Billionaire Elon Musk has been tapped by US President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a brand new agency that will support his incoming administration.
Keeping his campaign promise, in a statement on November 12, US President-elect Donald Trump said he would establish a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This agency will be headed by Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. These two are both wealthy businessmen.
Mr Trump did not specify how DOGE would operate, saying only that the agency would “provide advice and guidance from outside the government,” implying Mr Musk would not take on an official role as a federal official.
The president-elect explained that Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy would help his administration tackle government bureaucracy by cutting unnecessary regulations, reducing wasteful spending and restructuring federal agencies, which he said was crucial to his “America First” policy.
"I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the federal bureaucracy that will lead to efficiency and a better life for all Americans. Most importantly, we will eliminate the massive waste and fraud that exists in our $6.5 trillion annual government spending," Trump said.
“They will work together to free up our economy and hold our government accountable to the people,” he added. “Their work will be finished by July 4, 2026. A streamlined, less bureaucratic government would be the perfect gift to America on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!”
Immediately after President-elect Trump's announcement, billionaire Elon Musk affirmed on X: "Every action of DOGE will be posted online to achieve maximum transparency. Whenever the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, let us know." He added that a "ranking board" will be created for tax expenditures.
DOGE And Its Pledge To Cut Over $2 Trillion
Republican politicians have long envisioned such reforms and DOGE was created with those goals in mind. DOGE will work closely with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to implement large-scale structural reforms and bring an entrepreneurial spirit to government operations.
In an August interview with Mr Trump, billionaire Elon Musk pledged to help the government drastically cut wasteful spending that does not benefit Americans and that artificial intelligence (AI) technology could be used to identify where to cut.
He also promised to provide severance packages to fired government employees and proposed a system of evaluations and termination warnings for underperforming employees. In public discussions about Mr. Musk’s potential government role, Mr. Trump has praised the Tesla CEO for his decisiveness in dismissing him.
Musk aims to cut at least $2 trillion in government spending and eliminate regulations that he says stifle innovation, the Financial Times reported. Instead of running government operations directly, he plans to appoint longtime representatives, technical experts and ideological partners to key agencies.
Key figures being considered for government roles include Steve Davis, who oversaw mass layoffs at X, and Omead Afshar, who has been described as Elon Musk's "firefighter" handling the challenges of transforming the company.
Billionaire Elon Musk has also suggested SpaceX executives for positions in the Department of Defense, including former Air Force Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy and government affairs executive Tim Hughes.
Mr Musk has become more involved in high-level diplomacy after he contributed at least $120 million to Mr Trump’s re-election campaign.
On Election Day, billionaire Musk said he had no plans to stop "invading" politics because his super political action committee American PAC "will continue to operate after the election and prepare for the midterms and any election."
Billionaire Elon Musk is said to have participated in President-elect Donald Trump's phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when international leaders congratulated Mr. Trump's victory.
The tech mogul’s influence extends beyond traditional government roles. His X platform became a vehicle for disseminating pro-Trump messages during the campaign, while venture capitalists David Sacks and Jason Calacanis, who regularly host the podcast All-In, are seeking roles in government.
Coincidentally or not, the acronym DOGE is the same as the cryptocurrency (Dogecoin) that billionaire Elon Musk supports. There are suspicions that the creation of DOGE is part of a plan to promote this cryptocurrency.
Immediately after Mr. Trump's announcement of the creation of DOGE, the value of the virtual currency Dogecoin increased by nearly 20% to $0.43/coin. This is one of the strongest digital currencies since the US election day, with an increase of up to 153%.
