Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s DOGE has become Elon Musk’s DOGE

the Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE) Which, until this week, was headed by Trump aides Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, claimed it wanted to restructure the federal bureaucracy and save money by… A large number of government employees were expelled. However, in an ironic twist, the first employee DOGE let go was one of its own: Ramaswamy.

“It was an honor to help support the creation of DOGE,” Ramaswamy said he tweeted on MondayThis came after persistent rumors of his dismissal. “I am confident that Elon and his team will succeed in streamlining government.” Ramaswamy’s sudden departure from DOGE was accompanied by rumors that the billionaire was preparing to ramp up Ohio Governor’s Campaign. “I will have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio,” Ramaswamy said Monday.

Ramaswamy has been largely sidelined in the MAGA world since December, when he controversially tweeted about it H-1B temporary worker visas and skilled immigrants, denouncing a part of American culture that “venerates mediocrity at the expense of excellence.” This tweet set off an infighting in Trumpworld and revealed an ideological divide between MAGA types who value skilled immigrants and those who, apparently, do not.

A source close to Ramaswamy told the press that he remains on good terms with Musk and It will be “CHEERING FOR DOGE” from the sidelines. Trump’s transition officials also sought to cast the abrupt departure in a positive light. “Vivek Ramaswamy played a crucial role in helping us create DOGE,” he said. Transition spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which would require him to remain outside the DOGE based on the structure we announced today. We thank him very much for his contributions over the past two months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again.”

However, other reports were less positive about the situation. In fact, a recent Politico report makes it look very much like Musk forced Ramaswamy to resign due to extreme bias. Republican strategist he told the outlet And that Ramaswamy “just burned bridges and finally burned Elon.” “Everyone wants him outside Mar-a-Lago, outside the capital,” the strategist added. The article also claims that Musk “announced he wants Ramaswamy out of DOGE,” citing three people familiar with the situation.

Ramaswamy’s tweet about H1B visas was partly credited with his dismissal from DOGE. “They wanted him gone before the tweet, but they fired him when that tweet came out,” one source told Politico.

If its public mission is clear, DOGE has — until this week — remained largely amorphous. It has called itself a government “department” but it is not, and although it claims broad powers (including the ability to “delete” federal agencies), it is not clear what legal or regulatory authority it actually has. It seems that no one outside the organization knows who pays the salaries of the organization’s employees. Increasingly, DOGE appears to be an entity controlled by Musk and working for him. The Washington Post has I mentioned previously DOGE’s 50 employees were working out of offices SpaceXa defense contractor owned by Musk. In addition, it is now one of the most important management roles at DOGE Occupied by Steve Daviswho is also currently Musk’s boss Boring company. Davis has been called Musk’s “cost-cutter,” and he notably helped Musk pursue his aggressive layoff strategy at Twitter, when Musk fired nearly 6,000 employees. Reducing its total workforce by 80 percent.

This week, Trump made things somewhat clear when he spoke Issued an executive order Which reorganized the Obama-era government modernization unit, the US Digital Service, and turned it into the US DOGE Service. However, this ethics office says little about the sweeping powers needed to achieve Musk’s lengthy and destructive goals for the government. Instead, her first order of business will be to modernize “IT across government” and update the agency’s software to meet private sector standards. Additionally, the fact sheet on the matter claims that DOGE will “work with the Office of Management and Budget and all agencies to reduce federal workforce, federal spending, and federal regulatory burdens,” Semaphore previously reported.

With Ramaswamy gone, it appears that Musk has only continued to consolidate his power. New York Times I mentioned On Monday, Musk will likely occupy office space in the West Wing itself, giving him close and constant access to Trump.

Public interest law firm National Security Advisors The DOGE was sued just minutes after Trump’s inaugurationArguing – in her lawsuit – that DOGE is effectively a presidential advisory committee that does not adhere to regulatory protocol. Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), advisory committees are required to follow certain transparency and staffing rules, Washington Post Reports. If DOGE was indeed an advisory group (as some press reports did). He claimed it looked like) will need to follow those rules.

“If the Trump administration changes the structure of DOGE to become a government office, that would likely be moot,” Kel McClanahan, executive director of the National Security Advisors, told the newspaper. “But that would subject Musk and others to a whole set of ethical laws that I don’t think they want to be subject to.” DOGE is also going on Lawsuit against Public Citizena non-profit consumer advocacy organization, which similarly alleges that DOGE is violating the law by failing to comply with the advisory committee’s regulations. At the same time, he launched his own project .gov approved website Tuesday. Here’s what it currently looks like: