After a falling out between Donald Trump and his benefactor Elon Musk earlier this year, we haven’t heard much from the “Department of Government Efficiency” anymore — apart from that one time when an attack on the DOGEster “Big Balls” led to the military takeover of Washington, DC.

Of course, by then, Musk’s brainchild had already done plenty of lasting damage to the federal government. Essential staffers were fired who later had to be rehired, vital services were disrupted, and, according to a whistleblower, DOGE put the personal data of nearly all Americans at risk of hacking or leaking.

What DOGE did not do, however, was keep Trump and Fox News morning show host Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from wasting huge sums of money for projects with absolutely no discernible value.

And by that we mean that there was no discernible value to American taxpayers. Conversely, a lot of what the Vietnam War dodger in the White House and the Christian nationalist crusader in the Pentagon are doing has fans of the Confederacy and those with adjacent ideologies thrilled.

Military bases were renamed after Southern heroes of yesteryear (yes, we know the official line is that they are named for obscure soldiers who just happened to have the same last name as the traitors after whom they were named originally, but… come on), books were banned, and websites were scrubbed as part of a massive DEI purge.

All of this costs money. However, those expenses pale in comparison to the taxpayer funds being wasted this week.

First, Trump announced on Tuesday that he will move the headquarters of the US Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.

Why?

We’re glad you asked.

“The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting,” Trump said. “They went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections.”

It’s almost needless to point out that the president, who has never gotten over losing the 2020 election and keeps trying to litigate it and his subsequent coup attempt, is wrong.

Not only has he been unable to produce any evidence that the election was crooked, but Coloradans also have the option of voting in person.

In any case, that’s hardly a reason to move the headquarters of a segment of the US military, uproot families, spend untold millions of dollars, and jeopardize readiness.

But that is still not the biggest waste of money this week.

On Friday, Trump will reportedly announce that he wants to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

In theory, that would require congressional approval. However, that’s the kind of detail the president doesn’t bother with, so, let’s just assume he is going to do it somehow (or get his way because Republicans on Capitol Hill usually do his bidding).

While renaming the department serves absolutely no purpose, it will be expensive.

Just think of all of the signs, stationary, emblems, etc. that will have to be replaced. After all, the Department of Defense is the nation’s largest employer with 2.1 million military service members and a civilian staff of more than 900,000.

So, have the fiscal hawks of DOGE weighed in on any of these wastes of taxpayer money? Of course not. Because their real job is not actually making the government more efficient; it’s making it worse.

In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.