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What happens to DOGE without Elon Musk · Elon Musk Podcast

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  Your ultimate authority for daily Elon Musk news.
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  Exploring the world's biggest ideas with your host Will
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  Walden. There's something new every day.
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  The federal government is facing a critical crossroads.
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  So what remains of the Department of Government
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  efficiency without Elon Musk at the helm?
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  Because Musk's 130 day stint as the head of DOGE resulted in
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  unprecedented actions, including the elimination of approximately
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  260,000 federal jobs and the slashing of funding for agencies
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  dedicated to scientific research and also humanitarian aid, his
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  decisions have left Washington in a scramble to assess the
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  consequences. The government's attempts to
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  rehire former employees and stabilize operations revealed
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  the fragile state that DOGE has left behind.
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  Musk's promises of reducing federal spending by $2 trillion
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  fell completely flat, with official estimates placing
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  actual savings at around $180 billion.
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  The massive shortfall raises questions about both the
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  strategy behind Doge's cuts in the feasibility of its long term
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  goals, and the numbers tell a clear story.
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  The data is there. Musk set Doge's target at
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  cutting at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, and the
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  agency claims to have saved about $180 billion so far in a
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  month. That is far below what Musk had
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  promised during his tenure. Musk focused on sweeping cuts
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  without providing detailed plans for maintaining essential
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  government functions. Courts reversed some of the
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  decisions ordering agencies to rehire lead off staff.
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  Cabinet secretaries once confirmed rejecting Dojo's
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  reductions as unworkable because the cuts interfered with core
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  missions. These leaders recognize that
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  achieving agency objectives was impossible under the staffing
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  and budget levels Musk as imposed.
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  Now, departments across the government now face significant
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  challenges trying to recover. Reports confirmed that agencies
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  like the FDA, the IRS and USAID or you said are contacting
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  former employees and efforts to bring them back in.
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  These efforts face resistance because of how workers were
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  treated during these cuts. Many employees who left or were
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  fired have moved on to other jobs.
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  Their expertise, often in highly specialized fields like science
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  and engineering with decades of experience, made them attractive
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  hires outside of the government. Rebuilding these teams will take
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  time and resources that the government had hoped to save.
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  Now, Musk's approach to cuts created what many see as lasting
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  harm. Agencies lost talent that cannot
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  be easily placed, and rail across the federal workforce has
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  been damaged. Former DOGE employees, now
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  embedded within the government departments, answered directly
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  to cabinet secretaries. You know the structure means
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  Doge's influence depends on alignment with department
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  leaders, many of them who have expressed frustration with
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  Doge's directives. Internal disputes, like the
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  clash between DOGE staff and the Transportation Secretary Sean
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  Duffy, show how difficult it will be to implement further
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  reductions. Budget impacts have also proven
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  worse than expected. The so-called Big beautiful bill
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  has added more to the deficit than previous spending.
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  Packages. The assumption that cutting
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  waste, fraud and abuse would balance the budget hasn't held
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  up. Most federal spending benefits
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  the public directly going to programs like Social Security,
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  Medicare and Veteran Services, and reducing these costs would
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  require difficult reforms, such as raising the retirement age or
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  adjusting cost of living calculations.
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  And policy makers have avoided such measures in today's
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  polarized political climate. Now Doji's core mission, though,
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  to make government leaner and more efficient.
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  It lacked the detailed planning necessary to succeed.
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  The federal government is now working to reverse some of the
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  most disruptive changes that Musk's leadership produced.
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  Agencies need time to re establish operations and rebuild
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  staffing levels, and the damage to institutional knowledge and
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  worker loyalty will take even longer to repair.
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  Attempts to restore functions illustrate how short term
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  savings can lead to long term costs when cuts are made without
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  considering operational realities.
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  In the absence of a clear replacement plan for Musk leaves
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  DOGE operating in a reduced capacity.
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  DOGE staff now serve as advisors rather than independent
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  enforcers of budget cuts. Cabinet secretaries must balance
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  Doge's cost cutting aims against the practical demands of running
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  their agencies. The shift reflects the
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  recognition that aggressive cuts alone cannot deliver functional
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  government for fiscal health. Now agency leaders are focused
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  on stabilizing operations while managing the political fallout
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  from Elon Musk's tenure at DOGE. And the federal government must
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  now confront a larger fiscal truth.
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  Deficit reduction requires more than targeting waste or trimming
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  agency budgets. Major savings would come only
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  from difficult choices about large entitlement programs.
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  Yet lawmakers remain unwilling to engage in those debates.
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  The focus on superficial savings delayed more meaningful
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  conversations about how to sustain federal spending over
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  the long term, and the cuts Musk initiated created immediate
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  disruption but provided no lasting financial solution.
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  The government's experience with DOGE provides a lesson in the
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  limits of cost cutting as a strategy.
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  Eliminating jobs and reducing budgets without detailed
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  planning undermined essential services.
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  Now agencies now face the dual task of repairing internal
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  damage and addressing budgetary concerns.
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  Left unresolved, the effort to bring back skilled workers
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  reflects the recognition that expertise and institutional
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  memory are critical for government efficiency.
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  Now. Dogender Musk failed to achieve
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  its primary financial goal while leaving federal agencies
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  weakened and also struggling to recover.
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