Two of the most popular entrepreneurs, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have been finalized by Donald Trump, US President-elect, to lead a newly set up Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE). Mainly, the department is set to initiate significant radical changes in the government by eliminating inefficiencies and waste.
Tuesday night, Trump posted a statement on Truth Social: DoGE is having the potential to be the "Manhattan Project" of this era just as the ambitious wartime initiative that came up with atomic weapons and transformed world history.
Musk commented on the announcement, stating: "This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!" On X, he furthered: "All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency. Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know! We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining ????.".
Answering on X, Ramaswamy wrote, "We will not go gentle, @elonmusk."
It is unclear what the organizational structure of DoGE is, as Trump said the "Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy," would lead the department, though it is unclear if this leadership would require Senate confirmation or come with Cabinet positions.
"These two great Americans will prove invaluable to my Administration's plan to dismantle bureaucracy, cut back on excess regulations, reduce wasteful expenditures, and overhaul Federal Agencies," Trump noted.
Trump says that the department would offer strategic advice and guidance as an external agency but would be coordinated with the White House and the Office of Management & Budget. The idea is to introduce a form of entrepreneurial approach to governance never seen before in the nation's history.
In the campaign, Musk suggested he could cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, which currently stands at $6.5 trillion.
Both Musk and Ramaswamy were forceful campaigners for Trump, and Musk was ground-swinging it in Pennsylvania as efforts to get people out and vote. The world's richest man, Musk manages Tesla, the electric car company, as well as SpaceX, one of the largest private space exploration companies, and owns X, previously known as Twitter. He's from South Africa.
Ramaswamy is a millionaire of Indian emigrants. His pharmaceutical company was successful, and Ramaswamy ran for the Republican presidential nomination but suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump.
While musk and Ramaswamy's business acumen may help in restructuring the government, some people have raised issues about conflicts of interest. It's particularly relevant to Musk, whose company has contracts with the government and has major business interests in China, where Tesla cars are made and sold.
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