A Nobel Prize winner has denounced the DOGE section of Trump's administration as the "damage" from their internal cuts "persists."
Economist Paul Krugman believes the Department of Government Efficiency, initially headed up by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has been more damaging than anything for the country and the president's plans for his second term.
It was reported earlier this week that DOGE was dead, with lead staff members reshuffled into different departments, but the official DOGE account on X confirmed the department is still working on government cuts.
In post in response to a Reuter's report Sunday claiming the agency was dead, DOGE responded, "President Trump was given a mandate by the American people to modernize the federal government and reduce waste, fraud and abuse. Just last week, DOGE terminated 78 wasteful contracts and saved taxpayers $335M. We’ll be back in a few days with our regularly scheduled Friday update."
But Krugman believes the ongoing cuts made by the department are more damaging and have "wreaked havoc" throughout the government. He wrote, "Arguably DOGE’s biggest 'achievement' was shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development. And the dismantling of USAID has left a legacy of death.
"Back at home, DOGE wreaked havoc on the U.S. government through a combination of arrogance, ignorance and sheer incompetence. Musk is gone, at least for now, from the Trump administration. So are many of the young acolytes he parachuted into temporary positions of power in government agencies, although some have managed to worm their way into longer-term positions."
Other political commentators believe DOGE has been a complete failure for the government as none of the changes made by Musk and his team stuck when implemented. The Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson suggested DOGE has "created more costs than it saved."
He said, "I was told that DOGE was going to create trillions and trillions of dollars in cuts from wasteful government spending and as it turns out it was a net negative. It created more costs than it saved."
Speaking to Reuters, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor confirmed the department no longer exists.
He said, "That doesn't exist. There is no target around reductions." Kupor would go on to say it's no longer a "centralized entity" in the administration.
DOGE did not provide any details of what they had cut, when they had cut it, or how much they had effectively saved but did claim to have cut government expenditure down by tens of billions of dollars.