He came to Washington wielding a chainsaw \u2013 both metaphorically and politically. Elon Musk, multi-entrepreneur, billionaire, and self-declared government reformer, entered the political stage with the swagger of a man who believes everything can be solved \u2013 with money, with speed, with code. His mission: to make the state apparatus efficient, to dismantle the establishment, to save America from financial ruin. That, at least, was the narrative with which Donald Trump installed him in the White House. But the reality Musk now leaves behind looks very different: a field of wreckage, riddled with empty promises, inflated savings targets \u2013 and a deeply shaken bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump saw in him not only a close confidant but above all a massive campaign donor. \u201cA smart guy,\u201d he said, \u201cwho really loves this country.\u201d And so Elon Musk became not just an advisor but a shadow president \u2013 wearing a black MAGA cap, with his own office, with his kids in the Oval Office, with nights in the Lincoln Bedroom. He flew on Air Force One, slept in the White House, directed cabinet meetings in a t-shirt. Musk was omnipresent \u2013 and stylistically utterly unpredictable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He promised that with his newly created \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d (DOGE), he would halve federal spending \u2013 at minimum. He aimed to cut two trillion dollars. On the campaign trail, he spoke of \u201ccatastrophic government failure,\u201d of agencies that should be thrown out like obsolete devices. He promised transparency and disruption \u2013 and acted like a CEO who faces no dissent. But reality had its own rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chainsaw Sound of Government<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk had software engineers infiltrate sensitive systems, pressured civil servants, fired thousands, shut down departments, and disregarded protocol. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? \u201cRIP \u2620\ufe0f,\u201d he wrote. USAID, the backbone of American foreign aid? \u201cSpent the weekend feeding USAID into a wood chipper.\u201d And when journalists confronted him with the consequences \u2013 starving children, halted aid deliveries, global emergency calls \u2013 Musk replied, \u201cNo one has died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What sounded like a bad joke was bitterly real. The United States had handed itself over to a man who saw the government as faulty code to be deleted. And Trump let him run wild. Inside the administration, directives circulated that might have come from a start-up: every employee was to report five completed tasks each week \u2013 \u201cfailure to respond will be taken as a resignation.\u201d That such a style was foreign to the public service did not concern anyone. People were fired, then rehired, then fired again. The FDA had to rehire lab personnel, travel planners, and administrative staff because entire divisions had ground to a halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was hard. My job is to make sure we can heal from that,\u201d said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary soberly \u2013 as if speaking of a collective trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Then There Was the Fun<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Musk used the White House like a playground: he displayed Teslas in the driveway, installed a gaming screen in his office, and had caramel ice cream brought from the kitchen. \u201cThis stuff\u2019s amazing,\u201d he gushed. \u201cI ate a whole tub of it.\u201d And when Trump asked if he wanted to stay the night, he simply said yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His summary? Musk put it this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is funny that we\u2019ve got DOGE now.\u201d
(A reference to the meme with the Japanese Shiba Inu dog \u2013 and at the same time the name of his agency.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Multi-Billion Dollar Disaster in Numbers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s left of his savings agenda? Originally, Musk wanted to cut two trillion dollars. In January, he said, \u201cMaybe we\u2019ll manage one trillion.\u201d By April: \u201c150 billion would be great.\u201d Even that number is questionable \u2013 DOGE regularly manipulated figures, exaggerated savings, failed to provide verifiable evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For comparison: Bill Clinton, with his reform agenda, managed inflation-adjusted savings of about 240 billion dollars \u2013 over years, with a concept, with a plan. Elaine Kamarck, a key figure in that initiative, said in hindsight:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe went about it methodically \u2013 department by department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk, on the other hand, according to Alex Nowrasteh of the libertarian Cato Institute, set out without understanding government mechanics, without patience, without strategy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey made changes without knowing how the government works. A lot of unforced errors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And his conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey set themselves up for failure from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Show Goes On \u2013 Or Maybe Not<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump announced a joint press conference: \u201cThis is his last day \u2013 but not really, because Elon will always be with us.\u201d One can assume the show will go on. But the government is weakened, the administration humiliated, trust shattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Elon Musk? He moves on \u2013 with ice cream in tow and a chainsaw in his hand.<\/p>\n
Er kam mit einer Kettens\u00e4ge nach Washington \u2013 im \u00fcbertragenen wie im politischen Sinne. Elon Musk, Multiunternehmer, Milliard\u00e4r und selbsternannter Verwaltungsreformer, betrat die politische B\u00fchne mit dem Gehabe eines Mannes, der glaubt, alles sei l\u00f6sbar \u2013 mit Geld, mit Tempo, mit Code. Seine Mission: den Staatsapparat effizient machen, das Establishment zerschlagen, Amerika vor dem finanziellen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":1,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[49,41,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state-news","category-trump-s-world","category-trump-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n