Elon Musk says DOGE 'somewhat successful' but would not do it again [View all]
Source: USA Today
Dec. 9, 2025, 957 p.m. ET
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said in a podcast interview on Dec. 9 that the Department of Government Efficiency was "somewhat successful," but he would not return to the initiative again.
Speaking on "The Katie Miller Podcast," the SpaceX and Tesla CEO said the Department of Government Efficiency — known as DOGE — had only been a "little bit successful" in its goal to save taxpayers' money and reduce spending and regulations. The controversial initiative, a brainchild of Musk, laid off thousands of government workers but failed to deliver on its promises to cut the federal budget.
"We were somewhat successful," Musk told Katie Miller, who worked as an advisor and spokesperson for DOGE earlier this year and is married to Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff. "We stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense, that was just entirely wasteful," Musk added. "For example, there was probably $100, maybe $200 billion worth of zombie payments per year, which simply by enforcing that there be a payment code and an explanation for the payment, the payment would not go out."
When asked if he would do DOGE again, Musk said he doesn't think so and believes he could have focused on his other ventures and "they wouldn't have been burning the cars." In a backlash against Musk and his DOGE efforts earlier this year, Tesla dealerships and individual vehicles were vandalized, and dozens of protests erupted across the country.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/09/elon-musk-doge-katie-miller-podcast/87693572007/
It worked as planned. He single-handedly destroyed the functions, infrastructure and personnel, of every federal agency in the United States.
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