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Elon Musk attacks Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ tax bill as ‘outrageous’ and says it will cause deficit to grow to $2.5tn – US politics live
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the coming hours.We start with news that Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur, opened a new rift with Donald Trump by denouncing the US president’s tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.Musk’s online outburst could embolden fiscally conservative Republican senators – some of whom have already spoken out – to defy Trump as they continue crucial negotiations on Capitol Hill over the so-called “one big, beautiful bill”.“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on his X social media platform on Tuesday. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”Musk, who had previously voiced criticism of the proposed legislation, quipping that it could be big or beautiful but not both, added on X: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”He continued: “Congress is making America bankrupt.”A top donor to Trump during last year’s election campaign, Musk departed the White House last week after steering its so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) with the stated mission of slashing fraud and abuse within federal departments. He has argued that the Republican bill will undermine Doge’s work and drive the US further into debt.For the full report, see here:In other developments:
Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene has drawn widespread criticism from Democratic colleagues for admitting that not only did she not read Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill before voting for it, but she would have voted against it had she read thoroughly.The White House gloated on social media about the arrests of the wife and five children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspected Boulder attacker, and joked about providing them with “six one-way tickets”.
In the 48 hours since the firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, on a demonstration in support of Israelis held hostage in Gaza, Republicans politicized the attack, attempting to blame Democrats, including the state’s multiple Jewish leaders.
Democrats denounced the Trump administration’s “cruel” decision to rescind health department guidance issued in the wake of the 2022 Dobbs decision, striking down the right to an abortion, that required hospitals to provide abortions to women in medical emergencies even in state’s with local bans on the procedure.
Millions of legal immigrants may be left unable to work after the US Social Security Administration quietly instituted a rule change to stop automatically issuing them social security numbers.
A US judge on Tuesday ruled the US Bureau of Prisons must keep providing transgender inmates gender-affirming care, despite an executive order Donald Trump signed on his first day back in office to halt funding for such care. More
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Elon Musk calls Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill a ‘disgusting abomination’
Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur, has opened a new rift with Donald Trump by denouncing the US president’s tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.Musk’s online outburst could embolden fiscally conservative Republican senators – some of whom have already spoken out – to defy Trump as they continue crucial negotiations on Capitol Hill over the so-called “one big, beautiful bill”.“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on his X social media platform on Tuesday. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”Musk, who had previously voiced criticism of the proposed legislation, quipping that it could be big or beautiful but not both, added on X: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”He continued: “Congress is making America bankrupt.”A top donor to Trump during last year’s election campaign, Musk departed the White House last week after steering its so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) with the stated mission of slashing fraud and abuse within federal departments. He has argued that the Republican bill will undermine Doge’s work and drive the US further into debt.On Tuesday, Musk drew immediate support from Thomas Massie, one of only two Republicans who last month voted against the bill in the House of Representatives. “He’s right,” Massie responded on X.But there was a rebuke from Mike Johnson, the House speaker, who said he had spoken with Musk by phone on Monday for more than 20 minutes, making the case that the bill achieved campaign promises while making permanent massive tax and spending cuts.Johnson told reporters: “With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the One Big Beautiful bill. It’s a very important first start. Elon is missing it … I just deeply regret he’s made this mistake.”John Thune, the Republican majority leader in the Senate, was more diplomatic, saying: “So we have a difference of opinion. He’s entitled to that opinion. We’re going to proceed full speed ahead.”Having narrowly passed the House, the bill is now under consideration in the Senate, which is aiming to pass a revised version by 4 July. Some Republican fiscal conservatives, such as senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul, share Musk’s concerns about the need for significant spending cuts.Johnson told CNN: “We have enough [holdouts] to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit.”Trump has previously dismissed Republican dissenters as “grandstanders” and urged them to get onboard. His influence proved decisive in quelling a potential rebellion in the House. On Monday he wrote on his Truth Social platform: “So many false statements are being made about ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’.”The White House acknowledged Musk’s stance but said it has not changed its position on the bill. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion: this is one big, beautiful bill and he is sticking to it.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe bill extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and includes new spending for border security and the military. Republicans aimed to offset these costs with cuts to programmmes such as Medicaid, food stamps and green-energy tax credits.Projections from the Congressional Budget Office and independent analysts indicate that the bill would add between $2.3tn and $5tn to the deficit over the next 10 years. White House officials contend that the economic growth generated by tax cuts will offset the increased spending.Russ Vought, director of the office of management and budget, told CNN: “This bill doesn’t increase the deficit or hurt the debt. In fact, it lowers it by $1.4tn.”But Democrats have warned that the budget would raise the cost of healthcare for millions of people, and cause millions to lose coverage, in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. A new analysis by Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania found that it could lead to more than 51,000 preventable deaths.Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said in a floor speech on Tuesday: “Donald Trump and his so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ is ugly to its very core. Behind the smoke and mirrors lies a cruel and draconian truth: tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy paid for by gutting healthcare for millions of Americans.”Later, responding to Musk’s intervention, Schumer commented on X: “I didn’t think it was imaginable but … I AGREE WITH ELON MUSK.”Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, added in a post: “Musk is right: this bill IS a ‘disgusting abomination’. We shouldn’t give $664 billion in tax breaks to the 1%. We shouldn’t throw 13.7 million people off of Medicaid. We shouldn’t cut $290 billion from programs to feed the hungry. Let’s defeat this disgusting abomination.” More
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Trump drops Nasa nominee Jared Isaacman, scrapping Elon Musk’s pick
The White House has withdrawn Jared Isaacman as its nominee for Nasa administrator, abruptly yanking a close ally of Elon Musk from consideration to lead the space agency.Donald Trump said he would announce a new candidate soon. “After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head Nasa,” the US president posted online. “I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be mission aligned, and put America first in space.”Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut who had been Musk’s pick to lead Nasa, was due next week for a much-delayed confirmation vote before the US Senate. His removal from consideration caught many in the space industry by surprise.Trump and the White House did not explain what led to the decision.Isaacman, whose removal was earlier reported by Semafor, said he was “incredibly grateful” to Trump “and all those who supported me throughout this journey”.“I have gained a much deeper appreciation for the complexities of government and the weight our political leaders carry,” he posted. “It may not always be obvious through the discourse and turbulence, but there are many competent, dedicated people who love this country and care deeply about the mission.”Isaacman’s removal comes just days after Musk’s official departure from the White House, where the SpaceX CEO’s role as a “special government employee” leading the so-called department of government efficiency (Doge) created turbulence for the administration and frustrated some of Trump’s aides.View image in fullscreenMusk, according to a person familiar with his reaction, was disappointed by Isaacman’s removal.“It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted,” Musk wrote of Isaacman on X, responding to the news of the White House’s decision.Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.It was unclear whom the administration might tap to replace Isaacman.One name being floated is the retired US air force Lt Gen Steven Kwast, an early advocate for the creation of the US space force and a Trump supporter, according to three people familiar with the discussions.Isaacman, the former CEO of the payment processor company Shift4, had broad space industry support but drew concerns from lawmakers over his ties to Musk and SpaceX, where he spent hundreds of millions of dollars as an early private spaceflight customer.The former nominee had donated to Democrats in prior elections. In his confirmation hearing in April, he sought to balance Nasa’s existing moon-aligned space exploration strategy with pressure to shift the agency’s focus on Mars, saying the US can plan for travel to both destinations.As a potential leader of Nasa’s 18,000 employees, Isaacman faced a daunting task of implementing that decision to prioritize Mars, given that Nasa has spent years and billions of dollars trying to return its astronauts to the moon.On Friday, the space agency released new details of the Trump administration’s 2026 budget plan that proposed killing dozens of space science programs and laying off thousands of employees, a controversial overhaul that space advocates and lawmakers described as devastating for the agency.The Montana Republican Tim Sheehy, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, posted that Isaacman had been “a strong choice by President Trump to lead Nasa”.“I was proud to introduce Jared at his hearing and strongly oppose efforts to derail his nomination,” Sheehy said.Some scientists saw the nominee change as further destabilizing to Nasa as it faces dramatic budget cuts without a confirmed leader in place to navigate political turbulence between Congress, the White House and the space agency’s workforce.“So not having [Isaacman] as boss of Nasa is bad news for the agency,” Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell posted.“Maybe a good thing for Jared himself though, since being Nasa head right now is a bit of a Kobayashi Maru scenario,” McDowell added, referring to an exercise in the science fiction franchise Star Trek where cadets are placed in a no-win scenario.With Reuters More
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Drugs, marital advice and that black eye: key takeaways from Trump’s Oval Office send-off for Elon Musk
Donald Trump hosted an Oval Office press conference with Elon Musk on Friday to mark the end of the tech billionaire’s tenure as a special government employee overseeing the so-called “department of government efficiency”, or Doge.Musk’s departure comes after weeks of increasing pressure over his time leading Doge, in which he slashed thousands of jobs, resources and public spending.Here are the key takeaways from the event:1. ‘Elon’s not really leaving,’ says TrumpMusk “is really not leaving” and many of his Doge team will stay on in the administration, Trump told reporters on what was meant to be Musk’s official last day as a “special government employee”.“Elon is really not leaving,” Trump said. “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.”Musk later declared “this is not the end of Doge but really the beginning”, adding he will continue to visit the White House as a “friend and adviser” to the president.“I hope to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like,” Musk said. “I hope so,” Trump replied.2. Both sought to downplay rumours of a riftTrump praised Musk as “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced” and paid glowing tribute to the tech billionaire’s “sweeping and consequential” efforts to slash the federal workforce and reduce the size of government.The lavish praise came just days after Musk publicly criticised Trump’s tax spending bill, saying he was “disappointed” with it and claiming it “undermines the work that the Doge team is doing”.Musk’s comments appeared to indicate that the honeymoon between the two men was over, but on Friday, there were no signs of friction between the pair.Trump presented Musk with a large golden key emblazoned with the White House insignia, which he said he only gave to “very special people” as a thank-you from the country.3. Musk sports a black eye – and blames his sonMusk attended the press conference wearing a black Doge cap, a black jacket and a black T-shirt with the words ‘The Dogefather’ – as well as a visibly bruised right eye.Asked about the bruise, Musk said his five-year-old son, X Æ A-12, had punched him in the face: “I was just horsing around with X and I said: ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face.’ And he did.”“I didn’t really feel much at the time,” he added. “But I guess it bruises up.”Musk quipped that he wasn’t “anywhere near France” at the time, a reference to a viral video appearing to show French president Emmanuel Macron’s wife, Brigitte, pushing Macron in the face.4. Trump offers marital advice to Macron Asked about the video of Macron and his wife and whether he had any “marital advice” for the couple, Trump replied: “Make sure the door remains closed.”“He’s fine. They’re fine,” Trump added. “They’re two really good people I know very well, and I don’t know what that was all about, but I know him very well, and they’re fine.”5. Musk dodges a question about alleged drug useMusk brushed off a New York Times report about his alleged drug use while serving as one of Trump’s closest advisers. “Let’s move on,” he said when asked about the article, before railing against the paper for their “lies about the Russiagate hoax”.According to the Times, Musk engaged in extensive drug consumption during his rise to political prominence, regularly consuming ketamine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. His regular medication box contained pills bearing Adderall markings alongside other substances, the paper said.His use of ketamine was so frequent that he told people it caused bladder problems, the report says. Sources told the paper that he consumed the powerful anaesthetic sometimes daily rather than the “small amount” taken “about once every two weeks” he claimed in interviews. More
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Oval and out: Musk and Trump’s farewell marred by disillusionment
Another day, another made-for-great-television encounter between Donald Trump and the media in the Oval Office.The president, quite perversely, prides himself on the access he grants to a group of professionals he has routinely denounced as the “fake news” and “enemies of the people” – although any pain suffered from doing so has been eased by widening the net to include formerly fringe rightwing news organizations, who have responded in kind by lobbing friendly questions.But Friday’s was no ordinary presidential briefing.That was clear when Trump acknowledged – surely uniquely – that it wasn’t even primarily about him.“Today, it’s about a man named Elon,” he intoned, referring to Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who spent $275m of his own money to help Trump win November’s election and return to the White House.Yes, the Special One – as in “special government employee” – was leaving after 138 days at the heart of Trump’s administration. He had spearheaded the purportedly cost-slashing “department of government efficiency,” or Doge; boasted of feeding entire federal agencies “to the wood chipper” fought with cabinet secretaries; publicly paraded with a chainsaw; terrorised federal workers; and generally fomented mayhem within the governing bureaucracy.All in the name of rooting out “waste, fraud and abuse” – boldly forecasting in advance that he would be able to find $2tn worth of it. He had fallen well short of that target, and his popularity plummeted amid widespread resentment over his interference in the US government process. With that, the stock of his business empire, principally his electric vehicle firm, Tesla, had fallen too.So Musk – weeks ago seemingly ubiquitous and all-powerful – was not exactly going out on a high. The unaccustomed shadow of failure stalked him. Disillusionment did, too, as illustrated by his criticism of Trump’s Big Beautiful bill, which he warned would undermine Doge’s cost-cutting endeavours.Still, the president was generous. “He’s one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,” he said, as Musk – wearing a black baseball cap – stood beside the resolute desk. “He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation, and we appreciate it.”But apparently not everybody.For some people had been gossiping about Musk – and had snitched to the New York Times.Hopes that he would be afforded a graceful exit from the political arena were somewhat dashed when the Old Grey Lady of American journalism disclosed Friday that his illicit drug intake was much more widespread than previously known.The paper reported he used ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, substances whose effects on political judgment have not been hitherto explored. He was also said to have imbibed so much ketamine – a drug prescribed for depression – that it affected his bladder.Predictably, the report was the first question raised by the media. And, clearly primed, Musk decided that the best form of defence was to take the piss, so to speak – out of the source.“The New York Times? Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer prize for false reporting on the Russiagate?” he said, in a delivery that bore the hallmarks of being pre-rehearsed – and perhaps coached by Trump himself, as it reprised one of his favoured gripes against the “fake news”.“I think it is. That New York Times? Let’s move on.”And move on things did – before anyone realised that Musk had failed to address, or deny, any of the revelations in the Times’ report.Trump reclaimed his accustomed place centre-stage for a bit – riffing, in part, on Emmanuel Macron, the French president who had been in the news after his wife apparently shoved him as he was about to disembark from a plane on a visit to Vietnam.“Do you have world leader-to-world leader marital advice?” the thrice-married and twice-divorced US president was asked, cast in the unlikely role of marriage guidance counsellor.Trump replied, “Make sure the door remains closed,” before revealing, intriguingly, “No, I spoke to him and he’s fine. They’re two really good people I know very well. And I don’t know what that was all about.”Then somebody asked what had been, until then, an elephant in the room question: Elon appeared to have a black eye.“What happened to you?” asked a reporter. Given the popular anger against Musk’s imperious mien recently, there could have been any number of potential culprits: enemies in Maga-world, who have come to include Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer; a disaffected cabinet secretary taking exception to being insulted; perhaps even the disaffected mother of one of the billionaire’s numerous children as he has embarked on a one-man baby boom enterprise.But Musk gave the most prosaic of explanations. The bruise had happened in a bout of horseplay with his five-year-old son, X Æ A-12 – who has accompanied him on previous visits to the White House but was, perhaps fortunately, absent this time. “I was just messing around with X and I said, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face,’ and he did. Turns out, even a five-year-old punching you in the face – actually, if you knew X.“I didn’t really feel much at the time and then, I guess, it really bruises up.”It seemed perfect as a metaphor for his reputation – and perhaps his psyche – as he prepared to leave Washington.Moments later – after Trump expounded on the alleged criminal havoc perpetrated by his favourite scapegoats, undocumented immigrants – Musk offered his take on the “fundamental moral flaw” of the left, a political grouping which once feted him but now holds him in contempt.“Empathy for the criminals, but not empathy for the victims,” said the man who previously told podcaster Joe Rogan that empathy was the “fundamental weakness of western civilization” and open to exploitation.As he spoke, it was hard to avoid the impression that among those he considered victims was himself. More
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So long, Elon: the cuts didn’t go to plan, but you completely shredded your reputation | Marina Hyde
I can’t believe that Elon Musk is leaving Doge, the government department he named after a tired and basic meme that most of the internet had moved on from around a decade ago. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end,” Musk wrote this week (capital letters: model’s own), “I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful government spending.” Oh man. “Thank you for the opportunity”?! At some level you have to salute Donald Trump’s ability to turn even the world’s richest man into an Apprentice candidate who leaves in week four after completely wiping out in the hotdog stand task.Musk arrived in government promising to slash spending by $2tn. He leaves it a mere $1.86tn short of that target, even by his own estimations. Meanwhile, the president’s new tax bill is set to add $2.3tn to the deficit. I imagine Musk thought his government finale would be a spectacular extravaganza – “you’re welcome, Washington!” – involving 2,000 chainsaw-wielding chorus girls. Instead, it’s a tweet. And yes – we DO all still call them tweets.Ironically, the thing that Musk has been most stunningly effective at slashing is his own reputation. Think about it. He arrived in Trump’s orbit as a somewhat mysterious man, widely regarded as a tech genius, and a titan of the age. He leaves it with vast numbers of people woken up to the fact he’s a weird and creepy breeding fetishist, who desperately pretends to be good at video games, and wasn’t remotely as key to SpaceX or Tesla’s engineering prowess as they’d vaguely thought. Also, with a number of them apparently convinced he had a botched penile implant. Rightly or wrongly convinced – sure. I’m just asking questions.But look, it’s good news for Tesla investors, who have managed to end Musk’s practice of WFWH (working from White House), and are now demanding he puts in a 40-hour week to save the company whose stock he has spent the past few months tanking. As the world order dramatically seeks to rearrange itself in the new era of US unreliability, no one should ever be able to unsee the president of the United States’s decision to turn the White House lawn into a car sales lot for his sad friend. Did it work? It seems not. Musk spent a lot of this week airing his hurt feelings about his brrm-brrm cars. “People were burning Teslas,” he whined to Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post. “Why would you do that? That’s really uncool.”Well, one thing we will no longer have to endure is this guy’s decrees on what is or isn’t cool. The timeworn thing about money and power is that they allow nerds to reinvent themselves as cool. You see it on Wall Street, where sea-beast financiers get manscaped by trophy wives who are no longer out of their league. You see it in Hollywood, where weird little guys become alpha movie producers. You see it in Bezos’s transformation from puffy-chinos-wearing, dress-down-Friday dweeb to Bilderberg Vin Diesel impersonator. What you rarely see is the alchemy of that process in reverse, live and in real time. But we got that with Elon, and we have to take our laughs where we can. In some other businesses, Musk could have convinced himself it wasn’t happening, but politics is a place where pollsters literally ask real people what they think of public figures every single week. Elon’s approval ratings are underwater.No doubt we’re this close to him identifying the real problem: that we simply need new voters. Musk has long been convinced that people don’t know how to handle his genius in all fields. Four years ago, he hosted Saturday Night Live, and sometime afterwards revealed on a podcast how the cast and writers had reacted to the uncontainably hilarious suggestions made by him and his team of bros. “We come in just, like, guns blazing with ideas,” he honked, explaining he’d pitched a … bit, is it? … where he was “going to take my cock out. So I’m going to reach down into my pants … and then I pull out a baby rooster. Like, ‘This is my tiny cock.’” Oh very good, sir. Absolute genius, sir. Presumably terrified that they would lose their jobs for ever to this superlative talent, the SNL team declined to “yes-and” this genius sketch into the final show running order, but Musk managed to get his own back – at least in his account of hosting an episode with a flattering 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “There’s a bunch of things that I said that were just not on the script. They have these cue cards for what you’re supposed to say, and I just didn’t say it. I just went off the rails.”Mm. Just like you have now. As for where Musk goes next, he’s obviously building a Texan compound for the mothers of his many babies. But, psychologically, Mars would seem to be the answer. After a humiliation this big, only colonising another planet feels like the appropriately sized salve. It doesn’t matter that Mars is an obvious shithole that looks like the least appealing disused quarry on Earth – a place so bleak and empty that if they found one single fossilised flower it would be celebrated like the holy grail, even though the impossible majesty of the Amazon rainforest is right here. But of course, the point of Mars is that it would be the place of Elon, Teslamandias, king of kings. And you know, I feel more confident than ever that we could all look upon his works and despair.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist More
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The chaos Elon Musk and Doge are leaving behind in Washington
Elon Musk formally exited his role in the Trump administration on Wednesday night, ending a contentious and generally unpopular run as a senior adviser to the president and de facto head of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge). Though he promised efficiency and modernization, Musk leaves behind a trail of uncertainty and reduced functionality.The timing of Musk’s departure lines up with the end of his 130-day term limit as a “special government employee” but also plays a part in an effort by the billionaire to signal a wider shift away from Washington as he faces backlash from the public and shareholders. Musk has recently made a show of refocusing his efforts on his tech companies in interviews, saying that he has spent too much time focused on politics and plans to reduce his political spending in the future.As Musk moves on, he consigns a mess of half-realized plans and gutted agencies to his acolytes installed in key positions across the federal government. His departure throws Doge’s already chaotic impact on the government into an even grayer limbo, with questions over how much power the nebulous taskforce will have without him and who, if anyone, might rebuild the programs and services it destroyed.Doge’s debrisMusk’s initial pitch for Doge was to save $2tn from the budget by rooting out rampant waste and fraud, as well as to conduct an overhaul of government software that would modernize how federal agencies operate. Doge so far has claimed to cut about $140bn from the budget – although its “wall of receipts” is notorious for containing errors that overestimate its savings. Donald Trump’s new tax bill, though not part of Doge and opposed by Musk, is also expected to add $2.3tn to the deficit, nullifying any savings Doge may have achieved. Its promises of a new, modernized software have frequently been limited to AI chatbots – some of which were already in the works under the Biden administration.The greater impact of Doge has instead been its dismantling of government services and humanitarian aid. Doge’s cuts have targeted a swath of agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization, which handles weather and natural disaster forecasting and plunged others such as the Department of Veterans Affairs into crises. Numerous smaller agencies, such as one that coordinates policy on homelessness, have been in effect shut down. Doge has brought several bureaus to their knees, with no clear plan of whether the staff Musk leaves behind will try to update or maintain their services or simply shut them off.In one early example of its cuts and the holes in government they have created, Doge targeted the government tech group that partnered with federal agencies to provide tech solutions, known as 18F.When Doge staffers entered the General Services Administration agency that housed the 18F Office, former employees have said they appeared to fundamentally misunderstand how the government operates and the challenges of creating public services.Former 18F director Lindsay Young, who is now part of a legal appeal that contends the firing of 18F violated legal requirements, is concerned that Doge’s cuts will have long-lasting effects on government functions.“In government, it’s just so much easier to tear things down than it is to build things up,” Young said.The mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services represented a similar loss of institutional knowledge that Doge does not seem intent on replacing.Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who has been tracking Doge’s cuts, used the agency’s tobacco unit as an example, which was severely affected by the cuts. “The loss of so much expertise, especially in the healthcare area will mean that more Americans will become sick or die earlier than they might have,” he said. “It also may take many years and great expenditure of resources to restore that experience and expertise.”Musk’s gutting of USAid, formerly the world’s largest single provider of humanitarian aid, is one of the starkest examples of the disarray and harm that Doge’s cuts have caused. The US canceled approximately 83% of USAid programs, imperiling services around the world aimed at humanitarian assistance and disease prevention. One pioneering program under USAid, Pepfar, which coordinates the US HIV/Aids response, has seen its services reduced worldwide and its staff left in confusion over what they can still do for people who relied on their organization. Doge’s cuts to the program have likewise threatened the rollout of a new anti-HIV drug that researchers have hailed as a “miracle” for its effectiveness.As Musk returns to Tesla and SpaceX, the agencies he laid waste to are left to pick up the pieces.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Doge staffers still holding sway in governmentWhile Musk is returning to his tech empire, many of the former employees and inexperienced young engineers whom he hired to work for Doge are set to remain part of the government. One of the largest questions about what Doge’s future looks like is whether these staffers, some of whom gained near unfettered access to the government’s most sensitive data, will retain the same powers they enjoyed under Musk.Doge staffers, such as billionaire investor and Musk ally Antonio Gracias, have embedded themselves at key agencies such as the Social Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration. They have worked as a sort of parallel government task force, operating with a lack of transparency as their attempts to access databases and migrate data has caused disarray and technical problems. Whether Trump and agency heads allow them to continue on with carte blanche remains unseen.Already at least two prominent Doge staffers have followed Musk to the exit. The billionaire’s longtime top lieutenant Steve Davis, who was running the day-to-day operations of Doge, left his role on Thursday. Spokesperson Katie Miller, wife of Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, also left the White House to work full-time for Musk, according to CNN.Some of Musk’s dictates have already been rolled back since he left Washington earlier this month, including a much-derided mandate that required federal employees to send a list of five things that they accomplished each week. The weekly email, which was initially introduced with the threat of being fired for non-compliance, was largely ignored and viewed by many as pointless busywork. On Wednesday, the Pentagon formally announced that it would halt the practice.Doge is not being left leaderless, however. Taking over for Musk, according to the Wall Street Journal, is Christian nationalist and key figure in the rightwing Project 2025 manifesto Russ Vought. A longtime believer that the president should have sweeping executive powers, Vought has said that he wants federal employees to be left “in trauma” and to slash federal funding.Musk has praised Doge’s work and pledged that it will continue without him, and as recently as this week is still removing veteran officials it disagrees with from federal agencies. Even at reduced numbers, Musk’s allies also still have access to immense amounts of sensitive and confidential data they are reportedly intending to use to surveil immigrants.What seems farther away than ever in the chaos, however, is Musk’s promise to make the government more efficient and better serve the public.“You don’t need that many people to decide to just cut things,” 18F’s Young said. “But if you actually want to build things, that takes thought. It takes effort.” More
