Elon Musk says DOGE was “a little bit” successful, but insists he would never repeat it

Elon Musk is reflecting on his time serving in the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting office created at the start of Donald Trump’s second term, and says it’s an experience he would not repeat.

Speaking on The Katie Miller Podcast, Musk explained that although the office managed to stop some wasteful federal spending, the initiative was only “somewhat” effective and diverted time from his companies.

Elon Musk said DOGE’s surreal early days, its crowdsourced name, and the intense public backlash he faced ultimately shaped his decision. Even with confirmed cancellations and reduced spending reported months after his departure, Musk now believes he should have stayed focused on Tesla and SpaceX instead.

As he summarized, DOGE was “a little bit” successful, but “never again.”

Elon Musk describes DOGE as only “somewhat successful” in hindsight

In his interview, as reported on December 10, 2025, by Business Insider, Elon Musk recounted his surprise at ever joining DOGE, saying much of the experience felt “extremely surreal.”

The office, created under President Trump to reportedly rein in federal spending, was named using “internet suggestions,” he said. While Musk maintained that targeting government waste remained a worthwhile goal, he described the work as yielding only limited results.

“We were a little bit successful. We were somewhat successful,” he told host Katie Miller, explaining that DOGE had identified and halted “zombie payments” he estimated at $100–$200 billion annually. Enforcing additional coding and explanations for payments helped prevent unjustified disbursements, Musk said.

Initially, Musk predicted DOGE could save $2 trillion, but he later revised that figure to roughly $150 billion in projected cuts for the 2026 fiscal year before stepping away in April. Following the office’s quiet disbanding in July, Politico verified $1.4 billion in confirmed contract cancellations and reductions in federal spending.

Yet Elon Musk told Miller that if he could redo that period, he would not join DOGE at all, emphasizing that focusing on Tesla and SpaceX would have been more productive. The work, he suggested, had limited impact relative to the time invested.

More about the reaction to Elon Musk’s government role

Elon Musk’s involvement with DOGE also generated strong public reaction, including protests and vandalism against Tesla, according to Business Insider. He characterized the backlash as a “very strong reaction” to his attempts to address what he viewed as political corruption.

The controversy spilled into markets as some Tesla investors questioned whether Musk was devoting too much time to Washington and not enough to running the company.

Garrett Nelson, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, said in March that shareholders had “legitimate concerns” about Musk being stretched thin. Tesla’s stock fell sharply in the first half of the year but rebounded after Musk announced his departure from DOGE and formally exited the office in May. As of December 10, the stock was up more than 17% for the year.

Musk’s relationship with President Donald Trump also deteriorated during this period. After criticizing Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” in June, Musk and the president feuded publicly for months. However, by November, tensions reportedly eased, and Musk was invited to Trump’s White House dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Elon Musk’s political clashes were not limited to the U.S. In a separate development reported by CNBC on December 8, 2025, Musk called for the abolition of the European Union, reportedly after the bloc fined X €120 million under the Digital Services Act for deceptive design and transparency violations.

Elon Musk argued the EU should dissolve so individual nations could exercise greater sovereignty, a remark that reportedly drew both criticism and support from U.S. officials.

Edited by Devangee