In response to Congessman Ken Calvert's (CA-41) February op-ed praising DOGE, what has DOGE actually delivered? A government in chaos, science in retreat, and services collapsing under the weight of Musk’s ego and Trump’s vendetta tour.
Calvert, if you’re still clinging to #DOGE like it’s some kind of taxpayer miracle, here’s your reality check. Your defense of this trainwreck aged like milk. This wasn't oversight — it’s overhype. And the receipts are in.
100 days into Trump’s 2nd term, Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” — aka DOGE — has managed to deliver what no foreign adversary ever could: systemic sabotage from the inside out.
Let’s get one thing straight: this isn’t reform. It’s demolition.
🐾 DOGE has “saved” $5 billion so far — which is less than a rounding error in the federal budget — and in the process has created delays, dysfunction, and downright disaster across 14 federal agencies.
🔧 Veteran Social Security processors? Replaced with lawyers who don’t know how to file a claim.
💻 IRS staff? Now using personal Wi-Fi in overcrowded offices while computers crash mid-tax season.
🧊 CDC labs? Took a month to buy dry ice — after begging someone with a still-active credit card to cover the bill.
🧬 $500,000 CDC equipment? Sitting unused because DOGE banned vendor contact.
And yes, we’re calling this “efficiency.”
Meanwhile, 260,000 public servants have been fired, pushed out, or quit. The people who actually know how to run government? Gone. The watchdogs who actually found waste and fraud? Fired. Programs that saved lives around the world? Slashed. Entire labs shuttered, foreign aid axed, cancer trials stalled, and IT systems collapsing under the weight of Trump’s ego and Musk’s spreadsheet nihilism.
The punchline?
DOGE created more inefficiency, waste, and chaos than it ever uncovered.
But Musk got to play emperor. And Trump got headlines.
So here we are:
– American seniors waiting longer for benefits.
– U.S. scientists blocked from using their own labs.
– Whole agencies crippled — by design.
– And a half-billion-dollar efficiency team (18F) that actually saved money? Eliminated.
All while the White House brags about savings on a glitchy website that reads like a crypto scam.
This isn’t draining the swamp. It’s torching the bridge to basic governance — and calling it innovation.
Let’s not be fooled.
This is about retribution, not reform. Grievance, not governance. Control, not competence.
I’m running for Congress because Americans deserve a government that works — for science, for families, for working people — not for billionaires with burner ideas and vendettas.
We need facts over fantasy. Function over spectacle. And leadership that builds, not breaks.
Because the only thing Musk and Trump are “efficient” at… is failure.
Dave Karson
Candidate for U.S. Congress, CA-41
📢 Luchando por la familia, la justicia, la dignidad y el respeto.
#KarsonForCongress #CA41 #StopDOGE #ScienceNotSabotage #MuskMess #GovernmentNotGrift #CompetenceCounts #LeadershipNotLoyalty