Vivek Ramaswamy Exits ‘Doge’ Leaving Leadership to Musk
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RDA Gulf Correspondent - . January 21, 2025
- . Update: January 21, 2025 9:55 pm
Hours after the new president took office on Monday, Vivek Ramaswamy resigned from the government cost cutting task force leaving Elon Musk as the only leader of Donald Trump’s much discussed but poorly defined new “department of government efficiency” (Doge) program.
Ramaswamy reportedly intends to run for governor of Ohio which is why he left. In November, Trump appointed Ramaswamy to co-lead Musk’s non-governmental organisation “Doge”.
Musk, the richest man in the world, is left in complete control which may worry some people because he has stated that “at least” $2 trillion in federal spending might be reduced. Musk had “made it known that he wanted Ramaswamy out of DOGE in recent days,” reportedly after the two spat about the tech sector’s hiring of foreign born employees.
Ramaswamy posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and now owned by Musk: “It was my honor to help support the creation of Doge. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining the government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!”
Ethical questions have been raised by Musk’s chairmanship at Doge. Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla may profit from Trump’s policies while in office and his SpaceX company has significant defence contracts with the US government.
Within minutes of Trump’s inauguration, Doge was sued allegedly in violation of federal transparency regulations pertaining to hiring, disclosure and other procedures.
Doge satisfies the requirements to be classified as a “federal advisory committee,” a type of legal body governed to guarantee the government receives transparent and balanced advice, according to the public interest law firm National Security Counsellors. However, it does not have “fairly balanced” representation, maintain meeting minutes, or be subject to public scrutiny, as required by law.
