In a X post that quickly gained traction, Spencer Hakimian, founder of Tolou Capital Management, summed up what many are beginning to feel about DOGE:
“When we look back at DOGE’s complete failure in 5-10 years from now, the funny part will be that we thought we needed a group of socially illiterate coding nerds to fix the problem.”
DOGE, once hailed as a radical new approach to government transparency and fiscal reform, has become a punchline.
What started as a bold experiment quickly turned into what many critics now describe as a political smokescreen, a data-harvesting operation, or worse, a coordinated distraction.
A Simple Problem, Overcomplicated
Hakimian argues that the core issue isn’t complex at all. “There’s nothing complex about this,” he wrote.
“This isn’t Lehman’s balance sheet. This is simply a problem of categorically spending too much and categorically raising too little.”
Yet instead of addressing this with transparency and basic math, critics say DOGE obscured things with tech jargon, misdirection, and a barrage of misleading posts.
What It Actually Accomplished
According to users replying to Hakimian, DOGE failed to fix anything, but it may have succeeded in something else entirely.
“DOGE succeeded in their actual mission, stopping investigations into Musk’s businesses and sending billions in new govt contracts his way,” one person wrote.
“They also managed to steal the personal data the govt has on us for probably nefarious purposes.”
Hakimian replied simply: “Age,” a sarcastic nod that seemed to confirm just how dark and messed up the whole thing really was.
Performative Reform, Not Real Change
The replies painted a picture of deep disillusionment.
“They were only harvesting data. They never were going to try to fix anything,” one post read.
Another added, “DOGE was a bunch of drugged up jackasses messing with people’s lives like it was a shoot-first video game.”
The sense that DOGE served elite interests was widely shared.
“All big Federal cases against Musk businesses killed… Got big contracts & competitor bid info… Help break US govt so it won’t function for people, ” one user wrote.
Pushing Efficiency, Ignoring Humanity
Some criticized the cold, numbers-first approach. One commenter noted, “Social programs are more than just numbers.”
Others warned that slashing budgets without understanding what’s actually being cut, like NIH, NWS, or USAID, puts vital services at risk.
One person put it simply: “We could’ve achieved a meaningful reduction in govt… Instead, we got this performative bullshit.”
Libertarian Idealism or Elitist Power Grab?
Critics argue that the project co-opted public frustration to push a techno-libertarian agenda.
As one post put it: “#DOGE was Project 2025 Stealth Operative under the guise of efficiency.”
Another summed up the core problem: “Libertarians define ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ as ‘government spending.’ Republicans think it’s ‘spending I don’t like.’ MAGAs think it’s ‘anything that helps Black people.'”
In the End, DOGE Was the Waste
For some, the final irony is that the initiative meant to find waste became the waste.
“In the long run… DOGE will cost a lot more than it will ever save,” one user wrote.
As for Hakimian, his original point stands: The joke won’t be that DOGE failed. The joke will be that we ever believed a group of disconnected coders could fix something they barely understood to begin with.