Donald Trump picks Elon Musk for US government cost-cutting role

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Elon Musk for a task in authorities cost-cutting, as a part of his drive to “dismantle” paperwork when he returns to the White House subsequent 12 months.

Tech billionaire Musk, who has referred to as for large spending cuts, has been picked alongside biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy to guide a brand new “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge). The acronym is a nod to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.

Trump stated the pair would act in an advisory capability, and that the Doge wouldn’t be an official authorities division.

On the identical day, Trump named one other political newcomer – Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth – as his choose for defence secretary.

Musk threw tens of millions behind Donald Trump’s profitable re-election bid, and was hotly tipped for a task within the administration that has to this point rewarded loyalists. Trump himself outlined a plan for Musk in authorities cost-cutting on the marketing campaign path.

Ramaswamy ran as a Republican candidate for president earlier this 12 months in opposition to Trump, earlier than dropping out and endorsing him.

Since triumphing in final week’s vote, Trump has been assembling his high group – with one other of his one-time Republican rivals, Marco Rubio, reportedly within the body to be his new secretary of state.

Trump appears to be like more likely to get pleasure from important help for his legislative agenda in Congress. Republicans received the Senate and are closing in on management of the House.

It stays to be seen how the Doge will function.

The organisation doesn’t presently exist and, when created, it isn’t anticipated to be an official division. Such companies should be established by way of an act of Congress and sometimes make use of 1000’s of workers.

In Tuesday night time’s announcement, Trump acknowledged that it’s going to “provide advice and guidance from outside of government”. He stated the initiative would assist his administration “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”.

He stated Musk and Ramaswamy would work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to deal with “massive waste and fraud” in $6.5tn (£5.1tn) of annual authorities spending.

Trump has likened the brand new initiative to the Manhattan Project, a top-secret World War Two programme to develop the primary nuclear weapons.

The president-elect stated Musk and Ramaswamy would full their work no later than 4 July (American Independence Day) 2026.

The organisation’s identify refers to Musk’s most well-liked cryptocurrency – which was itself jokingly in 2013 named after an web meme. Dogecoin has soared in worth over the previous week.

In enterprise, Musk has grow to be recognized for his opposition to perceived authorities overregulation and his method to cost-cutting – most notably after he took over Twitter, which he rebranded X and laid off 1000’s of workers.

Musk, who additionally based SpaceX and Tesla, lately referred to as for at the very least $2tn in cuts to US federal spending, almost a 3rd of the federal government’s finances, with out providing specifics. He has additionally proposed eliminating a whole lot of federal companies, arguing that a lot of them have overlapping areas of duty.

In a press launch from Trump’s marketing campaign, Musk stated: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people.”

After the announcement, Musk posted on X: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”

Ramaswamy reposted Trump’s announcement on social media saying “we won’t go gently”. He also said he was withdrawing from consideration to fill incoming US Vice-President JD Vance’s soon-to-be-vacated Ohio Senate seat.

Last year, while running for president, Ramaswamy said he would fire more than 75% of the federal work force and close down several major agencies, including the Department of Education, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Since Trump’s election victory last week, Musk has reportedly spent every day with Trump at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

He also took part in a recent phone call Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump announced the appointments of Musk and Ramaswamy amid a flurry of press releases on Tuesday evening, which also saw several senior national security positions filled.

John Ratcliffe, slated to lead the CIA, previously served as Trump’s director of national intelligence and oversaw US intelligence agencies. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was confirmed as Trump’s nomination to serve as secretary of homeland security.

Meanwhile, some eyebrows were raised at the nomination of Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon. A veteran of the Iraq war, he has limited experience of government but has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s for several years.

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can enroll right here. Those outdoors the UK can sign up here.