With the 2024 presidential election officially coming to a close this November, and the start of former president Donald Trump’s second term commencing this upcoming January, his plans for presidency are already underway.
Within recent weeks, the soon to be president has been selecting members of his presidential cabinet, the president’s closest advisors and confidants. Along with new members, an entirely new branch of the cabinet is being introduced called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Donald Trump made the decision in choosing Elon Musk, the billionaire and owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and the social media platform X, previously known as twitter to lead the DOGE branch. It is a fair statement that this selection has brought controversy among the American public.
Trump specified in his announcement two weeks after the election that Musk was appointed alongside Vivek Ramaswamy that the two will lead the DOGE bureau (NPR Politics). However, the DOGE branch has not even been considered as an official government agency, more of an advisory board (Forbes News).
According to Forbes News, President Trump states that the purpose of the DOGE is to “provide advice and guidance from outside of government” and the branch will strive to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.” The department’s official X account went live shortly after the announcement, and its first ever post stated, “Working overtime to ensure your tax dollars will be spent wisely!” (Forbes News). Yet, most of the American public is left in the dark about the exact functions the DOGE branch will bring to the country, as specific details have not been released yet.
Here at Ramapo, students are forming their own opinions on this matter. Junior Ava L’Heureux expresses her stance, “I’m not entirely sure what the job is, but I think that Elon Musk is a smart man, and it is inspiring how he built his own businesses. ” When asked her opinion on Musk being appointed for this position, Junior Lana Jepsen stated, “I wonder how Elon Musk will serve in this role considering he has no experience in government”
As of now, the specific roles and responsibilities of the DOGE branch are unclear, but the American public will know more once Donald Trump is officially inaugurated in January 2025.
