Musk says Dodge was ‘somewhat successful’ but he won’t do it again

Elon Musk says he would not lead the Department of Government Effectiveness (DoGE) if he had the chance, but insists the department’s intense efforts to shrink the size of the US government under President Donald Trump are “somewhat successful”.

The billionaire boss of Tesla and SpaceX made his comments during a nearly hour-long interview on the Katie Miller Podcast on Tuesday.

Musk left Doge in May after initially promising to save up to $2 trillion (1.5 billion pounds) a year by slashing federal jobs and closing government programs, among other cost-cutting measures.

Doge’s website, last updated on Oct. 4, claims it has saved about $214 billion so far this year.

Miller, a conservative podcast host who himself served as a White House adviser and a former spokesman for Dodge, asked Musk if he would work for the organization again if he could go back to the beginning of this year.

“I mean no, I don’t think so,” Musk replied.

Instead, he said he would “essentially be working for my company,” explaining that “they’re not going to burn the cars.”

His review cited a series of Sabotage attack on Tesla The showroom and vehicles were removed earlier this year in response to the world’s richest man’s highly visible political role in the Trump administration.

Musk’s intervention in U.S. politics has triggered global protests and boycotts against Tesla and led to a surge in incidents of vandalism of Tesla Cybertruck vehicles. In April, the company said sales had fallen to their lowest level in three years and warned investors that “changing political sentiment” could continue to hurt demand.

But Musk said he believed Dorje “had some success and we had some success.”

“You really want the government to do as little as possible,” he explained, adding that the governor had “stopped a lot of funding that was really pointless.”

Musk told Mueller that Doge, created by executive order on Trump’s first day back in the White House, was a “made-up” name “based on Internet suggestions.”

The advisory group is not an official government department, but it has moved very quickly to implement Musk’s vision. It has driven massive cuts in the federal workforce, as well as the closure of programs and even agencies, e.g. USAID (USAID).

Some of Dorje’s moves have been met with legal action or have been overturned. When cost-cutting at the organization led to the firing of USDA bird flu officials, Days later, the Trump administration hoped to rehire them.

Musk’s time at the helm of the Governor appears to have caused problems not only for his business empire but also led to an explosive feud with the president himself.

Musk donated millions of dollars to the Trump campaign during the election and has been a frequent visitor to the White House for months, speaking at Cabinet meetings and supporting the president at Oval Office events.

But the relationship came to an abrupt end in June, when Musk broke with the White House and criticized a spending bill backed by Trump.

This resulted in War of words on social mediaTrump once threatened to order Dorje to investigate Musk’s own business dealings with the US government.

The pair’s relationship now appears to be repaired. Musk was spotted having dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House in November.

Musk spoke positively of Trump during his interview with Mueller, saying the president was the funniest person he knew and had a “great sense of humor.”