The beauty of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is its incredible, well, efficiency. Donald Trump had four long years to think about what he might have done differently in his first term and, more importantly, what he would pursue in his second term. Making the federal government — or at least the executive branch — operate efficiently and accountably was very high on his list, and in his first three weeks, he’s moved with lightning speed to make it happen.

Yesterday, with DOGE chief Elon Musk and his four-year-old son Lil X in the Oval Office, Trump signed another executive order. “Implementing The President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative” is about reinforcing the drive to thin out the ranks of federal workers by getting federal agencies to coordinate with DOGE. It requires “a data-driven plan” for only “essential” new hires, stipulates that “each agency hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart,” and reiterates that the goal is “large-scale reductions in force.”

The order is simply the latest prong in Trump’s attack on the bloated, wasteful, and unaccountable bureaucracy running America into the ground.

Democrats want to keep this bloat in place, of course, because most of it benefits them politically. Most federal workers also are Democrats themselves. That’s why they’ve filed over 50 lawsuits to stop Trump wherever they can, and sometimes it’s worked.

“I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we have to do,” Trump said. He also said rather sarcastically, “It seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption.”

Unfortunately, on Monday, U.S. District Judge George O'Toole extended his restraining order on Trump’s buyout offer for roughly two million civilian federal workers. On Wednesday, he lifted that order … and Trump promptly ended the offer program. More than 75,000 federal employees (about 3%) have already taken their severance pay and left. Now the layoffs begin.

Let me pause to say that there are absolutely some and maybe many great and effective people who work federal jobs. They do their jobs because they love America and want to serve.

Dare I say, however, that is not the rule. Far too many federal employees don’t work hard because they don’t have to. Public unions and the Democrats they buy off have their backs. Once a federal program is in place, the “logic” says, it must always remain in place. Ergo, their jobs are safe even if “job” is barely the right word. All the while, we taxpayers work hard to produce money and then watch it disappear before our paychecks even hit our bank account. That money funds wasteful and unconstitutional things that we don’t want.

Musk spoke to that point. “If the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?” he asked. “It does not match the will of the people, so it’s just something we’ve got to fix.”

He added, “If money is spent badly, if your taxpayer dollars are not spent in a sensible or critical manner, then that’s not okay. Your tax dollars need to be spent wisely on things that matter to the people.” As an example of the opposite, he pointed to finding people who are supposedly 150 years old but still receiving Social Security. “That’s a case where I think they’re probably dead,” said Musk. “Or they should be very famous. One of the two.”

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk also noted. “That’s what democracy is all about.” Making another vital observation, he said, “Transparency is what builds trust.” The last four years utterly destroyed trust in government. The upheaval Trump and Musk are bringing will be messy and painful at times, but the goal is good and right — restoring accountability, responsibility, and trust to the government.

USAID, CFPB, and FEMA are all justifiably in the crosshairs. The swamp draining is welcome, and we hope it continues because there’s a lot more where that came from.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

(Updated)