AUSTIN (Realist English). Elon Musk said the Trump administration’s cost-cutting task force known as DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency — achieved only “somewhat successful” results, adding that he would not take on the project again.
Speaking on The Katie Miller Podcast released Tuesday, Musk offered one of his few public assessments of DOGE, which he led earlier this year before resigning from the administration.
“We were a little bit successful… somewhat successful,” he said. Asked if he would repeat the experience, Musk replied: “Instead of doing DOGE, I would have worked at my companies. They wouldn’t have been burning the cars,” referring to vandalism at Tesla dealerships following federal spending cuts.
Musk also noted that “Department of Government Efficiency” was “a made-up name” crowdsourced from online suggestions.
A broader critique of U.S. politics
In the interview — recorded in Austin — Musk expanded on his frustrations with Washington. He said he had never been “super illusioned” with government and wanted “the least amount done by government possible.”
He went on to repeat unsubstantiated claims that migrants receive “massive transfer payments” and are being “fast-tracked to citizenship” as part of what he called “voter importation.” Experts and officials have repeatedly dismissed such claims as baseless.
Musk also echoed President Donald Trump’s attacks on Minnesota’s Somali community and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, saying she was elected by “a large group of people from Somalia who are in Minnesota.” He made a similar claim about New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, asserting his election was decided “by a majority of people who are not born in America.”
He went on to describe Democratic-run California as risking becoming a “communist hellhole.”
Space, AI and the future of X
On space policy, Musk praised the development of SpaceX’s Starship, calling it “revolutionary technology” despite a series of high-profile testing failures, including explosions.
Turning to X, formerly Twitter, he said a new recommendation algorithm powered by Grok, his AI platform, will launch this month. Grok will “read every X post, every day” and push content based on user interests. The aim, Musk said, is to ensure that “an account with a small number of followers… if the content is intrinsically excellent, can be seen by a lot of people.”
Background
Podcast host Katie Miller — married to Trump adviser Stephen Miller — previously served as Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary. She worked closely with Musk while acting as DOGE’s spokesperson during the task force’s sweeping federal budget cuts.
Both Musk and Miller left the administration in May after a public falling-out with Trump, though Musk and the president later reconciled. Miller departed Musk’s team in August to launch her podcast.