What do a smiling Shiba Inu dog, the cryptocurrency market and the United States government have in common? They all deal with DOGE.
All jokes aside, the DOGE meme has been a fixture in pop culture since the early 2010s. Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency inspired by the meme, blew up in 2021 and is still being consistently traded. Despite its consistent popularity, DOGE has reached new levels of fame in 2025. Its astronomical ascent back into the news cycle can be attributed to the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, which is commonly and amusingly referred to as D.O.G.E.
President Donald Trump announced the creation of D.O.G.E during the 2024 election cycle. He signed the department into existence via executive order, signed on the first day of his second term. President Trump tasked tech billionaire Elon Musk with heading up D.O.G.E’s efforts.
D.O.G.E’s mission is simple; audit other government departments and report on ways the department is not efficiently using the money they are allocated. Musk has taken his orders and has not wasted any time. D.O.G.E has already audited major government entities such as the United States Treasury and Social Security office.
The aftermath of the initial D.O.G.E reports has been controversial, to say the least. On the right side of the aisle, Republicans have praised Musk and D.O.G.E’s efforts in sniffing out the government’s wasteful spending. The White House has also praised Musk’s proposal to send up to 20% of the money D.O.G.E saves back to taxpayers.
“I love it,” President Trump said about Musk’s dividend proposal. “A 20% dividend, so to speak, for the money that we’re saving by going after the waste, fraud and abuse and all of the other things that are happening. I think it’s a great idea.”
Democrats are not sharing the conservative’s excitement with the department’s findings. The left’s two main gripes with D.O.G.E are that Musk has never been confirmed by Congress and the measures the department is taking in its search for waste.
Tensions rose after D.O.G.E’s investigation into the U.S. Agency for International Development found multiple instances of what they categorized as misuse, prompting President Trump to shut down the department. Musk’s security clearance without Congress confirmation and the department’s access to sensitive information in the Treasury and Social Security office have also prompted fiery criticism from Democrats.
Representative Marie Stansbury left no room for misinterpretation in her statement regarding D.O.G.E.
“This Committee is tasked … with ensuring that the government and the vital services that it provides… But unfortunately, the Committee’s priorities have been elsewhere under the current majority,” Stansbury said. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk are recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government, shuttering federal agencies, firing federal workers, withholding funds vital to the safety and well-being of our communities.”
Bi-partisan agreement on how D.O.G.E should operate and the power it should be granted in the federal government is unlikely. As reports get released and lawsuits get filed, we will continue to hear more about what once was a meme, then a currency, and now one of the hottest political debates of the year.
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