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A public feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has put the fate of his signature Department of Government Efficiency work into question.
After leading a charge to fire thousands of federal workers, DOGE employees are now wondering whether they could be next thanks to the world’s richest man’s apparent animosity towards the president.
With Musk’s oversight, the now-former adviser to the president deployed DOGE staff to purge the workforce, gut entire agencies and slash billions of dollars in grant funding and research.
Some of Musk’s top DOGE lieutenants connected to his companies were hired for full-time roles drawing large salaries. Among them: Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, Luke Farritor, and Ethan Shaotran, who have had unprecedented access to the inner workings of critical government agencies.
The White House has insisted to The Independent that DOGE isn’t limited to a handful of employees but is now baked into every level of government, with a mission to find “waste, fraud and abuse.” But the employees that Musk brought into the administration are now reportedly worried they could become its targets.
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Several of Musk’s top allies in DOGE left the administration with him, but remaining staffers fear the growing tension between the billionaire and the president could expose them to his political retribution, according to ABC News.
DOGE staffers texted one another on Thursday as the Trump-Musk feud spilled out over social media and asked whether they could be fired next, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Some DOGE employees are also looking for jobs elsewhere, ABC reported, but it’s unclear what their prospects look like after a toxic run inside the federal government that most Americans don’t support.
But some major companies like Coinbase are opening their doors to DOGE workers. The cryptocurrency exchange created an online hiring portal specifically for former DOGE staff.
“The mission of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse is a part of the DNA of the federal government and will continue under the direction of the president, his cabinet, and agency heads to enhance government efficiency and prioritize responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told The Independent.
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Musk’s signature achievement in government fell significantly short of his stated goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget.
Instead, DOGE’s efforts sparked chaos across the government, from gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to facing accusations of being responsible for thousands of deaths by putting the U.S. Agency for International Development through a “wood chipper,” as Musk called it.
DOGE’s work under Musk also drew more than a dozen legal challenges and court orders finding the whole operation likely unconstitutional. Musk and his allies, meanwhile, siphoned data from agencies like the Social Security Administration and IRS, knitting together an unprecedented surveillance network.
In Musk’s absence, DOGE staff continues to report to federal agency managers and the U.S. DOGE Service, the former U.S. Digital Service that Trump renamed to reflect Musk’s efforts.
“The DOGE team is doing an incredible job, they’re going to be continuing to do an incredible job, and I’ll continue to be visiting here and a friend and adviser to the president,” Musk said just last week as he announced the end of his 130-day “special government employee” role.
“Elon’s really not leaving,” Trump said at the time. “He’s going to be back and forth, I think — I have a feeling. It’s his baby, and I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”
