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President-elect Donald Trump announced today that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will co-chair a new initiative called the “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE. The choice of acronym appears to be a playful nod to the popular cryptocurrency Dogecoin and the viral Shiba Inu meme that represents it.

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Referring to this effort as “the Manhattan Project of our time,” Trump declared that DOGE’s mission will be to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” He added that these steps are vital to his administration’s mission to “Save America” by streamlining government operations, cutting costs, and reducing federal overreach.

The President-elect has previously signaled his interest in creating a formal role for Musk, whose companies Tesla and SpaceX have deep ties to federal funding, particularly in the aerospace sector. Musk, a public proponent of limited government interference in business and a leading voice in high-tech and space industries, aligns with Trump’s commitment to restructuring federal agencies. Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and tech entrepreneur, campaigned on a promise to cut 75% of the federal workforce, a goal that Trump has praised as emblematic of his own mission to curb what he describes as the “Deep State” — a term he uses to refer to the entrenched bureaucracy within the federal government that he views as a roadblock to executive power.

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DOGE will reportedly work on policy recommendations to “pave the way” for a more efficient government. However, it remains unclear if the “Department of Government Efficiency” will operate as an official federal agency. Establishing an agency requires congressional approval, which could pose a challenge given the potentially drastic changes the initiative aims to introduce.

The announcement has generated mixed reactions, with proponents of the initiative seeing it as a bold step toward “small government” principles and critics raising concerns over the potential loss of jobs and services. For now, Trump’s DOGE project marks a notable shift in the federal approach to governance, setting the tone for an administration that plans to take aim at federal oversight and government waste.

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