Dogeilusion

Elon Musk’s entry into the political scene, when he declared support for Donald Trump’s candidacy, caused some stir. The American billionaire became an inevitable figure and its entry into the American rule was, for critics, the drop of water.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who for decades warns in an active but precisely accurate, the transformation of the Republic into an oligarchy, tried to explain to American voters that this time was and that « future generations will look at this moment … and they will have the courage to defend our democracy against the growing threats of oligarchy and authoritarianism. » Sanders accused Musk of being « trying to dismantle the main agencies of the federal government that are intended to protect the needs of working families and the most disadvantaged », referring, of course, the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) that was under the entrepreneur’s protection.

But analyzing US public expense in the last decade -which went from $ 3.31 billion in the second quarter of 2015 to 4 billion in the last quarter of 2024, according to Data from Trading Economics -and public debt -which in the same period increased to about double (from 19 billion in December 2015 to 36, 2 billion in December 2024) -it seems to be done to counteract this trend. unsustainable. This is why Doge, created in the image of Milei’s chainsaw to combat spending and return to a position of fiscal balance, was viewed by some with hope.
Before the elections, Musk had said that the doge would be responsible for cuts in the real of « at least 2 billion ». In early April, the conversation was different. As reported by MSNBC, Tesla’s founder, at a executive meeting, anticipated ‘$ 150 billion in expenses’ cuts. That is, only 7.5% of what was initially estimated. But in February, the New York Times published a piece where it states that by removing errors in the process of calculating the cuts in the expense, Doge was only able to save 2 billion.

Elon Musk’s removal was already planned, but tensions with administration are undeniable. The « big and beautiful », as Trump called him, a legislative package presented the vote in Congress that provides for an increase in public expense of the 5 billion dollars, seems to have been the final thrust. Yesterday at X, Musk announced that he will definitely move away and ensured that « Doge’s mission will only be strengthened over time as he becomes a way of life throughout the government » after saying, in an interview with CBN, that he was « disappointed to see the huge expenses law » that « increases the budget deficit » and « harms the work that the team of doge is doing ».

So it would be, more than unfair, completely wrong to blame only Elon Musk for failure. On Wednesday, the businessman told Washington Post that « the situation of federal bureaucracy is much worse than imagined, » adding that the agency became an « scapegoat ». In fact, public expense in the first 70 days of Trump ($ 2.4 billion) was higher than Joe Biden’s first 70 days (2.2 billion).

That said, the task of draining the American bureaucratic swamp is much more complex than one might imagine and Trump seems not to be very committed to it. On the contrary. Thus, the department created for Elon Musk turns out to be a dogeilusion.