Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is offering a preview of its plans to reform the bloated and ineffective federal government - and execute on Donald Trump's bold pledge to finally bring the entrenched Deep State to heel.

Musk and his co-reformer, Vivek Ramaswamy, have set a target of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending. There are ample opportunities for reform, as DOGE made clear in a series of posts highlighting massive waste.

DOGE identifies targets

In a post on X, DOGE noted the massive expansion in the U.S. Tax Code since the mid-20th century.

“In 1955, there were less than 1.5 million words in the U.S. Tax Code. Today, there are more than 16 million words,” DOGE posted to its X account on Nov. 15. “Because of this complexity, Americans collectively spend 6.5 billion hours preparing and filing their taxes each year. This must be simplified.”

Another idea floated by DOGE is to end work-from-home policies, with the idea being that lazy and unproductive federal workers will quit in droves.

One especially ripe target for DOGE is the increasingly unpopular Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agenda. According to a report that DOGE cited, the Education Department (which Trump has called to abolish) spent $1 billion to promote DEI in K-12 schools and universities from 2021 to 2024.

Among other ideas, DOGE has proposed updating archaic IT systems and cracking down on opaque foreign aid spending. Former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul urged DOGE to look into foreign investment ASAP.

"Here’s an easy one for @DOGE!” Paul wrote. “ELIMINATE foreign aid! It’s taking money from the poor and middle class in the US and giving it to the rich in poor countries – with a cut to the facilitators in between! Americans don’t want their government to borrow more money to spend on foreign aid. Besides, it is the immoral transfer of wealth and is unconstitutional.”

Defense spending questioned

Of course, DOGE is sure to run into roadblocks. The bulk of federal spending goes toward national defense and entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, and draconian cuts to either will surely face opposition.

The popularity of entitlement programs, especially with older Americans, has made any discussion of cutting them a political third rail, and Ramaswamy has confirmed DOGE has no plans to touch these entitlements, which have continuous, or "mandatory" authorization from Congress.

However, DOGE has targeted the Pentagon's routine failures to account for its budget after the world's largest employer failed yet another audit.

Some Democrats have cautiously embraced DOGE as a way to potentially lower defense spending, with both Musk and Ramaswamy voicing criticism of an overstretched military.

“Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That must change," Senator Bernie Sanders wrote last week.

While reforming the Deep State definitely won't be easy, Musk and Trump are both daring and enterprising men who know how to think big... and critically, they have the support of the American people in their push for change.