Nothing they are doing is related to government efficiency. You can't really put too much faith in names.

The basic rule of government naming: the more of GOOD THING in the name, the less of that it will be.

This quote (from Lord of War) really encapsulates a lot of what you say:

> Yuri Orlov: [Narrating] Every faction in Africa calls themselves by these noble names - Liberation this, Patriotic that, the Democratic Republic of something-or-other... I guess they can't own up to what they usually are: the Federation of Worse Oppressors Than the Last Bunch of Oppressors. Often, the most barbaric atrocities occur when both combatants proclaim themselves Freedom Fighters.

That generalises to a lot of naming. Papers like Fakt or Pravda, country DPKR, political parties that mention law, justice and order, etc.

I always particularly liked the Committee of Public Safety, for this (they're the ones who did the Reign of Terror, which doesn't seem _particularly_ public-safety-oriented.)

Don’t forget Truth Social

В « Правде » нет известий, а в « Известиях » нет правды

> В « Правде » нет известий, а в « Известиях » нет правды

For the sake of context, this is an old Soviet-era joke, that translates to about the following:

> In "Pravda" (The Truth, CPSU's newspaper) there are no news. In "Izvestiya" (The News, national newspaper of the USSR, under the control of the Supreme Soviet) there is no truth.

In the same way that finding waste while increasing the federal budget isn't efficiency.

Technically, maybe you can squint and find small pieces that are more efficient but in the grand scheme of things they goal doesn't seem to be a smaller government.

How is firing people helping government efficiency?

Well you have to put context around what is being made more efficient.

Reducing headcount reduces labor costs and can be a form of financial efficiency. Reducing headcount also usually reduces the sheer number of people involved in any project, much like a small startup can move drastically quicker than a large, established org.

That said, there goal here doesn't seem to be clear as to what is being made efficient and they definitely aren't reducing the budget or size of government (outside of literal headcount, most people complain instead of red tape and regulations).

Log storage is expensive.

I can honestly not tell if this comment was intended to be taken seriously, or if it was tongue in cheek.

I really want to believe it's tongue in cheek because the thought of asking not to be audited in order to save some compute on Splunk queries or whatever is very funny to me.

When in doubt, check the comment history.

It is.

Nothing about DOGE or the Trump administration is about efficiency. It's just a label they use to con gullible voters.

Their real goal is more likely a combination of grift and settling grudges.

Edit - typos

The next administration won't be able to spend time and money investigating crimes of the current one /s

That way they can save some money litigating Elon and his goons. It's not like that litigation would get anywhere anyway, so better to save the public the waste /s