Trump unveils efficiency team with Musk and Ramaswamy at the helm
President-elect Donald Trump announced he would create a "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who participated in the Republican Party presidential primaries. They aim to reduce spending and "dismantle Government Bureaucracy."
Donald Trump announced that the new "department" would serve as an external advisory body intended to collaborate with the White House on structural reforms of the state. As he promised during the election campaign, it will be headed by billionaire and Trump campaign sponsor Elon Musk. However, he will be joint leader with his former rival in the Republican primaries, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement - Trump wrote in his statement.
"This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!" - Musk said, quoted in Trump's statement. Trump announced that the department will complete its work by the 250th anniversary of the USA's independence, on 4th July 2026.
The idea for the commission - along with its name - was the brainchild of Elon Musk, originally from South Africa, owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and the X platform. The acronym for its name (Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE) references a popular internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog. Musk previously promoted a cryptocurrency named dogecoin, inspired by the meme. On Tuesday, he announced that all DOGE activities would be published online "for maximum transparency."
Musk to create a ranking of foolish expenditures
"We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining," - Musk wrote on his platform. He also published the new department "logo," depicting the dog from the meme.
Even during the election campaign, critics of the idea highlighted a potential conflict of interest involving Musk, whose company SpaceX relies heavily on contracts with NASA and the Pentagon.
