Earlier this month, a burning question started circulating on social media: Did Donald Trump create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), or did he simply rebrand an Obama-era office? The rumor spread rapidly on X, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit, where critics speculated that Trump had merely relabeled Obama’s U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and claimed it as his own.
Some viral posts repeated the same claim: “Obama created United States Digital Service (USDS) in 2014. It was meant as a bureaucratic patch job to fix the Obamacare website meltdown. Fast forward to 2025. Trump rebrands it DOGE (United States DOGE Service). Keeps the acronym, and keeps the funding, but gives it a whole new mission: Find the Receipts.
More: Trump Declares “Days of Unelected Bureaucrats Are Over”—While Elon Musk Sits in the Room
More: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Boyfriend Faces Death Threats After Criticizing Zelensky’s Wardrobe
Obama created DOGE. Trump is just capitalizing on it to Make America Great Again!!” The claims trace back to a February 6 Substack article titled “DOGE – A Lawyer’s Perspective” by Tom Renz. Renz, an attorney known for promoting conspiracy theories and filing lawsuits against COVID-19 vaccines, stated, “Trump did NOT actually create a new agency, according to Snopes.
Instead, what he did was repurpose an existing agency – the USDS – into something more useful.” Renz doubled down on X, writing, “USDS was an Obamacare office created to make government software better.” Adding to the debate, Elon Musk reshared Renz’s thread with his own take: “We just renamed US Digital Services, created by Obama, to US DOGE Services, with a mandate to modernize all computer systems in the US government.”
Back in August 2014, Barack Obama launched the USDS to address the failed 2013 HealthCare.gov rollout. The goal was to recruit top tech talent to modernize government services. The USDS was focused on fixing HealthCare.gov, improving veterans’ benefits, and reforming immigration services.
Over the years, the USDS partnered with over 30 federal agencies but remained a tech-driven initiative under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), not an investigative watchdog. Fast forward to August 13, 2024—the USDS celebrated its 10th anniversary, reaffirming its roots as a tech-focused initiative.
Then, on January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order establishing the U.S. DOGE Service under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), replacing the USDS. Although DOGE carries the same acronym (USDS), it is commonly known by its shorthand.
However, DOGE is not an official government department. The BBC noted that Congress never formally created it. Instead, Trump’s executive order shifted the USDS from the OMB to the Executive Office of the President, redefining its mission.
DOGE’s mandate is “to implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The order also established a temporary US DOGE Service Organization, active until July 4, 2026, to execute Trump’s 18-month DOGE agenda.
The executive order further mandated that every federal agency form DOGE teams, consisting of a team lead, an engineer, a Human Resources specialist, and an attorney. It specified, “Agency Heads shall ensure that DOGE Team Leads coordinate their work with USDS and advise their respective Agency Heads on implementing the President’s DOGE Agenda.”
More: MAGA Celebrates DOJ Review of Tina Peters’ Conviction, Mike Lindell Claims He Spoke with Trump
More: Melania Trump’s Mysterious Absence Raises Concerns Among Secret Service
This effectively places a Trump-era watchdog team in every agency to enforce DOGE policies. So, is DOGE just a rebrand or a reinvention? While Obama created the USDS in 2014 and Trump renamed it DOGE in 2025, DOGE is not merely a copy-paste effort.
Under Obama, USDS was focused on digital transformation and tech fixes. Under Trump, DOGE has expanded its scope, emphasizing cutting government waste, reforming bureaucracy, and slashing spending. While it still retains a tech component, Trump’s DOGE is less about software development and more about aggressively cracking down on inefficiency.
For You:
- Family’s Final Moments Revealed After Tragic NYC Helicopter Crash
- Meghan Markle Reportedly Blames Prince Harry for Her Struggles in Hollywood
- Justin Bieber supports Hailey’s red carpet moment amid marriage speculation
- Experts Reveal the Real Reason Behind Trump’s Tariff U-Turn
- Prince Harry Exposes Secret Royal Dispute That Sparked Family Breakdown