Government Department Called DOGE Disbands After 294 Days: The End of a Political Meme Experiment

A government agency, literally copied Dogecoin’s code for its name, and the boss held a chainsaw claiming to reshape America. The result? It disbanded in just 294 days.

Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (yes, actually called DOGE), set up on his first day, didn’t even last eight months. The director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management only recently officially admitted: “It no longer exists.”

This thing was a meme from start to finish

On January 20, 2025, the day Trump was sworn in, he signed an executive order to establish DOGE. Anyone in the know—DOGE is straight from Dogecoin. Musk has always been Dogecoin’s number one fan, and this move brought crypto memes straight into politics.

The official website took it even further, using the Shiba Inu logo and Dogecoin’s entire visual style. A serious government agency? Not even close. Musk posted an even wilder photo on X: holding a chainsaw, captioned “For the bureaucracy.” It was the same playbook as when he hyped Dogecoin back in the day.

To put it plainly, DOGE was never a conventional government department from the start. It was more of a political experiment mixed with internet performance art. Using meme culture to deconstruct seriousness, playing with symbols to grab attention—this approach really worked with young people and internet users.

Silicon Valley tactics storm Washington

How did DOGE operate? Totally like a startup.

Musk recruited about 50 people in their twenties, hoodies and jeans, living on Red Bull. This group of “kids” infiltrated various federal agencies within three weeks, controlled funding flows, and screened contract projects.

AI was their core weapon. From contract allocations to employee reimbursements, everything was digitized. Wherever AI found wasted resources, they cut it—found empty government offices? Canceled the leases and saved $150 million.

But this “move fast and break things” Silicon Valley mindset hit a wall in Washington. DOGE required federal employees to submit weekly reports; if you didn’t, you were considered to have resigned. No-shows were put on administrative leave. Imagine how much traditional government departments resisted this approach.

The bigger the hype, the harder the fall

At first, Musk claimed he’d cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, and Ramaswamy went even further, saying they’d optimize away 70% of federal employees. These numbers sounded just like crypto project teams making wild promises, just to create buzz.

The reality?

DOGE claimed to have reduced spending by $160 billion, which sounds impressive, but it’s less than a fifth of Musk’s own target. The gap between the narrative and execution was huge.

A Democratic Senate committee released a report saying DOGE “wasted” over $21 billion in six months.

How was it wasted? Department of Energy loan programs were frozen, costing the government $263 million in interest. USAID was paralyzed, and $110 million worth of food and medicine rotted in warehouses.

The aggressive tactics brought trouble. Fourteen Democratic state attorneys general sued Musk and Trump, claiming the authorization was unconstitutional. DOGE faced nearly 20 lawsuits, including violations of privacy laws and unauthorized access to sensitive data.

The exit was quieter than the entrance

In May this year, Musk announced his resignation and had a public falling out with Trump over a certain bill. Over the summer, DOGE staff gradually left, and the headquarters’ security posts and signage disappeared.

This month, the director of the Office of Personnel Management officially confirmed: DOGE no longer exists, and its functions have been absorbed by OPM. Even DOGE’s signature government-wide hiring freeze has ended.

As for the team members, some moved to other positions—Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia now leads the National Design Studio, and Zachary Terrell became the CTO of the Department of Health. DOGE as an experimental project is over, but some ideas have been absorbed by traditional structures.

Florida Governor DeSantis commented on X: “DOGE fought the Swamp, the Swamp won.” In this political meme experiment, the traditional structure had the last laugh.

The symbolic economy has already penetrated

Although DOGE ended early, it marked that the fusion of politics and crypto culture is now irreversible. In the future, we may see more political institutions and governance models with “crypto-native” features.

The key is how to combine the innovative spirit of the crypto world with the stability of traditional governance—to have symbolic appeal and actual effectiveness.

Narratives can indeed unite consensus, but narratives detached from real technological implementation and value creation are castles in the air. When meme symbols lose their heat, what truly remains are always the technologies and projects that solve real problems.