Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Overview

Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE refers to a planned state department in the United States whose establishment was announced by President-elect Donald Trump in November 2024. The planned department will be headed by American entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Following the announcement, the planned department, named after the Doge internet meme, became a subject of discussions and memes online.

History

Conception

On August 19th, 2024, in an interview with Reuters,^[1] Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump said that, if elected, he would consider giving American entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk an advisory role in the new government.

On August 20th, the X^[2] news account @WatcherGuru reported the news. On that day, X^[3] user Sir Doge of the Coin (@dogeofficialceo) quoted the post with the comment, "Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) 😂", proposing a name for the future department headed by Musk. The proposed name referenced the well-known internet meme Doge, and, tangentially, the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, both popular with Musk in the past. The post (shown below) received over 1,200 reposts and 10,000 likes in three months.

In late August and early September 2024, several Dogecoin-associated accounts on X, including @dogeofficialceo and @cb_doge, posted memes promoting the idea of the Department of Government Efficiency. For example, on August 20th, @cb_doge made a post that received over 1,100 reposts and 5,700 likes on X^[4] in three months.

On September 5th, 2024, speaking at the Economic Club of New York, Donald Trump said that at the suggestion of Musk, he would create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the federal government, adding that Musk had agreed to head the commission.

On that day, X^[5] user @alx posted the video, which received over 13,000 reposts and 62,000 likes in two months (shown below). Later on the same day, Musk quoted^[6] the post, commenting, "This is badly needed."

This is badly needed https://t.co/H9AKYbDssZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2024

On September 6th, 2024, Musk, replying to another post about Trump's proposition, posted^[7] an Office Space image macro and wrote, "The Department of Government Efficiency will be epic." On September 8th, Musk posted an AI-generated meme about the future department, which received over 94,000 reposts and 731,000 likes on X^[8] in two months (shown below).

In the following weeks, Musk continued to make posts about the proposed commission, promoting the idea.^[9]

Announcement

On November 12th, 2024, following his victory in the 2024 United States Presidential Election, President-elect Donald Trump issued^[10] a statement announcing the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Musk together with the American entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramaswamy (statement shown below).

On that day, both Musk and Ramaswamy shared the statement on their social media.^[11][12]

@DOGE Twitter / X Account

On November 12th, 2024, shortly after the confirmation of the organization, the official Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) account was created on Twitter / X.^[16] In roughly 20 hours, the account accumulated over 255,300 followers. The account was notably given the grey-colored checkmark designating it as "an account [that] represents a government/multilateral organization or a government/multilateral official."

Its first post, following a retweet of the statement from Donald Trump, was a simple text post that read, "Working overtime to ensure your tax dollars will be spent wisely," which received over 5.6 million views, 52,000 likes, 9,900 retweets and 6,100 replies in one hour (seen below).

Online Reactions

The announcement of the department became a viral subject of memes and discussions on social media in mid-November 2024. Shortly following the announcement, X^[13] user @SavinTheBees quoted it on November 12th, 2024, writing, "We're living in a South Park episode." The post (shown below) garnered over 830 reposts and 9,900 likes in one day.

On November 13th, 2024, X^[14] user @draculavoice posted a Domino Effect meme referencing the connection between the planned department and the Doge meme that received over 4,400 reposts and 5,000 likes in one day (shown below).

Following the announcement, the price of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency notably spiked, rising from approximately 37 to 41 cents.^[15]

Related Memes

Doge

Doge is a slang term for "dog" that is primarily associated with a photograph of Shiba Inus sitting on a couch. Following a period of original popularity in 2013 and 2014, the meme experienced an ironic and post-ironic resurgence in the late 2010s.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References