DOGE's 294 Days: The Collapse of a Political Memes Experiment

A government agency named after the DOGE coin code, made a grand entrance with chainsaws and slogans, but quietly exited in the end. Why does this plot look so familiar to those in the crypto world?

The “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) that was established on the first day of Trump's presidency disbanded in less than 10 months. The Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management recently publicly acknowledged: “Yes, it's really gone.”

From birth to disappearance, 294 days. This lifespan is astonishingly similar to those fleeting DOGE. Even the name is directly copied from the DOGE code, with the official website featuring a Shiba Inu avatar, and Musk waving a chainsaw around—calling it a government department, but it feels more like a large-scale performance art.

Everything starts with memes

On January 20, 2025, the day Trump was sworn in, he signed an executive order to create a “DOGE”.

The old-timers in the crypto world understand this name at a glance. This guy Musk has brought his favorite DOGE meme directly into the White House. The official website design is even more knowledgeable: Shiba Inu logo, full of crypto vibes. That sense of formality typical of traditional government agencies? Not a thing.

Musk posted a photo of himself with a chainsaw on X, captioned “Prepared for bureaucracy.” This tactic is exactly the same as when he used to promote DOGE. Deconstructing serious politics with internet memes to attract young people and netizens—this move is indeed played skillfully.

The existence of DOGE itself proves one thing: the narrative logic of crypto culture has begun to infiltrate the traditional power system.

Silicon Valley Style Violent Reform

The operation of DOGE is completely different from that of government departments.

Elon Musk hired about 50 young people in their 20s, dressed in hoodies and jeans, relying on Red Bull to keep them going, running around like startup employees. In three weeks, they infiltrated various federal agencies, keeping an eye on how the money is spent and checking contract projects.

Their core tool is AI. From contract approvals to reimbursement documents, everything is handed over to AI for analysis. Discovering that government buildings are vacant? Just terminate the lease and save $150 million. This “fast iteration and rule-breaking” Silicon Valley style seems out of place in Washington.

The DOGE team requires federal employees to submit weekly reports; failing to do so is considered an automatic resignation. Not coming to work? It will be treated as administrative leave. Such radical measures would be akin to dropping a bomb in a traditional bureaucratic system.

It can be said that DOGE has forcibly brought the spirit of “code is law” from the Web3 world into government operations. The results are predictable—conflicts, backlash, chaos.

The Moment of Narrative Collapse

At the beginning, the goal was set very high.

Elon Musk said he wants to cut a $2 trillion budget, while Ramaswamy is even tougher, proposing to cut 70% of federal employees. This figure, when reported, is just like the grand visions in the crypto world project white papers - exaggerated, eye-catching, and creating topics.

What about reality? DOGE claims to have cut $160 billion, which sounds like a lot, but it's not even a fifth of the target Musk originally boasted. The narrative and execution are worlds apart.

Ironically, Senate Democrats reported that DOGE has “wasted” over $21 billion in the past six months. The Department of Energy's loan program was frozen, resulting in an interest loss of $263 million; the International Development Agency is stalled, with $11 million worth of food and medicine rotting in warehouses.

The operations were too aggressive, inciting public anger. Attorneys General from 14 states have jointly sued Musk and Trump, claiming that this power configuration is unconstitutional. DOGE is facing nearly 20 lawsuits, including privacy violations, illegal access to sensitive data, and more.

How glamorous it was to get on board, now how awkward it is.

Silent Ending

In May this year, Musk announced that he was done and publicly fell out with Trump over a certain bill.

In the summer, the people of DOGE gradually withdrew. The guards and authorization signs at the main entrance disappeared, and the office was empty. It wasn't until this month that the director of the Human Resources Management Bureau officially confirmed: DOGE no longer exists, and its functions have been taken over.

That once sensational all-government recruitment freeze? It has also ended.

Where did the DOGE team members go? Some have joined other government departments: the co-founder of Airbnb is in charge of the National Design Studio, while a certain CTO has gone to the Ministry of Health. This means that the experiment of DOGE as an independent entity has ended, but some of its concepts are being absorbed by the traditional system.

Florida Governor DeSantis summed it up quite well on X: “DOGE fought with Swamp and Swamp won.”

This political meme coin experiment ultimately succumbed to traditional power structures.

The Next Stop of Symbolic Economy

The story of DOGE may have ended, but it marks a trend: the integration of crypto culture and traditional politics is now irreversible.

Symbolic economy is permeating power structures. In the future, there may be more political institutions and governance models with “crypto-native” characteristics. The key issue is how to combine the innovative spirit of Web3 with the stability of traditional governance to create new models that have both symbolic appeal and substantive effectiveness.

But one thing will never change:

Narratives can consolidate consensus, but narratives that are divorced from technological implementation and value creation are ultimately castles in the air. When the heat of memes fades, what can truly remain are always those technologies and projects that solve real problems.

The crypto world is like this, and so is politics.