Martian in the White House: Elon Musk's first 100 days battling the U.S. government from within

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Budget chainsaw massacre

On his first day back in office, Donald Trump signed an executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency — DOGE, a name borrowed from the meme coin featuring the Shiba Inu dog. In practice, DOGE was just a rebranded version of the United States Digital Service (USDS), a technology unit set up under Barack Obama in 2014 with the aim of improving government websites. But the key difference wasn’t the name — it was the access granted to the division’s employees. DOGE, though little known and largely technical, was plugged into every corner of the federal apparatus.

The plan was for billionaire Elon Musk to head the revamped agency — after all, it was he who convinced Trump to create DOGE as a tool for implementing massive budget cuts. But the White House repeatedly dodged questions about who was actually running the department. Only after a lawsuit forced the release of internal documents did it become clear that the agency was, at least formally, headed not by Musk but by Amy Gleason, who had worked in the USDS during Trump’s first term. She returned during the transition from Biden to Trump in order to lay the groundwork for Musk’s arrival and later became the acting director of DOGE.

Musk was given an office in the West Wing, but he found it too cramped and thus relocated to the former office of the defense secretary, where he set up a gaming computer. He spent most of his time at the General Services Administration building, where the bulk of DOGE staff were based. Several rooms there were converted into living quarters, complete with beds, dressers, and a washing machine. A children’s play area was even set up for Musk’s kids, whom he often brought to work. Like many of his employees, the billionaire regularly slept at the office — a practice he’d already introduced at Tesla.

The first casualty of DOGE was USAID, which accounts for a mere 1% of federal spending. With Musk’s help, the agency was effectively dismantled, and what remained of it was folded into the State Department. Out of more than 10,000 USAID employees, fewer than 300 kept their jobs — the rest were fired or placed on administrative leave. Of the agency’s 6,200 contracts, 5,800 were canceled, cutting $54 billion in funding.

A wide range of programs came under threat — from food aid for hunger-stricken regions worldwide to malaria and HIV treatment initiatives across Africa. According to some estimates, scrapping these programs could lead to more than 200,000 additional deaths annually from precisely the causes that Congress pledged U.S. taxpayer money to fight. Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who formally assumed oversight of USAID, was unable to restart many of the agency’s humanitarian and medical efforts after Musk’s actions led to “temporary” suspensions of activity, as the DOGE team blocked these attempts using an internal payments system under its control.

DOGE soon turned its attention to other departments as well. Its staff gained access to more than 80 databases across a dozen federal agencies, including immigration and health records, IRS data, and files from the Social Security Administration. This raised serious concerns about the security of personal data belonging to hundreds of millions of Americans.

In his first few months on the job, Musk oversaw the dismissal of 25,000 government employees who were on probation due to the fact that they had been recently hired or promoted. The layoffs themselves were carried out in a chaotic manner, with no regard for the performance reviews that had previously been conducted on a regular basis. Some of the workers were later reinstated by court rulings or by decisions from government oversight bodies, which deemed the firings unlawful.

The result was a cascade of errors. The White House admitted that roughly 400 employees from the agency overseeing the U.S. nuclear arsenal had been mistakenly fired. The dismissals were so hasty that the government didn’t even retain contact information to rehire all of the wrongfully terminated civil servants. In what was described as another accident, staff from the Department of Agriculture who were working to combat a bird flu outbreak also found themselves laid off.

DOGE also compiled a list of 443 government buildings slated for sale. Among them were the FBI headquarters and the main offices of the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, hours after the list was published, it was trimmed to 320 buildings, and by the next day, it had been deleted entirely. At the Social Security Administration — which Musk called “the greatest financial pyramid scheme ever” — his staff managed to mark thousands of people as deceased. That status remained in effect until several of them began showing up at offices across the country in an attempt to claim their suddenly canceled benefits.

No savings

As early as October 2024, Musk had set a goal: if Donald Trump were elected, he would cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. With overall federal spending hovering at around $7 trillion, this would mean slashing nearly 30%. Once in office, Musk revised that figure to $1 trillion.

But even that comparatively modest aim proved out of reach. According to Musk’s own estimates, DOGE managed to save only around $160 billion, and even those numbers were riddled with errors. One canceled contract was mistakenly listed as $8 billion instead of $8 million. Another, supposedly worth $318 million, turned out never to have existed. Some contracts were counted two or three times, while others had been completed during the presidencies of Joe Biden or even of George W. Bush.

After journalists began scrutinizing the figures, thousands of “extra” contracts quietly disappeared from the DOGE website. And even then, of the roughly $160 billion allegedly saved, only $61 billion was demonstrated with any proper documentation, and just $12.6 billion came with actual proof that the contracts had been canceled.

The bulk of the reported budget cuts came from canceling a wide array of grants that the federal government had allocated to universities, state authorities, nonprofit organizations in the social sector. In one high-profile example: a major vaccination grant that DOGE “saved” $1.75 billion by cancelling had, in fact, been fully executed before it was ever “canceled.”

DOGE also took credit for canceling more than 1,200 Health and Human Services grants totaling $12 billion. These had been issued as part of pandemic relief packages — some during Trump’s first term, others under Biden. Many of them funded state-run programs for vaccinating children and uninsured people. Universities received some of the grants to develop and research coronavirus vaccines, as well as to study cancer, HIV, and other diseases. These grants represented DOGE’s largest claimed source of savings, but their annulment has already been challenged by Democratic-led states and temporarily blocked by a judge appointed during Trump’s first term.

Overall, there is little sign that federal spending has actually decreased. According to Treasury Department data, expenditures in the first three months of 2025 were $220 billion higher than in the same period in 2024.

The mass layoffs and budget cuts pushed by DOGE may end up triggering additional expenses that rival — or even exceed — the amount Musk credits himself with saving. According to estimates from the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, it will cost $135 billion to put tens of thousands of federal employees on paid leave, rehire those dismissed by mistake, and make up for the resulting drop in productivity. Cuts to the IRS — where roughly 40% of the staff is set to be laid off — are projected to slash tax revenue by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.

Everyone turns on Musk

DOGE’s sweeping powers quickly provoked backlash from the Trump-appointed heads of various departments and agencies. In effect, Musk’s staff — embedded across federal bodies — operated as political commissars, blocking certain decisions and asserting control over personnel and budget matters.

The first major standoff came in February, when Musk publicly demanded that all federal employees submit weekly reports detailing their work. The directive outraged leaders of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, many of whom advised their teams to ignore Musk’s requests.

A few days later, the White House announced that filing such reports was strictly voluntary and that a refusal to submit them would not result in termination. From that point on, most departments stopped taking the directive seriously. Some federal workers still sending the reports now reuse lightly edited templates each week, or else treat the requirement as a running joke — occasionally submitting their updates in foreign languages.

In March, during a cabinet meeting, Musk publicly accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio of not cutting enough staff. Rubio shot back that 1,500 people had already left of their own initiative — and suggested rehiring them just so Musk could fire them again for show.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized the billionaire over his efforts to slash the number of air traffic controllers, especially amid news of several plane crashes. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins also voiced concern over mass layoffs in his agency, leading Trump to say that Musk would now act in an advisory role only, while agency heads would decide for themselves whether to reduce staff.

In another episode, Musk clashed with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who is considered to be one of the chief architects of the sweeping tariffs Trump announced in early April (before suspending them following a sharp market drop). First, Musk mocked Navarro for having a Harvard education. Navarro fired back saying Musk was only opposed to the tariffs because Tesla sources parts from China. The White House dismissed the clash as a “free exchange of ideas among members of the administration.”

The most dramatic clash involved Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Musk had opposed Bessent’s nomination from the start, lobbying instead for billionaire Howard Lutnick, who ultimately became Secretary of Commerce. In mid-April, while Bessent was on an overseas trip, Musk convinced Trump to appoint IRS staffer Gary Shapley as acting head of the department (during Biden’s presidency, Shapley had testified before Congress, accusing the Justice Department of stalling the investigation into President Biden’s son, Hunter, over suspicions of tax evasion). When Bessent returned to the U.S., he quickly removed Shapley from the post.

During Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s visit to the White House, Bessent and Musk got into a heated shouting match. The DOGE head called the Treasury Secretary a “Soros agent” and slammed his record running a hedge fund. At one point, Bessent shouted, “F*** you,” to which Musk replied, “Say it louder.”

Musk did his job, Musk can go now

Musk's relationship with Republicans in Congress has also soured. Many lawmakers complained about the lack of communication with DOGE and criticized the agency for cuts affecting their districts. At town halls, some members of Congress were booed and shouted down by voters demanding an end to public-sector layoffs and cuts to social programs. Party leadership eventually advised legislators to avoid holding such events.

Democrats, meanwhile, have made Musk a central target in their political messaging, portraying him as an oligarch with unchecked power who is dismantling the government. During the campaign for a seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, Musk spent over $25 million on political ads, leading to accusations that he was trying to buy the election.

As a “special government employee,” Musk is not required to disclose his finances publicly and is allowed to keep running his companies. However, the law limits such employees to 130 workdays per year. Since Musk has frequently worked weekends and holidays, his eligibility is expected to expire by early summer. This has fueled speculation that the billionaire may leave the Trump administration in the coming months.

From boss to fall guy

These rumors were partly confirmed by Musk himself. In a phone call with Tesla leadership, he said that the bulk of his work in government was finished and that he would now dedicate only two days a week to public service, freeing up more time for his businesses. Musk’s stint in the administration has significantly hurt Tesla: in the first quarter of 2025, the company’s profits dropped by 71%, and its U.S. car sales fell 9%, even as the electric vehicle market as a whole grew by 11%. In Europe — where Musk had publicly backed several right-wing populist parties and politicians — sales plummeted by 43%, including a 62% drop in Germany.

This decline can be attributed at least in part to the toxic image of Musk's brand. After Trump's election in November 2024, the public's opinion of Musk was evenly split. However, by the end of his first 100 days in office, 54% of Americans held a negative view of Musk, while only 38% saw him favorably. In one poll, 62% of respondents (including 38% of Republicans) voiced the opinion that Musk should leave once his term ended, and 56% were in favor of his immediate resignation.

Once Musk does depart the administration, it is uncertain what will become of DOGE. On the one hand, over 60 of his appointees currently hold influential positions that allow them to implement cuts in various areas of the government. However, without Musk's regular access to the president, DOGE’s influence may weaken. This could allow some cabinet officials and agency heads to gradually remove his appointees.

That said, the cuts are unlikely to stop. On April 18, Trump signed an executive order to reclassify a large number of government employees. Approximately 50,000 civil servants (2% of the total workforce) will be moved into the category of “political appointees,” making them subject to replacement at the president’s discretion. Trump had signed a similar order at the end of his first term, but it was overturned early in Joe Biden's presidency. The reinstatement of this order was part of the conservative Project 2025, even ifTrump distanced himself from the document during his campaign.

This decision strips civil servants of protections against unjustified dismissal, allowing the president to fire them at will — an exercise of power that 72% of Americans oppose, according to polls. Critics argue that the vague wording of the order could put far more government employees at risk of dismissal, and some agencies have already begun preparing lists of positions to be reclassified.

While Elon Musk did not effect radical cuts to the federal budget, he did achieve a more crucial goal for Trump — creating chaos within the federal bureaucracy, thereby helping the president solidify his control over the men and women whose work actually allows the government to carry out the work that Congress has chosen to fund.