DOGE is no more, and in its wake, only chaos
To call Musk’s tenure in Washington controversial would be an understatement. As a man accustomed to getting what he wants and operating as a powerful executive, he has swept through Washington with a figurative chainsaw, slashing budgets, laying off workers and making bold power grabs. Musk’s brash behavior has angered government employees and alienated potential allies, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Eventually, tensions came to a head and Musk got into a minor physical altercation with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Policy details the astonishing fallout. By the end of May, DOGE and Musk had fallen out of favor with President Trump, and White House aides began to fight back more forcefully against the fledgling government agency. When the White House officially bid farewell to Musk on May 30, it also expelled his right-hand man, Steve Davis.
But Davis, an engineer who worked closely with Musk for more than 20 years, including at DOGE, simply refused to leave. He stepped in to try to take the reins, but that didn’t sit well with many of DOGE’s remaining staff. But others remained loyal, essentially splitting the department in two.
When those who were uncomfortable with Davis’s leadership, given that he was no longer a government employee, attempted to plan the future of DOGE without him, Davis accused them of staging a coup. The White House quickly eliminated his loyalists, ending Davis’s brief attempt to consolidate his control in less than two weeks.
What followed was a series of restructurings, leadership changes, and ultimately the end of DOGE as a centralized organization. When Reuters Contacted the White House to ask about the status of DOGE earlier this month and was told, “it doesn’t exist.”
Musk arrived in Washington with the grand ambition of cutting government spending by billions of dollars. Instead, during his brief time in Washington, government spending actually increased and he left behind many burned bridges.
