A seasoned businessman with experience turning companies around, Tyler Hassen didn’t fit the popular image of DOGE members as hoodie-clad twenty-somethings slashing spending.
asserted
Hassen → turn → spending
Now, he’s on the offensive with his new book “Inside DOGE: The Real Story from a Senior Insider” (Republic Book Publishers, out now).
asserted
he → ’ → Insider
“So much of the narrative about DOGE has been written from people who weren’t inside the room,” Hassen, 43, told me.
asserted
Hassen → write → me
“I think part of [the issue was] we were there to work, not to do a bunch of media and tell our story.
asserted
we → think → story
But now he is doing just that — and arguing that the cuts DOGE made are far more significant than the short-lived agency got credit for.
asserted
agency → do → credit
Hassen asserts that DOGE fundamentally changed how the government approached spending by cancelling contracts that otherwise would have renewed; consolidating purchasing by creating OneGov, rather than having agencies negotiate separately with the same vendors; and implementing new guardrails around wiring money by placing a tracking code on payments that had previously gone out unlabeled.
asserted
that → assert → payments
While the book arrives shortly after the national debt hit a new high of $40 trillion, Hassen told me he still strongly stands by the DOGE edict, “take care of the billions and the trillions will take care of themselves.”
asserted
trillions → arrive → themselves
Hassen, who was one of less than 100 DOGE staffers according to his own estimate, knew he wanted to get involved in cutting the deficit immediately after Trump was elected.
uncertain
Trump → accord → deficit
“I wanted to look my kids in the eye someday and say I tried to fix it,” he told me of his motivation to do his best for his 4-year-old daughter.
asserted
he → want → daughter
“The bill always comes due.
asserted
bill → come → ?
The only real question is whether we face it on our own terms—or hand it to the next generation with an apology and a shrug.”
asserted
we → face → apology
When he got the job offer, he willingly left his perch in Houston, Tex., as CEO of Basin Holdings, a diversified energy and industrial business, to put his private-sector skills to work in Washington.
asserted
he → get → Washington
Hassen arrived in the nation’s capital with just three suitcases and a goal to cut waste, fraud and abuse.
asserted
Hassen → arrive → waste
He was given a laptop and basic instructions to research the Commerce Department, then told to come up with a handful of ideas that he’d ultimately present to Musk to make cuts and improve efficiency.
asserted
he → give → efficiency
That would become a weekly missive.
asserted
That → become → ?
Even after he switched departments and move to Interior, Hassen continued attending those DOGE meetings with Musk that he says could run until 2 a.m.
uncertain
he → switch → a.m.
Weekends were often even busier with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who was busy traveling during the week, coming in to review contracts and cuts with him.
asserted
who → travel → him
Hassen’s book pushes back on the image of DOGE taking a rusty chainsaw to government spending.
asserted
DOGE → push → spending
His account describes painstaking contract reviews, not just sweeping cuts.
asserted
account → describe → reviews
He recounts that he would spend 14 hours a day reviewing awards, grants and any agency spending of more than $50,000 in painstaking detail.
asserted
he → recount → detail
When I asked whether it felt discouraging to be in the weeds, sometimes cutting just hundreds of thousands of dollars while the government spent trillions, he didn’t bite.
asserted
he → ask → trillions
“Let’s say the American pays five hundred thousand dollars of taxes in their lifetime … when we cut a $4 million contract that saves eight families in Texas their lifetime tax payment,” he said.
asserted
he → say → payment
While DOGE reported savings of more than $200 billion, that number remains disputed and is much smaller than the initial $2 trillion they aimed to cut.
asserted
they → report → trillion
But even more significant than that number, Hassen argues that DOGE’s impact extends beyond the contracts it canceled — he believes that it created a ripple effect that has encouraged oversight at both the federal and state level.
asserted
that → argue → level
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has established a fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, while citizen journalists such as Nick Shirley and Katie Daviscourt have drawn attention to allegations of taxpayer money going to fraudulent daycares and medicare scams.
asserted
money → establish → daycares
That would become a weekly missive.
asserted
That → become → ?
Even after he switched departments and move to Interior, Hassen continued attending those DOGE meetings with Musk that he says could run until 2 a.m.
uncertain
he → switch → a.m.
The Aporia
