DOGE Hunt for Waste, Abuse, and Fraud Rife with Waste, Abuse, and Fraud
The new government's numbers on government spending don't add up
Feb. 20: DOGE can’t account for tens of billions in “savings” … DOGE claim to be inside agencies means they’re open to public-records requests … Polls show America uniting against Trump and Musk … Federal prosecutor reveals that Musk and Trump are terrified of the physical threats made by, um, Chuck Schumer and a House Democrat …
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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) this week finally unveiled the first estimate of how much waste, abuse, and fraud it has identified in the federal budget: $55 billion.
That represents less than one (1) percent of the federal budget. It’s also just 5.5% of the $1 trillion minimum that DOGE not-at-all leader Elon Musk has said DOGE will cut. Meaning, that at the rate of 5.5% per month, DOGE won’t hit Musk’s minimum until August 2026.
Why does it take government so looong to do things?!?
More troubling, DOGE’s books are rife with the waste, abuse, and fraud that it claims exist everywhere in government except DOGE.
The $55 billion was announced on the DOGE government website, but the site’s itemization doesn’t account for $39 billion worth of waste, abuse, and fraud.
Only $16 billion is accounted for. That doesn’t add up!
So where’d that missing $39 billion in savings go? Military contracts? Hunter Biden? One of the anonymous legion of DOGE Muskrats that have chewed their way into the walls of government agencies? No one knows!
And even the $16 billion that didn’t disappear due to waste, abuse, and/or fraud is also full of waste, abuse, and/or fraud. In fact, half of that amount is itself a single example of waste, abuse, fraud, and more fraud.
According to DOGE, it found an $8 billion contract that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had signed.
(The entire ICE budget is $9 billion.)
And while it’s true that a government database did earlier list that contract — for “program and technical support services” at the ICE Office of Diversity and Civil Rights — at $8 billion, that was clearly either a mistake or a fluke of the data crunching (for instance, if the contract was extrapolated out many, many years).
In fact, the real number, as the New York Times reported, was $8 million.
And DOGE apparently missed the fact that in the contract’s two-plus years, only $2.5 million was spent. I guess ICE didn’t need much diversity or civil rights!
The DOGE website itself exposed its own waste, abuse, and fraud, claiming $8 billion in the caption for a picture that revealed its fraud by including the correct amount of $8 million, which the Times helpfully highlighted:
As Musk said last week, “Nobody’s going to bat a thousand.” But in this example, DOGE was batting a thousandth.
And there was even more waste, abuse, and more fraud. People who understand how this shit works told CBS News that DOGE misread an entire category of contracts that look much bigger than they are to the untrained and also arrogant eye.
For instance, some contracts list the budget for the total project that they’re just a part of. Like, a contract for toilet paper on a new fighter jet might include the total cost for the jet itself, which does not make it a $10 billion contract for toilet paper.
So, if you’re part of DOGE — or have some other reason for being an idiot too stupid to ask for help — you might find multiple contracts from the same project and then — wastefully, fraudulently, abusively, amateurishly, and stupidly — list that project total multiple times. Which, CBS found, is exactly what DOGE did.
In one instance, a single project’s estimated upper ceiling of $655 million was cited in three separate contracts all within that one project. So DOGE, like the world’s smartest idiots, multiplied $655 million by three and claimed the total as savings it had “found.”
Those wasteful contract errors cost DOGE an estimated $1.96 billion in non-existent waste, fraud, abuse, and more abuse.
And all of these saved savings, unwasted waste, and disabused abuse were found by journalists. In other words, this epic, gargantuan, illegal work we were told was done over the course of one month by the smartest people ever squozed by God out of a uterus — “The Force of Super Geniuses,” according to Trump, who probably believes it — was debunked in two days by smarter people: Journalists.
Even more problematic than the waste and fraud in DOGE’s work are the cases of abuse. Not of numbers, but of humans.
One contract in DOGE’s receipts, for instance, has already been killed, with real-world consequences for real-world children. As one contractor told CBS, “Thirteen school districts across 11 states were set to receive more than $13 million to support over 1,070 youth with disabilities participating in the program.”
That’s now gone, depriving 1,070 disabled kids of federal support, which is a waste, abuse, and fraud.
MORE FRAUD DOGE is such a fraud that, as your gaping TFN gaped on Tuesday, it has no one in charge, Musk apparently having invented the world’s first self-driving governmental agency.
And as your thing-noting TFN has noted, Musk and DOGE are the Schrödinger's Muskrats of government: Their government status depends on who’s observing them. Sometimes they’re a particle! Sometimes they’re a wave! It all depends on whether you want to FOIA them!
Politico now has a good writeup on DOGE’s attempt to contain multitudes. One key takeaway is that DOGE’s self-descriptions don’t actually matter. What matters is what DOGE actually does; that’s what determines DOGE’s legal status in the remaining eyes of what’s left of the law.
And multiple federal judges are demanding the specific information needed to make that determination.
So here’s where it gets fun. Remember all the hubbub three thousand years a week or so ago about DOGE having access to sensitive agency information? The dodgy DOGE dodge for that was that, of course no Trump agency would give sensitive data to agency outsiders; all the DOGE men-children peering into people’s shit were lawfully designated as “special government employees” within their respective agencies.
Which means those Muskrats weren’t allowed to use private email accounts for government communications — which they did — and it also means all of their government communications are now subject to public-records request.
The fun’s just starting. To wit…
Trump and Musk Are Convincing Americans That the Government Sucks. Like, the Current Government
Pres. Donald Trump re-won the White House by convincing Americans that Pres. Joe Biden and the Democrats were corruptly robbing America instead of using the levers of government to help people. And that the only thing protecting Americans from evil Democrats was Trump, minus part of his ear.1
His claims about government didn’t win a majority of the votes cast in November, but now, after a month of Trump “governing,” a majority of the people have finally been convinced that, yes, the government is bad. That’s according to new polls we’ve got.
From Quinnipiac:
How well are checks and balances working between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government?
Not well at all, like what the fuck yo: 30%
Not so well, and/or I’m too timid to say “Not well at all, like what the fuck yo”: 24%
Somewhat well, but what the fuck do I know: 29%
Very well, and why won’t my family speak to me: 9%
That’s a clear majority of 54% in the you-suck column. And clear majorities are also unhappy about whatever-the-fuck job Elon Musk has/doesn’t have.
What’s America’s opinion of this Musk person?
Favorable: 38%
Unfavorable: 50%
What’s America’s opinion of Musk having a big role in the federal government, like literally sitting next to Trump in this week’s Sean Hannity interview?
Approve: 42%
Disapprove: 54%
What do Americans think of Musk’s degree of power?
About right: 36%
Too little: 3%
Too much: 55%
Keep in mind, Trump has said that Musk has zero power, he just gets to share his opinions with Trump. Which means that 55% of America believe that zero power is too much power for Musk to have.
America is united in demanding that Musk have negative power, which in practice would mean that we get to tell him what to do. ¡Viva la Revolución!
Not surprisingly, Musk’s unpopularity has splashed onto the man who inflicted Musk on us, splashing so much that Trump’s also underwater in the polls.
Job approval:
Approve: 45% (it was 46% in January)
Disapprove — like, Jesus Fuck please stop: 49% (it was 43% in January)
Quinnipiac found not a single issue where most Americans approve of the “job” Trump is “doing” (he’s already spent like a quarter of his days as president2.0 golfing):
Immigration:
Approve: 46%
Leave the nice people alone: 49%
Economy:
Approve: 44%
Please google “tariffs”: 48%
Russia/Ukraine
Approve: 40%
Disapprove and I’m answering this before Trump blamed Ukraine for wearing sexy clothing that forced Russia to invade: 44%
Israel/Hamas
Approve: 38%
Ethnic-cleanser-says-what: 47%
And a new CNN poll this morning basically confirms these findings. Trump does get better ratings today than he did in his previous administration — but that’s still worse than any other modern-day president has started off:
Approve: 47%
Disapprove: 52%
CNN notes that “only” 21% of the country is surprised in a bad way about Trump’s job performance, but it’s all in how you crunch the numbers, as Newsfuckers know too well. Let’s break this down.
CNN asked voters whether they’re surprised by Trump’s shitty presidency (TFN is paraphrasing) and whether they were surprised-good or surprised-saveusSuperman:
Not surprised and happy about it: 41% (roughly Trump’s base)
Surprised in a good way: 5% (deeply weird people)
Not surprised and unhappy about it: 33% (dour Democratic know-it-alls who were correct)
Surprised in a bad way: 21% (deeply weird but at least moveable people)
The one out of five people who are shocked to discover that their fantasies — of a competent/non-evil Trump presidency — are not turning out the way he promised them are basically America’s independents/non-attention-payers.
One in five people disappointed by Trump’s badness is actually a huge, super-important, great number. That’s the voters everyone was pursuing. And now, combined with the Democrats and progressives who knew this was gonna be a flume log ride into a lagoon of shit, we’re talking about 54% of the country begging for a change of course.
And that’s after only a few weeks of the first news reports on the consequences of Trump’s “governing.”
Which is great news.
Finally, Democrats Are Scaring Someone
After years of their own party lamenting the inability of Democratic leaders to throw the fear of God — albeit a female or genderless god — into Republicans, it appears to be happening.
Republicans now consider 74-year-old Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the party’s Senate leader, a dangerous man.
Interim Washington, DC, U.S. Attorney Ed Martin wrote letters obtained by the Washington Post to Schumer and to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA).
Martin is leading a crackdown on alleged threats to public officials which seems to be focusing very much on Democrats calling for pushback against Pres. Donald Trump in vastly less militaristic/actionable language than Trump used to, for instance, incite an attack on the U.S. Capitol, which still happened no matter what the new Education Department history curriculum says2.
Martin’s letters to Schumer cite this statement about Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh from March 4, 2020, about the overturning of Roe v. Wade:
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Garcia is cited for being mean to Elon Musk and calling him a word for penis which is mean. Here’s Martin’s letter to Garcia:
I respectfully request that you clarify your comments from February 12, 2025. During a live interview with CNN, when asked how Democrats can stop Elon Musk, you spoke clearly: “What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy.”
This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk — an appointed representative [no, no, advisor! We say advisor now!] of President Donald Trump who you call a “dick” — and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry.
That last line is the key. Their concerns. In other words, Musk and Trump are so afraid of Democrats that they called the cops. “911 what’s your emergency?” “Yes, I’d like to report a dick-calling.”
Garcia responded. “We will not be silenced,” he told the Post:
“No reasonable person would view these comments as a threat, and it’s interesting that the [Martin] letter was sent to The Washington Post, yet we have not received it. We are living in a dangerous time, and elected members of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration.”
As The Intercept notes, there’s a very real threat that Democrats can make good on against Musk. They can start filibustering every new federal contract Republicans want to give his companies.
Taking Action
The New Republic’s Melissa Gira Grant makes a convincing case that people actually are pushing back against Elon Musk and Pres. Donald Trump. We’re not seeing it, because it’s everywhere.
Her point is that protest isn’t manifesting this time as big, national-news-attracting Washington, DC, rallies. It’s happening everywhere. They’re like fucking pop-up stores too early before the holidays Jesus’s Official Federal Birthday. And there actually are some national actions coming up…
Upcoming Actions
Feb. 28: “Hit Them In their Profits” — a day not to buy things (does this include upgrading Substack subscriptions to paid? The things we do for justice and democracy!)
March 7-14: Amazon — A week of buying nothing from Amazon. We can do this!
March 14: National Strike — If it won’t cost you your job, skip the day and, let’s hope, help send an important message to our capitalist oligarchs.
Other Resources
TCB
I’m still committed to getting TFN out earlier than, well, today’s. But today I have a good excuse! Your humble TFN was invited to a swanky Substack event last night in the heart of darkness on Wall Street.
Apparently Substack gurus consider TFN a Substack bestseller! Which is super weird because we don’t sell anything (I mean, we do, but that’s our merch at The TFN Shop, not on Substack).
What TFN does have is stunning-to-Substack levels of support in the form of you Newsfuckers upgrading to paid. Not for paywalled articles, which I don’t do, but to make sure everyone can read TFN and to make it possible for me to keep doing this. Which, if our current rate of upgrading-to-paid keeps up, we’ll achieve this year.
Thank you. And thanks for making TFN a success.
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Go get ‘em, kids! The only thing needed for Americans to turn on Trump is for them to understand what he’s doing to us…
TFN creator and writer Jonathan Larsen co-created Up w/ Chris Hayes and wrote for Countdown with Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, helped launch CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and Air America Radio, and has also worked at The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Young Turks.
Allegedly. I remain the world’s last remaining the-bullet-scorched-his-ear-without-touching-it conspiracy theorist.
I’m kidding. For now.
I am so fucking glad that I can read the actual fucking news because the mainstream media treats us like mushrooms - they keep us in the dark and feed us bullshit. Thank you!
Todays substack was my favorite so far. Thank you TFN!