What is DOGE? Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency led by Musk and Ramaswamy
Donald Trump has announced that Elon Musk will head up the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency in his second administration alongside venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy.
Under Musk, the new office – which will operate “outside of government” – will advise on gutting federal departments and which staff should be fired if it deems they are a “massive waste.”
Trump vowed that Musk and Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk threatened.
So far, details about DOGE – which shares its acronym with the dogecoin cryptocurrency favored by Musk – remain scarce.
Trump’s announcement has characterized the department as an advisory board that will “provide guidance outside of government.”
Musk and Ramaswamy’s work will conclude “no later than July 4, 2026,” the announcement added – 18 months after Trump takes office.
It is not known how big a budget DOGE will have, how many people it will itself employ, or how much of the American taxpayers’ dollars it will require.
What we do know is that the Tesla CEO intends to slash “at least $2 trillion” from the nation’s budget, or roughly by one-third.
Since the announcement, Musk reposted claims on his social media platform X that $20,000 of American tax dollars are spent on drag shows in Ecuador, $750,000 to operate the fire alarm at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, and $350,000 to develop AI smart toilets.
The world’s richest man has wanted this for a while.
On August 20, not long after publicly backing Trump in the presidential election, Musk made it known he was “willing to serve.”
He posted an AI-generated image of himself at a podium branded: “Department of Government Efficiency.”
The SpaceX CEO also spoke about his intentions and the potential impacts of the plans on the campaign trail. At a virtual town hall event, Musk warned that if Trump was reelected, their plans for the economy would likely call for “temporary hardship” for Americans.
Musk, whose companies hold billions in government contracts, said he was “praying for a victory” so he could take up the role of slashing federal spending, NBC reported at the time.
“We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” Musk said. “And, you know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”
At Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden, Musk declared: “Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook.”
Ramaswamy, meanwhile, who ran a failed campaign for president against Trump, has previously vowed to fire more than 75 percent of the federal workforce.
Speaking during his presidential campaign in 2023, Ramaswamy said he would shut down the FBI, the Department of Education, and the Food and Nutrition Service, the New York Times reported at the time, offering a possible glimpse into which departments he will be looking to make cuts to.