Tech billionaire Elon Musk recently stated in a podcast interview that if given the chance to do it over, he would not join the U.S. "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE).
The CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX told the "Katie Miller Podcast" that DOGE's efforts to save taxpayer money were only "somewhat successful." Musk believes he could have spent more time on his various business ventures instead.
"Most of the time, I couldn’t believe I was there. The whole thing felt very surreal," Musk told Miller, whose husband, Stephen Miller, is the current White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
Musk explained that the name DOGE itself was "based on internet suggestions." While he still agrees that attempting to slow government spending is a worthwhile cause, he admitted his efforts during his months working with the Trump administration were not particularly effective.
"We had some success. We were somewhat successful," Musk said. "I mean, we stopped a lot of nonsensical spending—complete waste. For example, there might be $100 billion or even $200 billion in zombie payments annually, and just by enforcing payment codes and explanations, those payments didn’t disappear."
Earlier reports indicated that Musk initially expected DOGE to save around $2 trillion, but later revised his estimate before stepping down, projecting nearly $150 billion in cuts for the 2026 fiscal year.
While it remains unclear how much the office ultimately saved, an August analysis by Politico confirmed $1.4 billion in confirmed contract cancellations and reduced federal spending.
When Miller directly asked if he would join DOGE again if he could relive history, Musk paused, sighed, and said he wouldn’t.
"No, I don’t think so. Would I do it? I guess I might—I don’t know," Musk said. "I think if I hadn’t done DOGE, I would have focused on building—you know, working on my companies. And those cars—they wouldn’t have burned."
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