From a fiscal conservative’s perspective, it's fair to say at this point that the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has done some really good work. Sure, DOGE has many critics, but so will anyone who roots out wasteful government programs — and the more waste you root out, the more critics you will accumulate.

A lot of people in Washington have a living because of wasteful programs. A lot of people make a lot of money off of those programs. But that’s another story, for another day.

Despite the headwinds, DOGE’s work is still popular. A recent poll suggests that the general concept of an agency focused on efficiency is widely popular across all Americans. That is likely one of the reasons Trump focused, in his joint address to Congress last week, on programs that many people find wasteful.

And by focused, I don’t mean that he just mentioned DOGE’s work. He specifically identified no fewer than 19 programs that many Republicans (and probably some independents and even Democrats) would find problematic: millions for everything from diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Burma, to "LGBTQI "........

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