Musk’s DOGE Dream Fizzles As $1 Trillion Target Slashed

Elon Musk’s ambitious cost-cutting crusade has hit a sobering reality check as the Department of Government Efficiency drastically reduced its projected savings from a headline-grabbing $1 trillion to just $150 billion – an 85% reduction that signals a significant scaling back of the billionaire’s government reform agenda.

The dramatic downgrade, announced by Musk on April 11, comes less than a month after his confident March 27 Fox News interview with Bret Baier where he declared his team was “on pace to eliminate $1 trillion in federal spending by the end of May,” according to Commercial Appeal.

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From Chainsaws to Reality Checks

DOGE’s official website now shows just $155 billion in estimated savings as of April 14 – approximately $960 per taxpayer, far short of the promised $5,000 stimulus checks that had excited many Trump supporters. This stark recalibration suggests the chainsaw-wielding billionaire has discovered that Washington bureaucracy is more resistant to quick fixes than his initial assessment suggested.

Musk himself has begun tempering expectations about potential payouts, telling a Wisconsin rally audience in late March that such decisions are “somewhat up to Congress and maybe the president.” This marks a notable shift from earlier rhetoric that suggested DOGE would single-handedly transform federal spending.

Capitol Hill Power Struggles Emerge

Beyond the budget numbers, Musk has encountered increasing resistance from Trump’s cabinet. In a notable rebuke last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent successfully lobbied for the removal of Musk’s handpicked IRS acting commissioner Gary Shapley mere days after his appointment.

The New York Times reported that Bessent “complained that Musk had his preferred candidate installed in the role without Bessent’s blessing,” signaling growing tensions within the administration’s power structure. This represents just the latest example of Musk “repeatedly rankl[ing] certain members of Trump’s cabinet by failing to coordinate with them,” according to The New York Times.

A 130-Day Countdown to Exit

Musk’s government reform experiment may be coming to a close sooner than expected. As a special government employee, he is limited to 130 working days in a 365-day period – a timeline that would place his departure around late May or early June, coinciding with his substantially reduced savings target.

President Trump appears to be preparing for this transition, telling reporters that while Musk is “amazing” and he would “keep him as long as I could,” he acknowledges that “he’s got a big company to run. And so, at some point, he’s going to be going back.” When pressed about DOGE’s future without Musk, Trump was tellingly noncommittal, stating simply that “at a certain point I think it will end,” as reported by PBS NewsHour.

Though White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against reports of Musk’s imminent departure, stating on X that he will leave only “when his incredible work at DOGE is complete,” signs of the department’s winding down are increasingly apparent. DOGE employees have already begun shifting to various federal agencies, which are supposed to take over the cost-cutting initiatives.

For Musk, who entered government service with characteristic bombast, the return to his private sector responsibilities comes amid troubling business developments, including a 13% drop in Tesla sales during the first quarter of 2025 – suggesting his attention may be increasingly needed at his primary ventures as his brief but tumultuous government experiment draws to a close.

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