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When Davis learned that a breakaway faction was gathering on a Saturday afternoon at the offices of venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz to plot a strategy for DOGE’s future, he began calling likely attendees and told them not to attend what he called the “coup” meeting. (The firm did not respond to a request for comment on its role in DOGE’s work.) Those at the meeting who looked at their phones would have seen their fortunes change in real time, as they were removed from Signal group chats — DOGE’s primary status marker of who belonged.
“Steve Davis conducted an internal purge against anyone not completely loyal directly to him,” said a former DOGE official with direct knowledge of the events.
Steve Davis, as DOGE’s operational lead, acted as connective tissue for staffers embedded across agencies and their backchannel to the White House. | George Walker IV/AP
Between May and June, dozens of DOGE employees left their posts. Some were pushed out by Davis’ allies after expressing concern about his authority. Some left because they had come to Washington only for Musk, and saw no point in staying once he was gone. Others told colleagues they were quitting out of exhaustion, drained by the drama at the top and disillusioned by the collapse of the political cover that once made their work possible.
And the trappings of DOGE’s once-privileged place in the federal government — the black SUVs, the dedicated parking spaces at GSA, the armed guard checking off names of those allowed entry to the 6th floor — vanished along with them.
