Elon Musk defended his work leading the Department of Government Efficiency Thursday, pushing back on mounting criticism of the massive disruption caused by DOGE in an unusual joint interview with other top leaders of the group.
Musk minimized the number of people who have been fired by DOGE amid a wave of federal layoffs. His team lambasted the government’s records, payment and other systems and promised to implement a tech savvy, user-friendly approach. And they shrugged off concerns about how DOGE has operated.
“This is a revolution and I think it might be the biggest revolution in the government since the original revolution,” said Musk, a billionaire tech entrepreneur who has become a leading figure in President Donald Trump’s second administration.
DOGE is blitzing through federal agencies, generating criticism from Democrats and unions that it’s sowing turmoil and harming important government functions. There have been mass layoffs and entire agencies effectively shuttered. Many of the DOGE initiatives have been challenged as illegal and are tied up in court.
The CEO of electric car company Tesla, Musk also lashed out Thursday at people he accused of spreading “lies and propaganda” that he blamed for a spate of vandalism at Tesla locations.
We’re going after them,” Musk said in a subsequent one-on-one Fox interview.
DOGE mostly has operated behind the scenes. The joint interview was a notable public moment for the DOGE team, which – other than Musk – has not been highly visible despite the intense media attention on their efforts.