I think it was egos (primarily of two people), not any serious attempt to save money. If I was tasked with cutting government waste, I would start with the programs that have the biggest overall spending - like defense, health care and Social Security. (Maybe I missed it, but the main things I am aware of about the defense budget was an early statement that there would an 8% annual reduction in the budget, for five years. That effort seems to have been abandoned in favor of an increase in the defense budget to $1T.)
And while there were plenty of initial headlines of what was "saved" by DOGE, some turned out (or were reported) to be questionable, or overstated.
Basically I don't believe anything, especially from the government (, without proof. I admit that means I'm skeptical enough that I don't do independent research to confirm that reported savings are real.