It was almost two years ago when candidate Donald Trump delivered a new campaign pledge: If elected to a second term, the Republican said, he would appoint Elon Musk to lead some kind of government “efficiency” panel.....

For a variety of reasons, none of this made any sense, but in early 2025, the Republican White House followed through and launched the Department of Government Efficiency, though the charter came with an expiration date of sorts: DOGE would cease to be on July 4, 2026.

In other words, in the wake of Independence Day, DOGE is no more.

Politico reported shortly before its formal demise:

DOGE claims it saved $215 billion, or $1,335.40 per taxpayer, with its cuts, which included slashing duplicative software licenses, canceling diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, grants as well as ending leases for underused office space. That’s a pittance to the federal budget, which is now about $7 trillion each year. The effort faded relatively early too as tech mogul Elon Musk clashed with government officials and left DOGE in May last year.

....Except it wasn’t. Amid all the hype and tumult, it’s easy to lose sight of DOGE’s original remit: Trump tasked Musk and his team with leading an effort to cut spending and make the federal government more efficient. As the department expires, the facts show that government spending went up, not down, during Musk’s tenure, and that the DOGE endeavor made the government less efficient, not more.

Even the “savings” that the office touted proved illusory, misleading or both.

DOGE’s goals went unmet. Its promises went unfulfilled. It envisioned one set of results but delivered the opposite.

Good riddance.