This is a new category with anything and everything related to Elon Musk. He has become such an important influence in our country, I felt it appropriate to give him his own category.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a planned United States presidential advisory commission announced by Donald Trump, the president-elect of the United States, in preparation for his second term as U.S. president. It will be led by the billionaire businessman Elon Musk and the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Despite its name, DOGE is not intended to function as a federal executive department, the creation of which would require the approval of the U.S. Congress. Instead, it will serve as an advisory body aiming to streamline the U.S. federal government and reduce inefficiency.[citation needed]
Musk has suggested that the commission could help to cut the U.S. federal budget by up to US$2 trillion through measures such as reducing waste, abolishing redundant agencies, and downsizing the federal workforce. Ramaswamy also stated that DOGE may eliminate entire federal agencies and reduce the number of federal employees by as much as 75%. Musk has also proposed consolidating the number of federal agencies from more than 400 to fewer than 100.
DOGE is a backronym referencing Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency associated with Musk and which is inspired by Doge, an Internet meme.
Functions
Despite the name, it will not be a federal executive department, which are created through an act of Congress, and is to be an advisory body operating outside of government. According to CBS News, it may operate under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
Vox said that the body is “unlikely to have any regulatory teeth on its own, but there’s little doubt that it can have influence on the incoming administration and how it will determine its budgets”.
Donald Trump said the body would help to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”. He also stated that Musk and Ramaswamy will work with the Office of Management and Budget to address what he called “massive waste and fraud” in government spending.
History
In August 2024, Trump said at a campaign event that, if he were elected, he would be open to giving Musk an advisory role. In response, Musk wrote a post on X saying “I am willing to serve”, along with an AI-created image of him standing in front of a lectern marked “Department of Government Efficiency”.
Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, stated that, prior to the official announcement of the creation of DOGE, Elon Musk had called Federico Sturzenegger, Argentina’s Minister of Deregulation and Transformation of the State, to discuss imitating his ministry’s model in the United States. The idea of a DOGE has been linked to Trump’s campaign promises to cut federal spending and reduce the size of government and the size of the federal fiscal deficit. Musk has suggested that the former U.S. representative and presidential candidate Ron Paul could work with DOGE.
On November 20, Washington Post reported that DOGE had discussed development of a free tax filling mobile app.
Leadership
On November 12, 2024, Trump announced his intention to form a Department of Government Efficiency under the leadership of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump stated that the entity’s work will “conclude” no later than July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, also coinciding with America’s semiquincentennial celebrations and a proposed “Great American Fair”. Trump called the proposed results of DOGE “the perfect gift to America”.
On November 14, DOGE asked for CVs[clarification needed] of high IQ people willing to work 80 hours.
Impression
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the largest American bank, has supported the idea of creating DOGE to improve government competency.
On October 28, 2024, at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden, Musk stated his belief that DOGE could remove US$2 trillion from the U.S. federal budget. Musk has not specified whether these savings would be made over a single year or a longer period. Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has said that this saving is “absolutely doable” over a period of 10 years, but it would be difficult to do in a single year “without compromising some of the fundamental objectives of the government that are widely agreed upon”.
The New York Times questioned whether Musk’s companies being contractors to the federal government causes a conflict of interest with his proposed work in DOGE. Musk has described deregulation as the only path to the SpaceX Mars colonization program, and promised he will “get the government off people’s back and out of their pocket”.
The committee has been seen as potentially redundant to the Government Accountability Office.
Donald Trump picks Elon Musk for new cost-cutting role
US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Elon Musk for a role in government cost-cutting, as part of his drive to “dismantle” bureaucracy when he returns to the White House next year.
Tech billionaire Musk, who has called for huge spending cuts, has been picked alongside biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge). The acronym is a nod to Musk’s favourite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.
Trump said the pair would act in an advisory capacity, and that the Doge would not be an official government department.
On the same day, Trump named another political newcomer – Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth – as his pick for defence secretary.
Musk threw millions behind Donald Trump’s successful re-election bid, and was hotly tipped for a role in the administration that has so far rewarded loyalists. Trump himself outlined a plan for Musk in government cost-cutting on the campaign trail.
Ramaswamy ran as a Republican candidate for president earlier this year against Trump, before dropping out and endorsing him.
Since triumphing in last week’s vote, Trump has been assembling his top team – with another of his one-time Republican rivals, Marco Rubio, reportedly in the frame to be his new secretary of state.
Trump looks likely to enjoy significant support for his legislative agenda in Congress. Republicans won the Senate and are closing in on control of the House.
What is the Doge?
It remains to be seen how the Doge will operate.
The organisation does not currently exist and, when created, it is not expected to be an official department. Such agencies have to be established through an act of Congress and typically employ thousands of staff.
In Tuesday night’s announcement, Trump acknowledged that it will “provide advice and guidance from outside of government”. He said the initiative would help his administration “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”.
He said Musk and Ramaswamy would work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to tackle “massive waste and fraud” in $6.5tn (£5.1tn) of annual government spending.
Trump has likened the new initiative to the Manhattan Project, a top-secret World War Two programme to develop the first nuclear weapons.
The president-elect said Musk and Ramaswamy would complete their work no later than 4 July (American Independence Day) 2026.
The organisation’s name refers to Musk’s preferred cryptocurrency – which was itself jokingly in 2013 named after an internet meme. Dogecoin has soared in value over the past week.
The roles of Musk and Ramaswamy
In business, Musk has become known for his opposition to perceived government overregulation and his approach to cost-cutting – most notably after he took over Twitter, which he rebranded X and laid off thousands of staff.
Musk, who also founded SpaceX and Tesla, recently called for at least $2tn in cuts to US federal spending, nearly a third of the government’s budget, without offering specifics. He has also proposed eliminating hundreds of federal agencies, arguing that many of them have overlapping areas of responsibility.
In a press release from Trump’s campaign, Musk said: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people.”
After the announcement, Musk posted on X: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”
Ramaswamy reposted Trump’s announcement on social media saying “we will not go gently”. He also said he was withdrawing from consideration to fill incoming US Vice-President JD Vance’s soon-to-be-vacated Ohio Senate seat.
Last year, while running for president, Ramaswamy said he would fire more than 75% of the federal work force and close down several major agencies, including the Department of Education, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Resources
theverge.com, “Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have spelled out their plans for DOGE.” By Jay Peters; en.wikipedia.org, “Department of Government Efficiency.” By wikipedia Editors; bbc.com, “Donald Trump picks Elon Musk for new cost-cutting role.” By Ana Faguy and James FitzGerald;
Elon Musk Postings
https://common-sense-in-america.com/2024/11/26/elon-musks-political-influence/
https://common-sense-in-america.com/2024/11/21/elon-musk-and-vivek-ramaswamy-spell-out-their-plans-for-doge/