Elon Musk confirmed Wednesday he will step down from his controversial role in the Trump administration leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Was Musk’s tenure a success? And what will his legacy be? Newsweek Opinion contributors Paul du Quenoy and David Faris debate:
Paul du Quenoy:
Elon Musk’s departure from his advisory role as a special government employee, which is legally limited to a 130-day period, has come to an end. In that time, Musk’s DOGE operation became firmly rooted in government, saved the taxpayer a reported $175 billion in immediate expenses, spared billions more in ongoing expenses over time, and exposed the waste and fraud that a majority of voters have long—and correctly—believed was present in Washington. Over 70 percent of Americans favor a watchdog like DOGE monitoring government spending, and it is conceivable that DOGE’s continuing work, if unhindered by the courts, could yield a figure near the $2 trillion in savings Musk had pledged to find by DOGE’s formal expiration date on July 4, 2026.
David Faris:
Musk’s DOGE project will be remembered for simultaneously laying the groundwork for future catastrophe and destroying the value of Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle firm. As the face of the Trump administration’s indiscriminate government liquidation, Musk is on the hook for all the consequences—plane crashes, foodborne illness outbreaks, and more—of his Year-Zero elimination of civil servants that actually costs taxpayers money. The only thing he’s done that’s been good for America is to finally slink back to Tesla to repair the brand damage he incurred with the very people—urban liberals—most likely to buy his dated and overpriced cars.
du Quenoy:
While it is true that Musk’s tenure has been controversial and his efforts have reportedly been frustrated, the DOGE effort and the spirit behind it—to identify and eliminate wasteful and fraudulent government spending—remains and will likely continue to remain extremely popular. As DOGE continues its work to yield more savings for the American taxpayer, taxes seem primed to reach historic lows while the shenanigans that were tolerated for decades by weaker administrators will be brought to an end.
Faris:
It is certainly true that Americans support, in the abstract, an effort to find and eliminate waste. But what Trump and Musk never understood is that most Americans don’t despise government like GOP ideologues do, and would prefer that restructuring only happen after careful review. Many of the agencies targeted for deep cuts, including the Social Security Administration and the National Parks Service, are those that poll the highest according to Pew, and most Americans bear those workers no ill will. That’s why the spectacular cruelty with which the cuts were carried out tanked Musk’s personal brand and triggered Trump’s inexorable decline in approval.
du Quenoy:
The DOGE cuts have affected some programs that Americans don’t completely despise, but this certainly does not mean Americans approve of waste and fraud, or that they would prefer a situation in which wasteful and fraudulent government spending—of which DOGE discovered an ample amount in USAID, government human rights agencies, welfare authorities, and other areas guided far more by radical leftist, anti-American ideology than by the interests of the United States—continue unchecked while they foot the bill.
Faris:
Far from revealing pervasive shenanigans, what Musk’s misadventure really proved was that many government systems, particularly Social Security, are already close to as efficient as they’re going to get, and that further cutting risks inflicting harm on the very people Republicans pretend to care the most about, including seniors and veterans. Musk’s purported savings aren’t even in the ballpark of what he promised, and his actions have served only to make critical federal work permanently unattractive to our best and brightest young minds. Which, of course, was probably the goal all along—to hobble state capacity, clearing the way for endless Trumpian grift.
du Quenoy:
Critics may gripe about the figures and theorize potential effects, but the lasting result of DOGE, whose work will continue for at least another 13 months in its current form, is a leaner, smarter, more honest, and less wasteful federal government. That’s something most Americans want and will enjoy in the form of tax savings that already reach into the thousands of dollars per person, in the knowledge that their hard-earned resources will no longer be wasted on inefficient government bureaucrats who hate them and their values.
Faris:
Would cancelling your flood insurance save your household money? Sure, but the tail risk is enormous, and the reality is that DOGE’s efforts have increased rather than decreased costs. After all, the “rescissions package” unveiled by the White House this week only calls for $9.4 billion in permanent, DOGE-related cuts. Musk’s pet project has nevertheless hobbled U.S. leadership in science and risked calamity by gutting agencies like the FDA. That’s what happens when you turn an alleged good-government effort over to a bizarre egomaniac who cares more about the German far right getting power than he does about American kids getting E. coli.
Paul du Quenoy is President of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute. David Faris is a professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It’s Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics and The Kids Are All Left: How Young Voters Will Unite America. His writing has appeared in Slate, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and more. You can find him on Twitter @davidmfaris and Bluesky at davidfaris.bsky.social
The views expressed in this article are the writers’ own.
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