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He announced Tuesday, Nov. 12, that two billionaire former rivals turned allies, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, would head up his new Department of Government Efficiency.
The tech entrepreneur, age 53, and the 39-year-old Harvard and Yale Law grad will be tasked with major cuts in government spending. Trump called it "The Manhattan Project" for a new age in a statement.
"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.
“To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of government and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before," he added.
Trump said they would finish their work by July 4, 2026. He called making massive cuts to the government's $6.5 trillion budget a gift to America on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Musk and Ramaswamy have both discussed taking a machete to much of the federal government's infrastructure. In a post on X after the announcement, Ramaswamy promised they would "not go gently."
Musk floated the notion of such an agency while campaigning for Trump, but he warned the nation that things would get worse before they improve.
"We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” Musk said on Friday, Nov. 1, per NBC News. “And, you know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity."
However, neither Musk nor Ramaswamy has detailed how they would cut spending.
During the campaign, Musk said he would accept a position as a part of the then non-existent "Department of Government Efficiency" or DOGE, a likely reference to the DOGE meme-crypto coin he's been bullish on for years. The coin rocketed in value after the announcement on Tuesday.
Their appointment comes during a flurry of others Tuesday as Trump fills his cabinet. They include Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as head of Homeland Security, among several other key staff positions within the administration.
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