Elon Musk wouldn’t oversee the Department of Government Efficiency if he was given the opportunity to do it all over again — despite believing he was “somewhat successful” in the role.
During Tuesday’s episode of “The Katie Miller Podcast,” the Tesla CEO addressed his former government gig, where he served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (a.k.a. DOGE) in early 2025. While Musk admitted that they “kind of made up a department,” he stood by the work he did for those handful of months.
“We’re a little bit successful. We were some somewhat successful,” he said. “I mean, we stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense, that was just entirely wasteful.”
According to Musk, through DOGE, he helped enforce payment codes and payment explanations, which curbed spending in the Department of Treasury.
Still, the businessman said he wouldn’t embark on the government journey again if given the chance.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I think, instead of doing DOGE, I would have basically worked on my companies … and they wouldn’t have been burning the cars.”
Host Miller noted that Musk “gave up a lot” to do DOGE, a notion the latter agreed with.
Musk added: “If you stop money going to political corruption, they will lash out big time. So, they really want the money to keep flowing. So, if you stop it from flowing, there’s like a very strong reaction to stopping the money flowing.”
Trump tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head DOGE after winning the presidential election in November 2024. “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” Trump wrote at the time. “I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans.”
Musk’s appointment was met with significant backlash, with many expressing concern about conflicts of interest, lack of transparency and potential data breaches over his DOGE position.
In May, Musk confirmed he was exiting DOGE, as his “scheduled time as a Special Government Employee” had come to an end.
“I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X at the time. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Watch Musk’s full interview above.
