Waste.gov put behind password after sending WordPress demo website live

The U.S. government recently registered DEI.gov and Waste.gov as new federal websites, with Reuters reporting that neither page was responsive as of last Wednesday. Now Waste.gov has been hidden behind a password after apparently going live — with a default WordPress template.

404 Media reports that Waste.gov temporarily displayed an example web page provided by WordPress, using the design template Twenty Twenty-Four and featuring a fictional architectural firm called Études. While the page included the domain name and the tagline "tracking government waste," the rest of Waste.gov focused on Études' fake architectural services. DEI.gov redirected to Waste.gov.

The Waste.gov website on Feb. 11, 2025, as archived by The Wayback Machine. Credit: Screenshot: Mashable

This is a pretty sloppy look for President Donald Trump's new administration, which has also been taking down public health websites hosting information used by doctors to treat patients. That isn't even to mention shutting down the U.S. humanitarian aid agency and its website, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention website, and numerous federal webpages on LGBTQ issues. Waste.gov was quickly locked away behind a password after 404 Media's report.

Judging from the domain names, it's reasonable to assume that Waste.gov and DEI.gov are intended to concern Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency ("DOGE") as well as Trump's ongoing efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI). Musk and Trump have continually alleged that the U.S. government is wasting funds, with DOGE aiming to drastically cut federal spending and employees.

Unfortunately, both Trump and Musk have poor histories when it comes to correctly assessing what constitutes waste. An analysis found that Trump's elimination of over 100 environmental protection regulations during his first term contributed to 22,000 American deaths in 2019 alone. Meanwhile, Musk infamously cut almost 90 percent of Twitter's staff after acquiring it 2022, with the company's value subsequently tanking while advertisers deserted the platform.

Despite this, Trump and Musk appear to believe that the U.S. government can be run to an acceptable standard with a fraction of its current employees, significant reliance on AI, and with $2 trillion subtracted from its budget (the federal budget prior to their cuts was $6.8 trillion). On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to execute "large-scale" job cuts and work with Musk's DOGE to limit hiring.

So far, the Trump administration's drastic cuts have primarily caused chaos and concern. DOGE swiftly gained access to the federal government's digital networks and databases ostensibly to search for "waste," locking U.S. government officials out of key systems and sparking numerous lawsuits. Waste.gov's hapless publication of a default WordPress demo website is just another indication that Trump and Musk's hasty gutting of the U.S. government is a messy process that will probably only get messier.