Billionaire Elon Musk concedes that if he could do it again, he would not run the Department of Government Efficiency.
Speaking to Katie Miller, a former advisor to Musk when he was running DOGE, Musk explained how challenging it was to run the department, which was shut down in November.
Asked by Miller, who has now joined Musk in the private sector, whether he would start the department again if he had another chance, the owner of Tesla and X said it was unlikely.
“I mean no, I don’t think so,” he said.
“I mean the thing is, instead of doing DOGE, I would’ve basically worked on my companies, essentially, and they wouldn’t have been burning the cars.”
While Musk was running DOGE at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second presidency, the billionaire’s role sparked mass protests, as people opposed the department’s access to sensitive data and its proposed cuts to agencies such as the Social Security Administration.
Many believed the SpaceX founder’s role in the White House was having a detrimental impact on his businesses.
When Trump won the presidency, Tesla’s share price rose to $479 per share, but by March 2025, it had declined by 48 per cent.
“What [the protesters are] trying to do is put massive pressure on me, and Tesla I guess, to you know, I don’t know, stop doing this,” Musk said in March this year.
“My Tesla stock and the stock of everyone who holds Tesla has gone, went roughly in half. I mean it’s a big deal.
“Long term I think Tesla stock’s going to do fine, so maybe it’s a buying opportunity.”
Reflecting on this experience running DOGE, Musk told Miller that, while it was a challenge, there were still positive moments.
“We were somewhat successful,” he said.
“I mean, we stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense. That was just entirely wasteful.”
“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.”
Beyond DOGE, Musk was also asked by Miller, Stephen Miller’s wife, who has been the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and the homeland security advisor since 2025, whom he looks up to most.
“The creator,” Musk said.
When asked what his thoughts were on God, Musk opened up about his faith.
“God is the creator,” he said.
In response, Miller asked: “You don’t believe in God, though?”
Musk replied: “Well, I believe the universe came from something. People have different labels”.
Further, Musk criticised the way immigration was being handled in the United States, claiming that many newly elected representatives, notably Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar and Zohran Mamdani, who was recently elected New York Mayor, were voted in by people not born in the U.S.
“Let’s look at Ilhan Omar, who was literally… voted into Congress by a large group of people from Somalia, who are in Minnesota, which is really far from Somalia, or Mamdani, who was voted as mayor. But by a majority of people who are not born in America,” he said.
“Or Mamdani, who was voted as to be mayor, but by a majority of people who are not born in America.”
