A Teaser: The Impact of Trump and Musk on the Economic and Scientific Agendas of the ‘Save America’ Movement for the 21st Century
Ramaswamy had said he would reduce the role of the federal government after dropping out of the presidential race to endorse Trump. His policy proposals included slashing the Federal Reserve workforce by at least 90% and deporting American-born children of undocumented immigrants.
He has a record of cutting spending within his businesses. He cut the size of the company from 8,000 to 1,500 people after buying X.
In a previous post, Musk said, “Should your tax dollars really be paying for an organization run by people that think the truth is a distractor?”, including a video of the National Public Radio CEO. Musk wrote that the Department of Education was not great value for money. (Project 2025, a roadmap created by the Heritage Foundation for a second Trump administration, calls for eliminating the Department of Education). In all, Musk has advocated for $2 trillion in spending cuts—more than the federal government’s total spending in fiscal year 2023 on all discretionary outlays including defense, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Musk became a major support of Trump in the final leg of his presidential campaign after spending more than 100 million dollars on organizing efforts through his political action committee. His political contributions went on to surpass the total amount of public donations from the entire oil industry.
For Musk, having a direct role in the administration raises questions about potential conflicts of interest. He could potentially gain regulatory authority over federal agencies that oversee many of his companies that receive government funding, including Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. Federal investigations have also been focused on Musk’s companies.
Most department heads have to be confirmed by the Senate but it’s not known what requirements Musk and Ramaswamy will have to go through.
Ramaswamy tagged Musk in a post on X in response to Trump’s announcement that he was withdrawing from the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
The appointment also brings Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, officially into Trump’s administration after he was reported to have once been under consideration for vice president.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” Trump wrote. The Federal Bureaucracy is going to be put under new management with an eye on efficiency and to make the life of all Americans better.
DOGE: a Dog-Theoretical Investigation into the Trump-Trump Era and the State of the Art in the United States
While it is not yet clear whether this entity will exist within the federal government or outside, an official government agency cannot be created without an act of Congress.
In a statement released Tuesday, Trump referred to the new agency as the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE,) an acronym that is an apparent wink to the dog-themed cryptocurrency by the same name that started as a joke and skyrocketed after Musk promoted it.
And already, Musk is beginning to weigh in on staffing decisions for the second Trump administration and beyond. On Sunday morning, Musk released a poll asking users who should be the new Senate Majority Leader, in line to succeed outgoing minority leader, Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell. Users appeared to overwhelmingly vote for MAGA favorite Florida senator Rick Scott. It might be too dicey to lose her from the House at the moment, Musk said when Trump announced that he would be the UN Ambassador. Reporting from the Financial Times revealed that Musk is looking to install his own loyalists and backers into the government, particularly people like Steve Davis, CEO of the Musk-founded Boring Company, and has reportedly asked Trump to appoint SpaceX staff to the Department of Defense.