Before they had a slap fight in the Oval Office over who has the best hair*, Donald Trump and Elon Musk were gleeful collaborators on a project known as the Department of Government Efficiency.
*May not have happened, but if people can go around accusing immigrants of eating cats, dogs and swans, anything’s possible.
The so-called cost-cutting exercise slashed the federal workforce and funding programmes, including people who carried out child cancer research and those who monitored upcoming weather changes to warn people of impending hurricanes.
In a twist we all saw coming, the US Government has been forced to rehire some of those people, and they will be entitled to seven months’ worth of back pay. Kerching for them …bad news for the American taxpayers.
“Hundreds of federal employees who lost their jobs in Elon Musk’s cost-cutting blitz are being asked to return to work” https://t.co/SvkaVhe8oC
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 25, 2025
The internet wasn’t shy about making its feelings known, and these posts capture the mood very well.
1.
It is truly incredible how much of a failure DOGE was. pic.twitter.com/EjyBxUZUPZ
— Hayden (@the_transit_guy) September 25, 2025
2.
DOGE was perhaps the biggest scam of all https://t.co/rIWDgH7lxc
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 25, 2025
3.
Brilliant businessman accidentally gives employees 7-month paid vacation. pic.twitter.com/u6T0ZkeWYo
— Captain Mark Kelly (@CaptMarkKelly) September 25, 2025
4.
The White House is begging hundreds of workers fired by DOGE to come back.
Pathetic U-turn circus proves you can’t run a government on memes.— Brad (@BraddrofliT) September 24, 2025
5.
Because DOGE was a scam. Cause a disruption, create a media storm to make it look like you are working, excite your supporters who are left with the impression that “you fixed it.” And then when they are distracted, quietly reverse your actions. https://t.co/eND4oXVplY
— Redi Tlhabi (@RediTlhabi) September 25, 2025
6.
It’s almost like they didn’t know what they hell they were doing
— Jnoe33 (@jnoe33) September 25, 2025
7.
No way!! Elmo fucked it up? That’s crazy. pic.twitter.com/diFbk0VSa6
— Dark Woke Mthrfckr (@zerodarkwokey) September 25, 2025
8.
You mean DOGE was just a front for Elon to steal our personal data and shut down investigations into his companies?
— the-michael-datson.bsky.social (@fuller_sean) September 24, 2025
9.
So Donald Trump is rehiring many of the federal workers that DOGE fired?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) September 24, 2025
10.
Wow, so DOGE was a pointless exercise that allowed American data to be sold to private companies and saved the US … nothing.
Elon is Trump with marbles in his mouth.
— robert jon anderson (@R_JonAnderson) September 24, 2025
11.
Well, this is awkward, isn’t it, @elonmusk? https://t.co/rgPtkFXTFI
— Geekonomicon (@Geekonomicon) September 25, 2025
12.
When Musk decided this Doge rallying cry was a good idea, anyone with brain cells knew Doge was an authoritarian grift and a scam. pic.twitter.com/XI1eT2I3lK
— Fred Newman (@FredJazzyNewman) September 25, 2025
13.
— MED (@medowlen_78) September 25, 2025
14.
Your intermittent reminder: pic.twitter.com/QM1i9hquBe
— Wyatt Derp (@WyattDerpy) September 24, 2025
15.
Thanks for wasting even more of our money @elonmusk
Douche.https://t.co/xiKN6IHoi9
— Burning Bridges (@sdflbb) September 24, 2025
16.
Workers fired by Doge are being asked to return to work so basically they had a 7-month paid holiday. Department of government efficiency my arse. And you want to allow Farage to play games like that over here? While we’re already tanking? Have a rethink
— Richard H (@TheHoogie) September 24, 2025
To sum up …
Anybody remember DOGE and how they were gonna get rid of wasteful government spending and save billions of dollars? Well, it seems like DOGE cost the American taxpayers about $135 billion. Thanks Trump, thanks Elon. pic.twitter.com/OdrsMOXL1S
— Willie Ross Jr. Knee Deep (@RossKneeDeep) September 23, 2025
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Elon Musk’s latest DOGE joke was about as funny as cancelling Ebola prevention programmes – 15 weary eyerolls
Source AP News Image Wikimedia Commons
