As soon as Elon Musk got to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Democrats were livid. Cutting waste, they say, is tantamount to a constitutional crisis because, apparently, the Founding Fathers enshrined funding transgender operas in the Bill of Rights or something.
Despite their bellyaching about how terrible it is to cut funding to wasteful programs, they used to talk a big game about wanting to cut wasteful spending. Heck, they were for DOGE before they were against it.
Back in 2011, then-President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden launched what they called the “Campaign to Cut Waste,” making bold promises about eliminating inefficiencies, reducing pointless spending, and giving Americans “the government you expect and deserve.”
Sounds like DOGE, doesn’t it? Yet Democrats are suddenly against the very thing they once pretended to champion.
When Obama announced his waste-cutting initiative, he made it clear that it wasn’t about trimming essential programs; it was about stopping the government from throwing money away.
“Everyone knows that getting rid of the deficit will require some tough decisions, and that includes cutting back on billions of dollars in programs that a lot of people care about,” he said. “But what should be easy is getting rid of the pointless waste and stupid spending that doesn’t benefit anybody.”
Sounds like DOGE, doesn’t it?
He wasn’t wrong. Washington is notorious for pouring taxpayer money into absurd, unnecessary projects. Obama himself mocked the fact that the federal government was paying for a website dedicated to a folk music group made up of forest rangers. “They’re called the Fiddling Foresters,” he said. “I’ll put their music on my iPod, but I’m not paying for their website.”
Sounds like DOGE, doesn’t it?
Beyond wasteful websites, Obama pointed to the government’s vast real estate holdings, including abandoned buildings that bureaucratic red tape prevented the government from selling.
“For the last decade, the government’s owned a massive and completely empty warehouse in the middle of Brooklyn,” he admitted. “We need to step up our game. We need to go after every dime. We need to make government work for you.”
Sounds like DOGE, doesn’t it?
Then-Vice President Biden, tasked with leading the waste-cutting effort, doubled down on Obama’s message, promising, “From this point on, the American people are entitled to transparency.” He claimed that eliminating waste required a “relentless focus” and that the administration was “holding ourselves accountable.” He even went so far as to say that their effort was about more than just stopping waste—it was about instilling “an entire new culture” that every future administration would follow.
Sounds like DOGE, doesn’t it?
Of course, now that President Trump has proposed a real, permanent solution to government inefficiency, Democrats have done a complete about-face. The Department of Government Efficiency, which would be dedicated to eliminating fraud, cutting bureaucracy, and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, is exactly the kind of initiative Obama and Biden claimed to support.
OMG this is not AI, it’s real. It’s a must watch.
2011. Obama announces a DOGE department and puts Joe Biden in charge of it! 😂
“Nobody messes with Joe.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/obGsYHzmMr
— MAZE (@mazemoore) March 14, 2025
So why are Democrats now against cutting waste? First, they were never serious about cutting waste in the first place. Obama’s “Campaign to Cut Waste” was little more than political theater — just another way to pretend that Democrats cared about responsible spending while they continued to balloon the size of government. And second, if waste is going to be cut, they want it to be on their terms. They want to control what’s cut and what’s not. And, of course, when they have been in control of that process, nothing actually gets cut.
Democrats only care about cutting waste when it’s a talking point that benefits them politically. But when a Republican follows through, it’s a “constitutional crisis.”
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