For decades, Republican politicians have campaigned on tackling Washington’s wasteful spending. Yet, term after term, nothing seemed to change. Government spending only grew, and the federal deficit ballooned with it.

That’s not to say there weren’t promising moments, such as Newt Gingrich’s 1994 “Contract with America,” which saw the Republicans gain a House majority for the first time in 40 years. This resulted in the passage of important welfare reforms, tax cuts, and, ultimately, a balanced budget. But it did little to tackle the bigger problem: Washington’s growing bureaucratic state.

During the Obama era, conservative outcry over the passage of ObamaCare saw the grassroots Tea Party movement surge, handing Republicans majority control of the House in 2010. Once again, the primary concern was the ever-expanding size and scope of federal government spending. Yet, Republicans failed to repeal ObamaCare, and frustration and disenchantment with GOP lawmakers saw the movement fizzle.

The sentiment was that Washington’s permanent bureaucratic state was simply too big and too entrenched to actually shrink. Indeed, it seemed the best thing that conservatives could hope for from Republican lawmakers was slowing down Washington’s growth. The constant expansion of the federal government was viewed as inevitable.

That history is why what’s currently happening in Washington is shocking. Indeed, it’s almost unbelievable.

In just the first few weeks since Donald Trump took office, things are changing in Washington in a way no one believed possible. He is actually draining The Swamp.

But how is Trump accomplishing what he couldn’t do during his first term? How has he shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), sent thousands of deep state bureaucrats packing, and panicked the entire bureaucratic state?

The short answer is the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — a creation that Trump touted while on the campaign trail, promising that it would cut government waste. Trump tapped the top minds of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead DOGE, and despite Ramaswamy having moved on, the outfit’s impact has not been blunted.

DOGE hit the ground running like nothing Washington has ever seen or experienced before. This was not some typical political promise that the permanent bureaucratic state has easily and deftly batted away to the dusty halls of ignominy. It’s a mechanism for orchestrating significant reform.

DOGE was prepared, organized, and struck on multiple fronts so fast that Washington didn’t know what hit it. Indeed, its objective is bigger than Washington even imagined. DOGE was constructed to fundamentally transform the way Washington runs. What Trump has unleashed is a governance revolution.

This has been made possible thanks to the brilliant minds Musk brought to DOGE. With a small army of tech wizards, DOGE has taken the old rule for uncovering corruption — following the money — and applied new algorithmic mapping systems that are rapidly revealing what Washington’s bureaucracy has long managed to hide.

The revelations of how USAID has been spending taxpayer money are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) observed, “What we found was that the State Department and USAID completely lost sight of their mission.”

When Americans are made privy to exactly how our tax dollars are being spent, this can lead to real change, in part because support grows for a president who will cut it. On the flip side, it also explains Democrat lawmakers’ ridiculous behavior.

They claim that Musk is an “unelected billionaire” directing a “shadow government,” and yet the exact opposite is the case. DOGE is exposing the real shadow government — Washington’s permanent bureaucratic class, or deep state.

Furthermore, DOGE actually predates the Trump presidency. It was created during the Obama administration and was initially called the United States Digital Service. It originally was under the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer, eventually moving and coming under the Office of Management and Budget in 2016. Trump renamed it and refocused its mission on finding and cutting wasteful government spending.

Trump has been so successful this time in draining The Swamp because his administration put together a plan and a team that knew exactly where they were going and what they were doing. As JD Vance explains, “When you look at the people surrounding the president. We’re trying to make it sort of easy for him to do what he wants to do in government. When you have the entire team firing on all cylinders, you can get a lot done.”

While Democrats and the bureaucratic state are still struggling to come to grips with what hit them, Americans are saying, Finally, things are changing in Washington.