Elon Musk leaving Trump administration, Internet says ‘Anyway, DOGE was a failure’

Elon Musk leaving Trump administration, confirms on X.

Billionaire Elon Musk has bid farewell as a Special Government Employee to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as “DoGE” — formed earlier this year. The space and technology billionaire confirmed his departure in a post on X.

Musk was appointed as a “special government employee” – a designation that allows individuals to serve in a government role for up to 130 days per year. Since Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January this year, Musk’s term was expected to hit that limit by the end of May.

Read | Elon Musk exits Trump administration as ‘Special Government Employee’

In his post, Musk thanked Trump for the role and said he believed DOGE would become a “way of life throughout government.”

The Internet Reacts:

Following Elon Musk’s announcement of his departure from DOGE, social media, as expected, had plenty to say. While the majority of internet users wished the SpaceX billionaire well for his future ventures, one user took a different route and asked Grok to summarise Musk’s accomplishments during his time at DOGE.

Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, is built on a large language model (LLM) of the same name. It was launched in November 2023 by Elon Musk himself. Designed to be conversational, Grok is known for its “sense of humour” and direct access to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

True to form, Grok appeared to lean into its “sense of humour” in this instance too, as the AI chatbot remarked, “The true impact of DOGE remains debated amid ongoing scrutiny.”

When asked what Musk’s achievements were at DOGE, Grok replied, “As a Special Government Employee, Elon Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claiming $160 billion in savings by terminating wasteful contracts, like $255 million from 269 contracts, and modernising IT systems, such as digitising the OPM retirement process. DOGE also cleaned Social Security records and supported voter integrity measures.” Grok added, “However, these efforts face criticism for potential costs of $135 billion in lost productivity, legal challenges, and service disruptions. Concerns about Musk’s business conflicts and political motivations persist, with public opinion divided, as 54% view him unfavourably.”

Another user praised Musk for his contributions to the United States of America, saying: “I honestly don’t know if we could’ve saved America if @ElonMusk hadn’t spent $40 billion to buy Twitter and rescue free speech.” This particular user’s take? “He absolutely deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

However, several users had other opinions.

One of them asked, “What was achieved other than Elon breaking things and leaving them broken?” while another commented, “This has damaged your brand beyond anything you can imagine.”

A third user said: “DOGE has been a failed endeavour. Whether it’s family, business or public, it’s hard to cut the money strings after you have started them.”