Efficiency − Or Empire? How Elon Musk’s Hostile Takeover Could End Government as We Know It

Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.
Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.
Matt Rourke/AP
Share
Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.
Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.
Matt Rourke/AP
Efficiency − Or Empire? How Elon Musk’s Hostile Takeover Could End Government as We Know It
Copy

Elon Musk’s role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, is on the surface a dramatic effort to overhaul the inefficiencies of federal bureaucracy. But beneath the rhetoric of cost-cutting and regulatory streamlining lies a troubling scenario.

Musk has been appointed what is called a “special government employee” in charge of the White House office formerly known as the U.S. Digital Service, which was renamed the U.S. DOGE Service on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term. The Musk team’s purported goals are to maximize efficiency and to eliminate waste and redundancy.

That might sound like a bold move toward Silicon Valley-style innovation in governance. However, the deeper motivations driving Musk’s involvement are unlikely to be purely altruistic.

Read the rest of this article on The Conversation.

A conservation effort based at South Kingstown’s Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge is helping American oystercatchers rebound along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, even as rising seas threaten their nesting grounds
The proposed RENT program would pay landlords up to $3,000 on behalf of struggling tenants, but councilors want safeguards against rent hikes and evictions
Gov. McKee faces an increasingly steep slope
Some clinician-researchers are building platforms to educate people about chatbots’ strengths and weaknesses, and developing AI bots that are meant to deliver therapy
The RI AFL-CIO, which helped McKee narrowly defeat Foulkes in 2022, declined to back either candidate in their Democratic primary rematch
The 46-year-old Providence resident says he plans on increasing government transparency while maintaining a commitment to children and working families