Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk to spearhead new Trump initiative

Ramaswamy withdraws from consideration to fill JD Vance’s soon-to-be-vacated Ohio Senate seat after getting on board DOGE

By Arun Kumar 

President- elect Donald Trump has picked Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency(DOGE), a new initiative aimed at running government operations efficiently, in his Trump 2.0 administration.

Ramaswamy, an  Indian American biotech entrepreneur with roots in Kerala, briefly contested against Trump in Republican primaries before turning into an ardent supporter of the former President. Ramaswamy, along with Elon Musk—who owns Tesla, X, xAI, and SpaceX—backed Trump in the 2024 White House race.

READ: Elon Musk backs Vivek Ramaswamy’s election reform proposals (October 2nd, 2024)

This DOGE initiative, Trump says, is central to his “Save America” movement and is designed to dramatically reduce government waste, eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies, and modernize federal structures.

The project is slated to conclude by July 4, 2026, aligning with the United States’ 250th anniversary of independence—a symbolic date chosen to underscore the significance of this undertaking. By this milestone, Trump envisions a government that is “leaner, more efficient, and fully accountable to the American people.”

“I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE),” Trump announced.

“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement.”

Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy would work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to tackle “massive waste and fraud” in $6.5 trillion of annual government spending.

In a press release from Trump’s campaign, Musk said: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people.”

The DOGE project, which some are calling a “Manhattan Project for Government Reform,” a top-secret World War Two programme to develop the first nuclear weapons, will collaborate closely with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to implement sweeping structural changes.

According to Trump, this new department will emphasize an entrepreneurial approach to governance, pushing for accountability and transparency in all areas of government spending.

Musk recently called for at least $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending, nearly a third of the government’s budget, without offering specifics. He has also proposed eliminating hundreds of federal agencies, arguing that many of them have overlapping areas of responsibility.

After the announcement, Musk posted on his social media platform, X: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”

Ramaswamy reposted Trump’s announcement on social media saying “we will not go gently”. He also said he was withdrawing from consideration to fill incoming US Vice-President JD Vance’s soon-to-be-vacated Ohio Senate seat.

Last year, while running for president, Ramaswamy said he would fire more than 75% of the federal work force and close down several major agencies, including the Department of Education, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Both Musk and Ramaswamy posted pictures of Doge along with the department’s name after it was announced.

The meme-fest started after a picture of Kabosu, the Shiba Inu dog, went viral. His “quizzical” expression became famous all over the internet in 2013. Along with Kabosu’s picture were multicoloured texts with two-word phrases depicting his internal monologue.

This was an intentional misspelling seen in an episode of Homestar Runner, an American comedy series, according to Slate.

“A misspelling meme of a Shiba Inu named Kabosu has inspired the acronym of an official department of the most powerful government in the world, headed by a man, Elon Musk, who has been a fan,” wrote satirist and columnist, Kamlesh Singh on X.