The acronym DOGE is a deliberate nod to Musk’s vocal love of memes.

Where did the idea come from?

According to Howard Lutnick, co-chair of Trump’s transition team, was the first to offer Musk the Department of Government Effectiveness, deliberately using the acronym to amuse Musk. This prospect amused the South African billionaire, leading Trump to quickly embrace it.

Doge is one of the most popular memes on the internet, based on the real dog Shiba Inu Kabosu. The meme had real-world impact, with software designers creating the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. According to Coin Gecko, the cryptocurrency is valued at a market capitalization of over $60.5 billion. Its value exploded after Trump’s election.

How will DOGE work?

Trump outlined the purpose and function of DOGE in a statement on Tuesday.

Trump charged Musk and Ramaswamy with “dismantling government bureaucracy, cutting excessive regulations, cutting wasteful spending, and restructuring federal agencies – all of which is essential to the ‘Save America’ movement.”

“This will send shockwaves through the system and everyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people! » Musk reportedly said.

Trump went so far as to call DOGE the “Manhattan Project” of our time. »

According to the president-elect, the department will work outside of government, but in close coordination with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget. He said he would introduce large-scale structural reform through his entrepreneurial approach to government.

Finally, Trump set July 4, 2026 as the deadline for the agency to achieve its goals, “the perfect gift to America on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.”

Musk promised “maximum transparency in his new role.”

“Whenever the public thinks we are removing something important or not removing something unnecessary, let us know! » he said.

Musk added that the department would have a “ranking of the most incredibly stupid spending of your tax money.” It will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.

Despite its name, the department is unlikely to be a federal department due to the difficulties of creating such an agency from scratch. This is likely to take the form of the Grace Commission of 1982, which worked closely with the government but took only an advisory role.

Trump could create the advisory council through an executive order, as approved by the 1972 executive order. Federal Advisory Committee Act. Reagan created the Grace Commission by executive order 12369.

Is there any precedent for DOGE?

DOGE has easy precedent in the 1982 private sector investigation into former President Ronald Reagan’s cost controls, also known as Pardon Commission. Reagan was credited with coining the term “drain the swamp” by charging the commission with eliminating government waste.

Reagan charged “outstanding private sector experts” with a thorough review of the executive branch, tasking industrialist J. Peter Grace with leading it.

Although the scope of DOGE has not yet been revealed, the Grace Commission brought together more than 150 prominent business leaders working across 36 different working groups.

The commission’s work, initially planned for six months, increased to a year and a half. The final report presented to Congress in January 1984 contained more than 2,500 recommendations that it said would save billions of dollars over several decades.

However, the overwhelming majority of recommendations were not implemented and public debt quickly exploded.

What are the criticisms of DOGE?

The main targets of criticism around DOGE have been potential conflicts of interest, given Musk’s contracts with the government through Starlink and SpaceX, and the possible inefficiency of having two executives for a single position.

“Well, that’s it. The man who received more than $15 billion in government contracts over the past decade has been chosen to lead the new Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE),” said Cambridge professor Jostein Hauge. “I can’t imagine a greater conflict of interest.”

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“The Office of Government Efficiency is off to a good start with divided leadership: two people doing one person’s job,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “Yeah, that seems REALLY effective.”