Elon Musk steps down as DOGE chief

Space and technology billionaire Elon Musk announced that his term as the chief of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has come to an end. He thanked US President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.

Musk said that the DOGE mission will strengthen over time to become a way of life in the government. His departure comes a day after Musk’s first-ever criticism of Trump, where he said the President’s signature “big, beautiful” spending bill increases the budget deficit and undermines the DOGE team’s work. He said that a bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But it cannot be both.

Musk was a donor to Trump’s 2024 election campaign, featured in his pre-poll outings and then remained firmly by his side as the Republican assumed office. Trump, on his part, praised Musk in his victory speech.

As the DOGE department



started work at a feverish pace, Musk went looking for “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” willing to work over 80 hours a week on unglamorous cost-cutting tasks. Tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several departments were downsized or shut down, even as the Tesla chief butted heads with other senior Trump officials.

But by late April, Musk started pulling back after interviews where he said DOGE had become a “whipping boy” for dissatisfaction with the administration. He also admitted that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE.

His focus also shifted to his businesses, with Tesla dealerships getting targeted by arsonists and SpaceX suffering setbacks with mission failures. The latest was yesterday when the Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean during its ninth test flight.