Musk, Ramaswamy tapped as advisors to dismantle government

Incoming US President Donald Trump is rewarding two of most ardent supporters – Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – with unofficial cabinet positions aimed at making extraordinary cuts to government spending.

That idea, which Trump announced on Tuesday, will materialize in the “Department of Government Efficiency,” or “DOGE,” a reference to the Shiba-Inu-themed meme coin that Musk favors. Despite the name, it is not a department, but a pair of advisory roles that would operate outside of the government.

Neither Musk nor Ramaswamy would appear to have any authority, but they could be influential in budget cuts Trump may propose.

And such cuts would be impractical or impossible – at least not without disastrous consequences, observers said. Musk, for example, has casually suggested cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget – a number that far surpasses the 8 percent that is just what the government pays its workers.

“It’s completely unclear what this so-called ‘department’ is,” said Robert Weissman, copresident of consumer-rights group and think tank Public Citizen.

The $2 trillion figure floated by the world’s richest man “is both impossible and a reflection of the fact that Elon Musk has no idea what he’s talking about as it relates to government operations or government efficiency. It’s just something he said.”

An official department that would require Congressional approval, something that Trump may not push for, Weissman said.

“I don’t think it’s likely to have a lot of direct impact” on spending, he said. But, “we do think the administration is going to move forward on [budget cuts and deregulation].”

The level of deregulation the Trump administration will push for is unclear. Several financial and securities-industry trade groups whose constituents stand to benefit from deregulation declined to comment on the proposed Department of Government Efficiency.

Ramaswamy, who was a contender for the Republican Party’s nomination and a competitor with Trump, has proposed wholesale eliminations of critical US institutions – including the Department of Education.

Last year, Ramaswamy explained his rationale on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We will shut down the Department of Education, without apology,” his post read. “Here’s the hard truth: There is an inverse correlation between how much [money] a public school spends per student and the actual outcomes that school achieves for its students. Solution: Parents who move their kids to schools spending less [money] per student while achieving better outcomes ought to be able to keep half the money.”

Ramaswamy, who founded pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences in 2014, also started up asset management company Strive in 2022, the latter of which announced last week that it is expanding into wealth management. Ramaswamy, who has crusaded as an anti-“woke” platform, launched Strive as a way to counter what he said were attempts by large asset managers to influence public companies on social, cultural, and political agendas.

In practice that means the firm’s ETFs do not consider environmental, social, or governance factors.

“Look at Strive – it is an organization that doesn’t want to assess and address risk. They do not want to look at climate risk. They don’t want to look at the fact that companies with greater diversity outperform financially. They breach their fiduciary duty every day by not assessing risk – [and] ESG is just a framework for assessing risk,” said Andy Behar, CEO of shareholder advocacy nonprofit As You Sow. Ramaswamy “has politicized something that is nonpolitical.”

Additionally, the Strive founder has reportedly pledged to attempt to shut down numerous important government agencies: the FBI; Internal Revenue Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Shutting down the FBI contradicts Project 2025, which basically says the FBI would become like Trump’s private army,” Behar said.

“[Eliminating] the Department of Education – that’s problematic, I’d say, for the future of the US… Right now our education system is failing on so many levels,” he said. “Looking at a country long term, education is probably the most important thing you can do.”

Project 2025 has proposed dismantling Finra and folding in its responsibilities into the Securities and Exchange Commission. What Musk and Ramaswamy could advocate for is reducing the SEC’s powers, Behar said.

“This is going to negatively affect a lot of aspects of society. A lot of guardrails are going to come down – and I don’t think it’s going to be good for business,” he said.

“The idea of putting these two people in charge, it is very disturbing.”