‘They sowed chaos to no avail’: the lasting legacy of Elon Musk’s Doge

Photo: Elon Musk speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland – February 20, 2025. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0. Article by Michael Sainato. The Guardian – January 1, 2026.

As Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, splurged more than $250m on Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, the US president commissioned his new ally to oversee a sweeping “efficiency” drive across the federal government. The Tesla and SpaceX boss, who had no experience inside government, was tasked with eradicating waste and cutting spending as part of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) – and was quick to stoke expectations. […]

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