Moving fast and breaking everything: Elon Musk's rampage through US govt

Elon Musk speaks as his son X AE A-Xii and US President Donald Trump look on in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2025. [AFP] In Silicon Valley, they talk about "moving fast and breaking things." In Washington, these days, they call it Elon Musk doing his job. The one thing even Musk, the richest human alive, is not allowed to obtain under the US Constitution is the presidency, because he was not born in the United States. But when Donald Trump charged him with downsizing the entire government, Musk scored a good second best. The South African-born 53-year-old's official title is the non-descript "special government employee." In reality, he is one of the most powerful individuals in the country. As Trump's top financial supporter during last year's election, Musk emerged over the first 100 days of the new administration with extraordinary access. The bulky figure, usually wearing a T-shirt and a Trump-themed baseball cap, appeared alongside the president at cabinet meetings and Oval Office sessions. On golf weekends. On Marine One. On Air Force One. And he rode that authority to launch the cost-cutting, so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Unopposed by Trump's pliant Republican majority in Congress, and barely slowed by lawsuits, the Tesla and SpaceX magnate hit the task with the manic energy of a venture capitalist. In a shock-and-awe campaign, he ripped through official Washington, cancelling programs, raiding secretive computers, and portraying the US government as a seething mess of fraud. At one point, Musk projected a staggering $2 trillion savings from the $7 trillion federal budget. This then became a $1 trillion target. And the number has quietly continued to dwindle, leaving Musk's legacy uncertain -- in more ways than one. As his Tesla car company posted a shocking 71 per cent drop in first-quarter profits on Tuesday, Musk announced he would be reducing his White House gig. Shock and awe But the man who wants to colonise Mars is not prone to self-doubt. Musk has appeared all-powerful and at times -- as his handpicked team of young IT wizards rampages through government computer systems -- all-knowing. One of his first and splashiest moves was to send emails to 2.3 million civil servants, offering buyouts -- and making clear their futures now hang by a thread. The email subject line, "Fork in the Road," was the same as a similar email Musk sent out to employees at Twitter after he bought the social media company before drastically reducing jobs and rebranding it as X. Musk also demanded that every single employee respond to a weekly email describing five things they'd accomplished. This, he said, was to check staff had a "pulse." He jokingly brandished a shiny chainsaw gifted by Argentina's libertarian president, Javier Milei. Ending US foreign aid Initial results were dramatic. Within weeks of Trump taking office, Musk's DOGE crew effectively shut down USAID, the main US foreign aid organisation. Staff at headquarters in Washington were told to go home, life-saving programs around the world were frozen, and some government employees were stranded abroad. Other early targets included any government projects based on DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion -- anathema to the Trump government. Musk's DOGE has also tried to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog agency meant to guard ordinary Americans against bank malpractice, but seen in Trump world as a meddling leftist entity. In that, as in the other attacks, DOGE's modus operandi was the same: Musk's team of outsiders entered the CFPB's internal computer systems, taking over the financial controls and social media accounts, then locked out staff. "CFPB RIP," Musk posted on X. Trouble in Musk's world Signs are emerging after three months that Musk's political rocket ship, at least, may finally be losing altitude. Liberals, who once saw Musk as a cult hero for overseeing the ground-breaking electric cars, now slap on bumper stickers awkwardly declaring they bought their Tesla "before Elon went crazy." Others have taken darker routes -- vandalising or setting fire to Teslas. And the company's stock price continues to tank. Then there's the matter of DOGE's effectiveness. Setting aside the often traumatic damage inflicted on longstanding government bodies, there's increasing doubt over the actual savings. This month, Musk announced a much smaller $150 billion target -- and even that is questionable, because the DOGE website, which tracks savings, is reportedly error-strewn. Where does Musk go next? Under the law, a "special" employee can only serve the government for 130 days. So, in theory, Musk will have to leave this summer anyway. "He's going to be going back" to his businesses, Trump said. "He wants to."

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