Chronicle Editor
Donald Trump is making clear that he intends to entirely reshape the American government, by appointing Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to drastically reduce government spending, slash regulation, and dismantle government bureaucracy.
Trump describes the body as the new Manhattan Project – the US programme to develop nuclear weapons in the 1940s.
That’s an indication of how dramatic he hopes the impact of their work will be.
Trump has also named Pete Hegseth as defence secretary, an army combat veteran with no experience in government, who spent the past eight years working as a presenter on Fox News.
Hegseth may run into opposition from senior military leaders, and might struggle to have his appointment confirmed in the Senate.
But the president-elect is demanding the next Republican Senate leader should call recesses, during which he can side-step the usual confirmation process for his candidates.
Last month, Musk said there were “too many people” in the government sector and they could be “more productive elsewhere”.
“We will reduce a lot of government headcount, but we’re gonna give very long severances. Like I mean two years, or something like that,” he said in an event in Philadelphia.
“Look, just go do something else, is what we’re going to say. And you’ll get paid for two years. So, you’ve got a lot of time to go and figure out something else to do. The point is not to be cruel.”
The SpaceX founder and Tesla chief executive will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), working with Vivek Ramaswamy.
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. BBC
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