By Cliff Maloney
If you’re an America First voter, you probably felt a gut punch earlier this week when seemingly everyone on social media, as well as most everyone in traditional media, announced that DOGE was officially dead.
Speaking from firsthand experience, I felt that particular gut punch deep in my soul.
The problem for those who initially spread that message, and the good news for America First voters, is that it was all a lie.
The official Department of Government Efficiency X account responded to these claims, saying:
As usual, this is fake news from @Reuters. President Trump was given a mandate by the American people to modernize the federal government and reduce waste, fraud and abuse. Just last week, DOGE terminated 78 wasteful contracts and saved taxpayers $335M. We’ll be back in a few days with our regularly scheduled Friday update.
As usual, this is fake news from @Reuters. President Trump was given a mandate by the American people to modernize the federal government and reduce waste, fraud and abuse. Just last week, DOGE terminated 78 wasteful contracts and saved taxpayers $335M. We’ll be back in a few… https://t.co/S1pSmx26s0
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) November 24, 2025
On November 23rd, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor initially told the media that DOGE essentially "doesn't exist." Critics smirked about "few measurable savings," but we know the score: Congressional and Senate Republicans talked a big game on draining the swamp, then yanked the plug when lobbyists whimpered about "midterm optics." Early hits like $175 billion in cuts, canceled wasteful contracts, and exposed rot? Poof — gone, thanks to RINO spinelessness.
It's an attack from within from our own side yet again: campaign bravado, zero follow-through. Trump swung the sledgehammer, and some within the GOP dropped it.
While DOGE is far from dead, this D.C. debacle still stings like hell, but it's a flare gun illuminating the real battlefield: the states.
If we want to win in these critical elections leading up to the midterms, then win the midterms, and finally, the next presidential election, we need to continue pushing the DOGE mandate that voters asked for. We need to stop playing nice. We need to stop the half measures. And we need to stop coddling the lobbyists who encourage that behavior.
When we follow through on making the significant cuts that DOGE promised and voters demand, we will show them that we’re serious and that they can trust us with their votes.
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The deeper reality is that DOGE wasn't a Capitol Hill vanity project; it was a blueprint for patriots everywhere to demand accountability at every level. Red states aren't twiddling thumbs because actual reformers have been seizing the mandate Trump handed us in November 2024, and no one's swinging harder than Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis, whose state-level DOGE isn't just a copycat; it's the revolutionary model every liberty-loving governor must steal, replicate, and unleash.
DeSantis gets it: States are closer to the people, with tighter feedback loops and no federal swamp to slog through. Crash a town hall, grill a commissioner, primary challenge a hack — no waiting for D.C. drones. Florida's DOGE coordinates audits in over 75 counties and cities that volunteered for the DOGE-ing — a no-BS review of budgets, hires, and projects to torch waste, fraud, and abuse. We're not nibbling; we're chainsawing: redundant jobs axed, shady vendor contracts with political insiders trashed, funds rerouted from DEI fever dreams and "Green New Deal" vanity projects to real infrastructure. Broward County? Taxes spiked 45 percent since 2020 on a measly 5 percent population bump — blame bloat, not boom.
Early wins in Sarasota and Bay counties took out redundant positions, scrapped pork, and beefed up core services. DeSantis turned Florida's 2020 COVID rebellion into a national lockdown-killer; now DOGE's reshaping the spending debate. Prove it works in the Sunshine State, and Texas, Ohio, Arizona scramble to copy — or get primaried.
Contrast that fire with North Dakota's red-state fizzle — a deep-red fortress where you'd expect DOGE fever to rage. As Citizens Alliance of North Dakota Executive Director Brandon Pritchard scorched in TheBlaze, "Too many Republicans fear cutting waste more than they fear betraying voters." Their state DOGE — House Bill 1442's $20.3 billion budget cut — launched with promise, but the July 30 meeting exposed a rigged farce: stacked with spendaholics Democrats and country club GOP yes-men.
DOGE demands a cultural gut-check: Citizens expect efficiency; politicians fear waste; government defaults to lean and transparent. Florida's leading — Texas, Arizona, follow or fall. But it starts with you. Tired of taxes crushing families? Run for office — no pedigree needed, just guts. Crash town halls. Grill commissioners. Share waste stories at soccer games or church. America didn't build itself on autopilot — it took participation, principle, perseverance.
DeSantis' DOGE blueprint is gold. States like Florida prove we can reclaim government for the people. Let's make every state a DOGE machine, because the lights may be off in Washington, but the state houses that directly affect our very communities still need accountability.
And that’s exactly what we need if we want to win the local elections, midterms, and eventually, the next presidential election.
In order to create the enthusiasm we need to get Republicans to vote in sufficient numbers to win, we need to deliver on what they want, what they expect — hell, what we promised, then we need to take meaningful action and deliver real results. We need that to win over the undecided voters as well, because from their perspective, all we’re doing right now is saying one thing and doing another.
But if we deliver on our promises, we will energize the Republican base and, more importantly, the undecided voters. In doing so, we’ll show everyone why our policies are better for everyone.
The future of our country is at stake, and we need to be all in on this if we expect to save it.
Cliff Maloney is CEO of Citizens Alliance and founder of The PA Chase. He can be found @Maloney on X.
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