Russell Vought

If something bad happens to you or a loved one in the foreseeable future, there’s a likely villain behind your pain: Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. In concert with others, the Revolving Door Project is working to help people understand Vought’s culpability in their hardship. Vought must no longer be able to destroy the structural safeguards of our society in relative anonymity.

Why Focus On Vought?

More than any other person, “Vampire Vought” is the architect and executor of Donald Trump’s government demolition agenda. The implementation of that agenda is unleashing avoidable material harms, from financial fraud to foregone cancer treatments, on people across the United States every day. To the extent that some harms haven’t yet materialized, that’s largely a matter of luck. The bottom line is that Trump, Vought, and Voughtism are needlessly exacerbating preventable suffering and death, and putting many more people at risk of adverse outcomes.

Vought as DOGE’s Real Brains and Brawn

As an advocate of impoundment (the illegal refusal to spend money appropriated by Congress) during the first Trump administration, and a leading force behind Project 2025 (the policy blueprint for the second Trump administration), Vought is in many ways the inspiration for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

DOGE should be understood as an anti-democratic and lethal effort to concentrate federal spending power in the executive branch and selectively sabotage government capacity (e.g., bolstering ICE while eviscerating FEMA, HHS, the SEC, and dozens of other agencies). In his role as OMB director, Vought has institutionalized DOGE.

Vought’s Goal? To Impose Far-Right Agenda

For Vought, vandalizing the civil service and seizing autocratic control over the federal money spigot is a means to an end. Vought’s objective is to replace our imperfectly democratic government with a fully authoritarian one that better suits oligarchs and far-right ideologues like himself, a self-described Christian nationalist who holds reactionary views on virtually every issue. Firing federal workers en masse and freezing certain forms of funding is Vought’s way of making his cruel vision a reality.

Vought’s Advantage? Flying Under the Radar

When Elon Musk—the chainsaw-wielding champion of austerity for working people (alongside continued welfare for corporations and billionaires)—was the ubiquitous and obnoxious mouthpiece for DOGE, there was more attention paid to its deadly consequences. 

But since Musk’s wrecking crew officially disbanded in November 2025, there has been a misconception that DOGE “failed,” and its mission is over. That couldn’t be further from the truth, and not only because numerous DOGE agents have “burrowed into” federal agencies “like ticks.” The reality is that Vought, operating behind the scenes, has been leading Trump’s life-threatening assault on the public good all along.

Today, the strategically reclusive Vought continues to lead DOGE-style attacks on the federal government. But he does so with much less fanfare than when Musk was ostensibly in charge of the onslaught.

Our Goal? Make Vought as Infamous as Musk

While Vought is far quieter than Musk, he is no less villainous. In truth, Vought embodies the worst and most venal traits of the oligarch class as well as any of them—and he pairs it with actual expertise in the inner workings of government. The Revolving Door Project’s goal is to make Vought at least as infamous as Musk. 

How? Connect the Dots Between Vought-Led Actions and Preventable Harms

Trump 2.0 has drastically reduced the size of the federal workforce. Vought, who admitted that he wants to traumatize government workers, has played a leading role. As of mid-March 2026, there are roughly 264,000 fewer federal employees than there were on January 20, 2025, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. Amid chaos unleashed by DOGE, more than 136,000 dedicated civil servants accepted so-called deferred resignation offers and tens of thousands were fired due to their “probationary” status (e.g., recent hires and long-term employees who recently changed roles). Morale among remaining staff has plummeted.

Moreover, during fiscal year 2025, the Trump administration unlawfully blocked the disbursement of more than $410 billion in appropriated funds, according to data compiled by the Democratic staffs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Nearly all of that happened after Vought rescinded OMB’s January 27, 2025, impoundment memo, which was ruled illegal. Despite that ruling, the White House has continued to withhold money through pocket recissions, onerous grant and contract review procedures, funding “pauses,” and other means—especially if funding is destined for Democratic-led districts or projects associated with climate action, health equity, or other efforts not supported by Trump and Vought.

The numbers above are abstract. What they mean concretely is far fewer people working at agencies tasked with keeping the public safe and far less investment in programs designed to improve public well-being. 

Trump 2.0’s unilateral staffing and spending cuts have already had devastating effects, and potentially worse outcomes await. Vought is leaving people more vulnerable to foodborne illnesses, workplace injuries, train derailments, aviation disasters, viral epidemics, and extreme weather catastrophes. Vought is denying people access to lifesaving medical treatments, child care, and other necessities. Vought has been called Trump’s shadow president, but a more accurate label may be shadow dictator. A man most people have never heard of is almost single-handedly ruining countless lives.

The text above is an adapted version of a newsletter we published on March 24, 2026.