DAVID MARCUS: What America owes Elon Musk after DOGE
As Elon Musk prepares to step back from his service in the Trump administration, the nation owes him a debt of gratitude for breaking through decades of empty promises about exposing and ending waste, fraud and abuse in Washington.
Musk shared on Tuesday that his time focused on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would "drop significantly" as he moves to refocus on the businesses and ventures he left behind to serve Trump and the American people.
As head of the DOGE, Musk has actually done something about out-of-control spending, and more importantly, he has put systems in place to further and continue this vital work even once he is gone.
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According to its website, DOGE has saved the federal government $106 billion dollars thus far, or about a thousand bucks per American citizen, which is not chump change. In fact, it is exactly the kind of change our country has long needed.
Some of these savings came from laughable software errors, or basic and obvious redundancies, but others, such as the firing of probationary employees in many departments, were hard choices to cut hard-working people.
If, as Musk believes, his big cuts in the size of federal bureaucracy do not result in chaos in government services, then it will represent a sea change in how we look at the federal workforce, one that could finally place America on a road to fiscal solvency.
It has been a bumpy ride for the eccentric richest man in the world, once a climate-saving liberal darling, now arguably as hated as President Donald Trump himself by the far left. And while his decision to take on the task of leading the DOGE may not have been entirely selfless, attaining power rarely is, it has come at real personal and economic cost.
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As far as Musk’s bottom line is concerned, his service at DOGE has undoubtedly hurt his Tesla electric car company as the vehicles went from symbol of progressive environmental virtue to some kind of supposed Hitler-mobile.
In fact, part of Musk’s decision to return to private life is to throw a life jacket to Tesla, as well as his other ventures such as SpaceX. But financial harm is not what has cut the deepest.
Elon Musk is a person who likes to be liked. He is playful and likes to make jokes. With bright wide eyes, he invites everyone into his extraordinary mind to explore getting to Mars, or saving the planet, or the implications of artificial intelligence and low birth rates. But now, millions absolutely hate him.
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As strange as sympathy for the wealthiest man to ever live might seem, no amount of money can purchase respect or a glowing legacy, both of which Musk has risked, and in the case of liberal opinion, sacrificed, at least for now.
Elon Musk has served as a heat shield, or lightning rod, throughout Trump’s tumultuous and historic second first 100 days. In fact, at the protests I have covered, it is Elon, not the Donald, who is the target of the most ire.
Now, the lunatic left will have to find a new public enemy No. 1. They won’t have Elon Musk to kick around anymore.
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One must wonder if anybody other than an eccentric outsider with screw you money could possibly have taken aim at so many powerful and moneyed interests on the government dole, without being completely destroyed.
Musk is anything but destroyed. Now, the man on a mission to bring a man to Mars may go back to making science fiction come to life, with his self driving cars and vaguely terrifying robots.
Whether Elon gets to witness that first human footprint stamped onto the Red Planet and into history remains to be seen, but few who have witnessed his furious race to cut government waste will tend to doubt him.
So thank you, Elon Musk, for doing the things that so many said could never be done, for challenging the status quo and tightening the belt of a federal government that had grown obese at the buffet of taxpayer dollars.
As the head of DOGE, just as he is was as an automotive and space innovator, and owner of X, a bastion of free speech in a deeply censorious social media landscape, Musk is challenging us to make our country and our world a better place.
Meanwhile, love him or hate him, nobody can wait to see what Elon Musk does next.