Elon Musk’s departure and public feud with Donald Trump is reportedly worrying employees
US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff are concerned they could become the next targets of the cost-cutting drive they helped implement following a rift between President Donald Trump and DOGE’s former head Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Launched by Trump to slash federal spending, DOGE has operated more like a private task force than a typical government agency. Under Musk’s leadership, it has cut programs, scrapped grants, and terminated government jobs. The initiative also helped dismantle the Department of Education and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). However, DOGE’s future was cast into doubt after Musk stepped down late last month, followed by a public feud with the president over a major tax-and-spending package.
“I worry with Elon gone, no one will join (DOGE), and it will just slowly fade away,” Sahil Lavingia, a former DOGE software engineer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, told the WSJ over the weekend. “Working at DOGE felt like pushing a boulder up a mountain, and it’ll just fall back down if the work doesn’t continue,” he added.
Musk’s departure, along with the exit of close allies including Steve Davis, who managed DOGE’s daily operations, has added to staff unease. Text groups among DOGE-affiliated employees reportedly lit up last week with concerns about potential layoffs as the Trump-Musk feud escalated.
The dispute over Trump’s “Big Beautiful” fiscal bill turned ugly on Thursday, with both men trading jabs on social media. Trump said he was “disappointed” in Musk, who in turn accused the president of “ingratitude,” supported calls for his impeachment, and threatened to halt the US space program by grounding the Dragon spacecraft.
Trump fired back, calling the billionaire “crazy” and claiming Musk was angry because Trump “took away his EV mandate.” The Tesla CEO responded with accusations linking Trump to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but later deleted the post.
“It seems to me Elon thought he was co-president, and everyone except Elon knew that would never happen,” said Republican Senator Kevin Cramer. Now Musk’s “feelings seem hurt,” he added.
Despite the fallout, the Trump administration maintains it supports DOGE, the WSJ wrote. White House spokesman Harrison Fields defended the program, saying Trump’s “success through DOGE is undisputed, and [the president’s] work will continue to yield historic results.”
DOGE claims to have saved an estimated $175 billion in taxpayer funds, though budget experts have reportedly questioned the figure.