Imagine the world’s richest man joining forces with a former United States presidential candidate to lead a new department created solely to increase government efficiency.
President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 12 announced precisely such a department, to be spearheaded by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate. The proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) marks a significant and unprecedented moment not just in American, but world politics.
This is how the Trump-Vance Transition put out the news, with the president-elect’s statement on X: “I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”).
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.”
The statement also quoted Musk’s immediate response, “This will send shock waves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” X, we might recall, formerly Twitter, is a platform owned and run by Musk, which also contributed significantly to Trump’s win in the recently-concluded presidential race.
"Large scale structural reform"
As an aside, we might note that the acronym, DOGE, is named after a cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, originally started as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. No surprise that it has seen record highs, along with market leader Bitcoin, and other blockchain cryptos. As Bob Dylan crooned, the times they are certainly achanging ….
DOGE sounds like something straight out of the dream factories of Hollywood Sci-Fi. For despite so much talk of “draining the swamp” by Trump and his MAGA supporters over the last decade, such a department, including its acronym, is totally “dope.”
As Trump’s statement puts it, “It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” a game-changer that has the potential to overhaul and transform the entire government bureaucracy and functioning. For unlike a normal government department, DOGE will drive change from outside by partnering with the White House and Office of Management & Budget, to engineer “large scale structural reform with an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.”
Continuing on a personal note Trump says, “I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans.”
Resonating with Americans
DOGE’s objectives are nothing if not exceedingly, some would say crazily, ambitious: “Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending.” Musk and Ramaswamy “will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the US Government accountable to ‘WE THE PEOPLE.’” Their deadline? Independence Day, 2026. Very symbolic indeed.
As the statement concludes, “A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!”
Let us see the immediate benefits to the new administration from DOGE, regardless of how much it delivers in one and a half years. First of all, business is back in business. After Kamala Harris’s repeated targeting of big corporations as the villains, Trump wants to run the nation itself like a business, focusing on efficiency, innovation, and results rather than traditional political bureaucracy.
By onboarding to his administration two billionaires, on the world’s richest and most visible inventor-techie, Trump wants to highlight America as hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. This could resonate particularly with younger voters and those disillusioned with traditional politics but also signal to the world that the US intends to maintain its dominance in disruptive technologies and revolutionary ideas.
Republicans in general, and Trump in particular, have historically advocated cutting government to size, especially reducing wasteful expenditure and excessive taxation. Saving money when the government deficit and debt are so high is actually a smart move. In addition, dismantling obstructive bureaucracy and improving governance will resonate with many Americans who voted for the Trump-Vance ticket.
In addition, dismantling the bureaucracy and improving governance will resonate with many Americans who voted for the Trum-Vance ticket. Finally, public-private partnership is the way to go if the US — and many other welfare states in the world — wish to reduce the government’s footprint. With rising costs, ageing populations, and stressed resources, the rich micro-minority may indeed be expected to play a greater role and offer a fairer share of their wealth to planetary well-being.
But before we get carried away, we must remember that the way to hell is paved with good intentions. Many a similarly pious plan has come to naught in the rough and tumble and nitty gritty of real politics and the compulsions of Capitol Hill.
Let us see how high the DOGE rocket fly after being fired so precipitously and taking off so spectacularly.
