The Josh Lafazan Show on YouTube - Episode 98

DOGE Has Been a FAILURE – How a Good Idea Completely Flopped

The Josh Lafazan Show on YouTube - Episode 98

In this episode of The Josh Lafazan Show, Josh breaks down the chaotic first 100 days of Elon Musk's controversial role leading Trump’s much-hyped Department of Government Efficiency—better known as DOGE—and exposes how it has not only failed to deliver on its promise of cutting federal spending but has actually overseen a $200 billion increase in government expenditures.

Here’s what we cover:

🔹 A Grand Promise, A Brutal Reality
Elon Musk, tapped by Trump to eliminate “waste” and slash $2 trillion in annual federal spending, promised a Silicon Valley-style overhaul of Washington bureaucracy. Instead, the actual savings verified by DOGE amount to just $2 billion, or 1/35 of 1% of the federal budget. And with the federal budget rising by nearly $278 billion, it's hard to call this anything but a failure.

🔹 Miscalculations, Mayhem, and Mass Layoffs
DOGE has been riddled with errors—from confusing millions for billions to triple-counting old contract cancellations. According to Futurism, the chaos has been palpable: reckless mass layoffs have forced agencies to rehire employees, and DOGE’s leadership has ignored the legal boundaries between executive and legislative powers, creating tension inside the White House. Secretaries Duffy, Bessent, and Rubio have reportedly clashed with Musk over his erratic methods.

🔹 No Real Cuts Where It Counts
Despite all the noise about “draining the swamp,” DOGE has refused to touch the bloated Defense Department, even as it racks up billions in procurement overruns. Meanwhile, Trump’s proposed budget increases Pentagon funding to over $1 trillion and includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts—most benefiting the wealthiest Americans—while slashing $2 trillion in services for the poor and middle class. This isn't efficiency. It’s fiscal malpractice.

🔹 Gutting IRS, Growing the Deficit
Instead of closing loopholes or increasing enforcement, DOGE has threatened to cripple the IRS, likely increasing tax evasion and expanding deficits. As NY Post and other conservative outlets now openly admit, DOGE is not working, and worse—it’s actively harming America’s fiscal future.

🔹 The Bigger Economic Picture
Beyond DOGE’s dysfunction, Trump’s broader economic policies are also under fire:

• Jamie Dimon warns that the best-case scenario now is a recession.
  
   
• Trump’s trade wars are rattling markets and undermining global confidence.
  
   
• His approval on the economy is negative for the first time in his political career.
  
   

Josh puts it plainly: “Trump inherited an economy on strong footing, but his partnership with Musk and embrace of gimmick governance has steered us off a cliff.” Even conservative commentators acknowledge that the combination of skyrocketing deficits, failed spending cuts, and looming recession risks is a recipe for disaster.

🔹 Time to Disband DOGE
With Musk’s 130-day term ending and no serious effort to retain him, even the White House seems to recognize it’s time to move on. As Vox reports, there’s mutual agreement that the Musk experiment has run its course. Josh argues it’s time to replace Musk’s flashy but hollow strategy with serious economic leadership—a Mnuchin-like figure who can work with Congress, stabilize markets, and pursue meaningful reform.

🔹 What Was It All For?
Josh ends the episode with a sobering reflection: Was the point of DOGE ever to fix government? Or was it, as The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer once wrote, about the “cruelty itself”? From cutting grants to targeting workers, the Musk-Trump approach seems less about results and more about spectacle—and it’s the American people who are paying the price.