The Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE) which, until this week, was headed by Trump acolytes Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has claimed that it wants to restructure federal bureaucracy and save money by firing a great number of government employees. In an ironic twist, however, the first employee DOGE has dispensed with is one of its own: Ramaswamy.
“It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE,” Ramaswamy tweeted on Monday, following ongoing rumors of his ousting. “I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government.” Ramaswamy’s abrupt departure from DOGE was accompanied by rumors that the billionaire was preparing to mount a gubernatorial campaign in Ohio. “I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio,” Ramaswamy said Monday.
Ramaswamy had largely been sidelined in MAGA-world ever since December, when he controversially tweeted about H-1B temporary worker visas and skilled immigrants, decrying a part of American culture that “venerated mediocrity over excellence.” The tweet kicked off infighting in Trumpworld and exposed an ideological division between the MAGA types who appreciated skilled immigrants and those who, apparently, did not.
A source close to Ramaswamy has been telling the press that he remains in good standing with Musk and that he will be “cheering on DOGE” from the sidelines. Trump transition officials have also sought to cast the abrupt departure in a favorable light. “Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” said transition spokesperson Anna Kelly. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE based on the structure that we announced today. We thank him immensely for his contributions over the last 2 months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again.”
However, other reports have been less charitable about the situation. Indeed, a recent Politico report makes it very much sound like Ramaswamy was forced out with extreme prejudice by Musk. A Republican strategist told the outlet that Ramaswamy “just burned through the bridges and he finally burned Elon.” The strategist added: “Everyone wants him out of Mar-a-Lago, out of D.C.” The article further claims that Musk “made it known that he wanted Ramaswamy out of DOGE,” citing three people familiar with the situation.
Ramaswamy’s tweet about H1B visas was partially credited with his removal from DOGE. “They wanted him out before the tweet — but kicked him to the curb when that came out,” one source told Politico.
If its general mission is clear, DOGE has—until this week—remained largely amorphous. It has called itself a government “department” but isn’t one and, while it claims sweeping powers (including the ability to “delete” federal agencies), it isn’t clear what legal or regulatory authority it actually has. Nobody outside the organization seems to know who is paying the salaries of the organization’s staff. More and more, DOGE appears to be an entity controlled by, and working in the interests of, Musk. The Washington Post has previously reported that DOGE’s 50-ish staffers were working out of the offices of SpaceX, the defense contractor owned by Musk. Additionally, one of the top managerial roles at DOGE is now occupied by Steve Davis, who is also currently the president of Musk’s Boring Company. Davis has been called Musk’s “cost cutter” and notably helped Musk pursue his aggressive layoff strategy at Twitter, when Musk fired approximately 6,000 employees, reducing its overall workforce by 80 percent.
This week, Trump clarified things somewhat when he issued an executive order that reorganized an Obama-era government modernization unit, the U.S. Digital Service, and transformed it into the U.S. DOGE Service. That EO, however, doesn’t speak much to the sweeping powers necessary to accomplish Musk’s verbose, tear-down-the-government goals. Instead, its first order of business will be to modernize “information technology across the government” and update agency software to private sector standards. A fact sheet related to the order additionally claims that DOGE will “work with the Office of Management and Budget and all agencies to shrink the federal workforce, federal spending, and federal regulatory burdens,” Semafor previously reported.
With Ramaswamy’s departure, it would appear that Musk has only continued to solidify his power. The New York Times reported Monday that Musk will likely be occupying office space in the West Wing itself, giving him close and ongoing access to Trump.
The public interest law firm National Security Counselors sued DOGE only minutes after Trump’s inauguration, arguing—in its suit—that DOGE is effectively a presidential advisory committee that is not adhering to regulatory protocol. Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), advisory committees are obligated to follow certain transparency and hiring rules, the Washington Post reports. If DOGE is, indeed, an advisory group (as some press reports have alleged it resembles) it would need to follow those rules.
“If the Trump administration changes the structure of DOGE to be a government office, that would potentially moot the case,” Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors told the Post. “But that would subject Musk and others to a whole bunch of ethics laws I don’t think they want to be subject to.” DOGE is also being sued by Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, which similarly alleges that DOGE is breaking the law by not adhering to advisory committee regulations. Meanwhile, the project launched its own .gov-certified website on Tuesday. Here’s what it currently looks like:
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