What is DOGE? Musk's new political designation under Trump becomes a crypto joke.
The elected president Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that one of his major donors, Elon Musk, will be co-leader of the newly established Department of Government.
Donald Trump, the elected president, announced on Tuesday that one of his major donors, Elon Musk, will be co-leader of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. This name is a clear reference to the popular Doge meme, which features an adorable Shiba Inu and inspired the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Although this commission aims to advise Trump, it is not an official government department, as these must be approved by Congress. Musk has brought to life the joke he made on X in August about the DOGE, taking advantage of his well-known fondness for the meme.
The Doge meme, which has been popular for several years, revolves around a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, who became famous on the internet for her cuteness, similar to other animal memes like Grumpy Cat. The image of Kabosu was posted by her owner, a kindergarten teacher in Japan, in 2010, but the meme went viral in 2013 when colorful Comic Sans texts were added, simulating the dog's internal monologue in poorly constructed English. An example of these messages could be: "much leaf, very pile, many fall, such pumpkin spice latte." While these jokes were amusing at the time, interest in them has declined over the years.
The Doge meme has maintained its cultural relevance because in 2013, two software engineers decided to create a new cryptocurrency as a joke, naming it Dogecoin, in reference to the meme itself. Although Dogecoin was conceived to poke fun at cryptocurrencies, it has taken on a life of its own, and Musk has played a significant role in that. For example, he announced a mission called “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon,” funded with Dogecoin, through SpaceX, although the launch, which was scheduled for 2022, has not yet materialized. Additionally, Musk confirmed that Tesla holds an undisclosed amount of Dogecoin, in the context of a $258 billion lawsuit over an alleged scheme to inflate the price of the cryptocurrency, which was recently dismissed.
Musk's interest in Dogecoin has also been reflected on his platform, where he briefly changed the company logo to the meme, leading to a significant rise in the price of Dogecoin. This increase also repeated on Tuesday night after the announcement of the DOGE creation. Musk is no stranger to using memes in the political sphere, as evidenced by his joke about "420" during a controversial episode related to Tesla.
On the other hand, the Republican Party has managed to leverage popular memes to its advantage. During Trump's last presidential term, the meme Pepe the Frog became associated with alt-right movements. Pepe was created by artist Matt Furie in his 2005 comic "Boy's Club" and became a symbol of a certain ethos among groups of young men. However, Pepe's popularity on the internet led to its interpretation in various ways, including in extremist political contexts, culminating in the Anti-Defamation League classifying it as a hate symbol. Despite its association with extreme movements, Pepe has been recontextualized in other spaces such as the crypto world and among Twitch streamers.
The Doge meme could be on a path similar to Pepe, becoming a symbol associated with Trump's second administration and Musk's influence, but, like Pepe, memes have the potential to be reinterpreted and adapted repeatedly. The future of DOGE, led by Musk, remains to be seen, and the legacy of Kabosu, the Shiba Inu, may transform into various forms.
