DOGE fail so spectacularly?

Multiple reasons but I'll go for the lowest hanging fruit:

1) DOGE had zero expertise for the job they were hired for. It was like hiring a computer technician to fix your plumbing.
2) DOGE was never really there to find and cut "waste, fraud, and abuse", they were there to scoop up government data, fire a bunch of random people with no methodology, and squash all of the investigations against Musk's companies.