4 min read
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, will be in charge of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
The department is not going to be a government agency, despite the name. Trump stated in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to provide the White House with “advice and guidance” and will collaborate with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large-scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.” Moving forward, he said, government systems will be shocked.
Trump said, “The Duo will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.”
In an announcement on his own social media site, Musk promised in an online post to record the department’s every move for “maximum transparency.”
He said, “Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!” while also promising to keep “a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars”.
Additionally, Ramaswamy addressed the X statement of his appointment. “We will not go gently, @elonmusk,” he said, emoji-ing it with an American flag.
It is unclear how the organization will operate. It may fall under the purview of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which establishes the rules for the operation and public accountability of non-governmental organizations that provide advice to the federal government.
To avoid conflicts of interest, federal personnel must reveal their assets and entanglements and sell off any substantial holdings that are relevant to their job. Neither Musk nor Ramaswamy would be subject to such regulations or moral constraints since they are not considered official federal employees.
An acronym for the agency, Doge, is an allusion to a meme of an expressive Shiba Inu and the name of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which Musk advocates. Musk had previously advocated for the creation of this department and has since aggressively promoted it. A “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government, and making recommendations for drastic reforms” will be conducted by the agency, according to Trump.
Dogecoin & Tesla Surge as Trump Promises Efficient Government by 2026
Along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, dogecoin’s value has more than doubled since election day, driven by hopes for looser regulation from the Trump administration. Since the election, Tesla’s stock has increased by around 30%.
On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Trump declared that their job would be over by 4 July 2026. He added that a smaller and more efficient government would be a “gift” to the nation.
Ramaswamy’s Political Ambitions
Ramaswamy is a rich biotech entrepreneur who ran for the Republican nomination last year. He abandoned his campaign and immediately began endorsing Trump. Just earlier this week, he revealed to ABC that he was engaged in “high-impact discussions” over potential positions in Trump’s cabinet.
He has advocated for business cost-cutting despite his lack of government expertise. He encouraged Buzzfeed to lay off workers and recruit conservative personalities like Tucker Carlson in May after he bought a share in the struggling online media company.
In an interview with reporters last month, Musk revealed his intention to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. Experts believe that deregulation and policy changes brought about by those budget cuts would affect Musk’s universe of firms, including SpaceX, Neuralink, Tesla, and SpaceX.
The addition of a government portfolio to Musk’s holdings has the potential to boost the value of his firms and the industries he favors, including cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence.
In a research report, Wedbush Securities’ equity analyst Daniel Ives stated: “Musk will have a massive role in the Trump White House with his increasing reach clearly across many federal agencies.”
But Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights organization that opposed a number of Trump’s first-term measures, criticized Musk’s appointment. In a statement, co-president Lisa Gilbert pointed out that Musk not only knows nothing about government efficiency and regulation, but his own businesses have regularly run afoul of the very rules he will be in a position to attack.
Given Musk’s other commitments, Trump has previously made it known that he would not be holding a full-time role.
During a rally in Michigan in September, Trump voiced his concern about the possibility of hiring him full-time due to his hectic schedule. “This country’s waste is insane,” he stated. And Elon Musk will be our budget cutter.
