President-elect Donald Trump has picked two people to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency, abbreviated as DOGE, sparking a flood of jokes and memes.
While most government departments are led by one person, many were quick to point out the irony of an efficiency-based operation having two leaders.
On Tuesday, former Politico reporter Alex Byers posted on X, formerly Twitter, an image from the June 2023 Saturday Night Live skit Washington’s Dream, which jokes about George Washington‘s vision for the United States.
“And which great efficiency expert will lead this important new effort to streamline?” the post read. “Actually, there will be two people in charge.” The post had been viewed 969,600 times by Wednesday morning.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren made a similar joke on X, writing late Tuesday night: “The Office of Government Efficiency is off to a great start with split leadership: two people to do the work of one person. Yeah, this seems REALLY efficient.” Warren’s post was viewed 1.9 million times by Wednesday morning.
Liz Charboneau, a frequent Trump critic and vice president of research at American Bridge 21st Century, posted an image on X of the characters Jenna Maroney and Tracy Jordan from television series 30 Rock, wearing ill-fitting T-shirts, one with “Solvers” written on it, and the other with “The Problem.”
“Elon and Vivek,” the post was captioned. It had been viewed 272,600 times by Wednesday morning.
What Elon Musk Has Said About Cutting Waste
Musk is a frequent critic of what he sees as government overspending.
In a speech at the Economic Club of New York in September, Trump suggested that in his second administration, Musk could head a “government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.”
In an X post, Musk responded: “I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.”
On September 2, Musk reposted a post on X about the proposed commission, writing: “I can’t wait. There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go.”
On September 6, he wrote on X: “The country is choked with nonsense regulations and excessive government spending is driving a great misallocation of human resources. Building great projects is practically illegal in America.”
On September 21, he wrote on X: “Federal government spending will bankrupt the country, unless action is taken to reduce government waste. This is what causes inflation!”
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