Something we expected: DOGE was a malevolent, stupid waste of time and resources. The fact that Musk was given access to sensitive, secure governmental systems is most likely a crime in and of itself. We don't need ignorant, biased, incompetent billionaires deciding which government programs should continue and which should be terminated. Musk is a liar like his idol Trump.
GAO AUDIT OF DOGE
Two days ago, the Government Accountability Office released its audit of DOGE’s so called Wall of Receipts.
Elon Musk claimed DOGE saved taxpayers $215 billion. The GAO found billions in supposed savings that weren’t real at all. More than $27 billion came from contracts DOGE said it terminated that were never actually terminated. Auditors couldn’t verify how DOGE calculated 96% of its claimed grant savings, and many of the leases DOGE took credit for eliminating were already being closed before DOGE existed.
Independent analysis has put the amount of clearly identifiable savings much closer to $5 billion.
But even the word ‘savings’ is a lie.
They didn’t find waste, fraud or abuse. They saved money by stopping the government from providing services that helped Americans as well as humanitarian programs overseas that we’d supported for decades because they saved lives, prevented disease and instability, and served America’s interests around the world.
USAID programs providing food, clean water, vaccines and treatment for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria disappeared. More than 80% of its humanitarian programs were canceled. At Social Security, staffing cuts contributed to longer waits and problems processing claims for elderly and disabled Americans.
Federal agencies lost scientists, IT specialists, claims processors and experienced employees who actually made government work. There are documented purchasing problems, service delays and increased costs across numerous agencies thanks to these unnecessary cuts.
And the human cost was much bigger than the dollar savings. About 386,000 federal civilians lost their jobs as a result of the Trump downsizing, while a Boston University researcher’s model estimates that cuts to USAID programs contributed to more than 780,000 additional deaths worldwide in the first year, including roughly half a million kids.
So when MUSK says he ‘saved’ money, ask the obvious question. Saved it from what?
From treating malaria. Feeding starving children. Processing Social Security claims. Keeping experienced people in government. Maintaining programs Americans had already decided were worth paying for.
Does Elon have any grasp of what it’s like to be a retired, working class American living on a limited income? Does he understand the nightmare of living in a third world country where food is scarce and medical care is desperately needed? He doesn’t know or care.
Musk talked about saving $2 trillion. DOGE claimed $215 billion. We may have gotten something closer to $5 billion in identifiable savings, while destroying services worth far more to the people who depended on them.
That’s like saving money on your electric bill by burning down your house. Many of us already knew this. Now a GAO audit has officially confirmed it.
Elon Musk waved his golden chainsaw around onstage like a demented clown while thousands lost critical services and hundreds of thousands died. DOGE was enormous in its own right.
Compared to everything else he’s done to the federal government, DOGE was just another disgusting act in Trump’s corrupt circus.
08/08/2026 Sources:
U.S. Government Accountability Office, “DOGE Wall of Receipts: More Transparency Needed on How Savings Are Derived from Contract, Grant, and Lease Terminations,” August 6, 2026;
Reuters, “100 Days of DOGE: Lots of Chaos, Not So Much Efficiency,” April 24, 2025;
Reuters, “From Fighting HIV to Interpreters, USAID Cuts Wide Swath of Programs,” March 6, 2025;
Reuters, “U.S. Government Workforce Shrinks by 12% Since September 2024,” March 4, 2026;
Boston University, “Tracking Anticipated Deaths from USAID Funding Cuts,” March 21, 2025;
Forbes, “Musk Escalates Unproven USAID Claims in Fiery Posts as Studies Link DOGE Cuts to Child Deaths,” July 1, 2026.
AI illustration made using ChatGPT
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