Latest news with #Lavingia
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Chris Hayes: Elon Musk's stint in government has been an abject failure — and wildly destructive
This is an adapted excerpt from the May 29 episode of 'All In with Chris Hayes.' To put the news in the parlance of SpaceX, it seems Elon Musk's career as co-president to Donald Trump has had a bit of a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly.' Technically, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) campaign was always billed as temporary, but less than six months into this administration, the man who came in like some sort of MAGA rock star, who was jumping around at Trump rallies, appeared at Cabinet meetings and spoke to adoring crowds at CPAC is now slinking out the side door. By every conceivable metric, Musk's stint in government has been an abject failure. On the substance alone, it has been wildly destructive. A lot of lifelong experts in key positions have lost their jobs. Important medical research has been set back, possibly indefinitely. Government agencies are functioning worse than they were before. There are also huge ramifications for the Global South, where cuts to foreign aid will lead to needless suffering. Musk's fellow billionaire Bill Gates warned that cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the agency Musk bragged about putting through the 'woodchipper,' could cost millions of lives throughout the world. Experts have also cautioned that tens of thousands of people could die as a result of cuts to the AIDS relief program PEPFAR. So it's clear Musk did real, substantive damage that will be hard to repair, but even by his own standards, his so-called cost-saving, efficiency program failed to achieve what it set out to do. The world's richest man promised to cut federal spending by $2 trillion. But, by his own website's shoddy math, he managed to cut just $175 billion. He barely made a dent. Even the libertarian Cato Institute, which is ideologically very supportive of DOGE's mission, wrote that Musk 'has overpromised and underdelivered on verifiable spending cuts.' Musk assumed that the government is full of lazy bureaucrats who could be fired without any meaningful consequences. But even one of his own DOGE insiders had to concede that's not actually true. In an interview, tech entrepreneur Sahil Lavingia, who Musk placed at the Department of Veterans Affairs, told Fast Company earlier this month: 'I would say the culture shock is mostly a lot of meetings, not a lot of decisions … But honestly, it's kind of fine — because the government works. It's not as inefficient as I was expecting, to be honest. I was hoping for more easy wins.' Lavingia said he found 'himself surrounded by people who 'love their jobs,' who came to the government with a sense of mission driving their work,' according to Fast Company. After that interview was published, Lavingia said his 'access was revoked without warning' and his 'DOGE days were over.' Now that it's clear Americans do not like the behavior and the cruelty of DOGE, Musk, with what is left of his tattered reputation, is doing media interviews trying to distance himself from it all. 'You know, it's not like I agree with everything the administration does,' Musk told CBS News. 'I mean, I agree with much of what the administration does, but we have differences of opinion … But it's difficult for me to bring that up in an interview because then it creates a point of contention. So then I'm a little stuck in a bind where I'm like, well, I don't want to, you know, speak out against the administration but I don't want to — I also don't want to take credit for everything the administration's doing.' It is a tough spot to be associated with those toxic Trump policies, but it's worth remembering Musk is the same guy who was on stage with a chainsaw, bragging about all the cuts he was making to the federal government. Months later, Musk is leaving in disgrace because he was wholesale rejected by everyone. We have seen report after report that members of the administration simply could not stand the guy. Back in March, The New York Times reported on an 'explosive' Cabinet meeting, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins all tore into Musk for his haphazard cuts in their respective agencies. Earlier this month, The Atlantic reported on an expletive-ridden screaming match between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that spilled out from the Oval Office into more public areas of the West Wing. That same article also quotes the general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees as saying, 'We kicked him out of town … If he had stayed in the shadows and done his stuff, who knows how bad it would have been? But no one likes the guy.' 'No one likes the guy' might be the best summation of Musk's foray into American politics I've encountered. But Musk's 'Waterloo moment' came in April in Wisconsin. He flew in from out of state, wore a cheesehead and flexed his newfound political muscles in the state's Supreme Court race. Musk spent a small fortune of his own money in support of the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, but it didn't work. Schimel lost by 10 points. Wisconsin voters called Musk a 'pushy billionaire' who was 'cutting everything' and said 'he just makes me very angry.' That's not just in Wisconsin; voters everywhere don't like him. Nate Silver's polling average shows Musk's public approval more than 14 points underwater, with about 54% of Americans saying they disapprove of the billionaire. Musk's intrusion into national politics has also had real financial consequences for his companies. He has lost billions of dollars since he spent more than $270 million to get Trump elected last year. Tesla sales are down big, especially in Europe, where they crashed nearly 50% year over year last month. In the U.S., according to one report, 'A shopping center with a shuttered Bed Bath and Beyond store is in violation of a Detroit suburb's city code for storing dozens of Tesla vehicles on its parking lot.' Generally, I don't think it is good news for a car manufacturer when your flagship, luxury trucks are sitting unsold in a random parking lot somewhere outside of Detroit. Tesla shareholders are now saying the company is in crisis, sending a letter to the company demanding that Musk return to work full time. Thankfully for them, it looks like he has a lot of time on his hands right now. As Musk leaves the government worse off than he found it, it's clear his tenure in Washington was a complete failure, substantively and politically. Musk got high on his own supply and convinced himself the American public would fall in love with his antics. But it turns out, they would much rather he just go away. This article was originally published on
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Without Elon Musk, DOGE likely to fizzle out, says former staffer
Tesla CEO Musk announced on Wednesday evening that he was ending his time as a special government employee but vowed that DOGE would continue without him Reuters Without billionaire Elon Musk in the Trump administration, his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency project is likely to sputter out, a former DOGE staffer said in his first interview since leaving the team. Tesla CEO Musk announced on Wednesday evening that he was ending his time as a special government employee but vowed that DOGE would continue without him. Administration media representatives also said in statements to Reuters that DOGE would continue its work. However, software engineer Sahil Lavingia, who spent almost two months working for the group of pro-Musk technologists, said he expects DOGE to quickly "fizzle out." "It'll just die a whimper," Lavingia, who was fired from DOGE earlier this month, told Reuters. "So much of the appeal and allure was Elon." He said he expected DOGE staffers to "just stop showing up to work. It's like kids joining a startup that will go out of business in four months." That would cap a remarkable undoing for DOGE, which Musk initially vowed would cut $2 trillion in federal spending. Instead, DOGE estimates its efforts have saved around $175 billion so far and the group's tallies have been riddled with errors. The White House praised DOGE but did not comment on Lavingia. "DOGE is integral to the federal government's operations, and its mission, as established by the President's executive order, will continue under the direction of agency and department heads in the Trump administration," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Lavingia, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of creator platform Gumroad, said he was recruited by DOGE through a personal contact and joined the team in March. While he said he was proud of certain achievements at the Department of Veterans Affairs, including modernising the agency's internal artificial-intelligence chatbot, he said he was often at a loss about what work he was expected to do. "I got dropped into the VA with an HP laptop. What are we supposed to do? What is the road map?" Lavingia said he asked, to no avail. "I felt like I was being pranked." Veterans Affairs press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement to Reuters: "VA looks forward to continuing to work with its DOGE liaisons to help the department improve its performance, customer service, and convenience to Veterans." Lavingia said Steve Davis, the president of Musk's tunneling enterprise the Boring Company, ran day-to-day operations while Turkish-born venture capitalist Baris Akis helped with DOGE recruitment and DOGE logistics. Davis and Akis did not respond to requests for comment sent via the White House. When instructions did come through, they were usually communicated through phone calls or small chats on the encrypted Signal messaging app that would typically auto-delete in one day, Lavingia said. Lavingia said instructions included moving faster to increase mass layoffs at the VA, the federal government's second-largest agency. The only time he met Musk, Lavingia said, was at an all-hands meeting in March with what he estimated was between 40 and 60 fellow DOGE staffers. Lavingia said he asked to open-source, or make freely available, some of his computer code, which Musk approved. He then asked if they could livestream DOGE meetings to increase transparency. Lavingia said he never heard back. In early May, after he spoke to media outlet Fast Company about working at DOGE, Lavingia said his computer access was revoked in what amounted to a firing. He said Musk and team leaders never explicitly told him he should not talk to journalists.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
Without Musk, DOGE likely to fizzle out, says ex-employee
Without billionaire Elon Musk in the Trump administration, his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency project is likely to "fizzle" out, a former DOGE employee has said. The Tesla CEO announced on Wednesday that he was ending his time as a special US government employee, but vowed that DOGE would continue without him. Administration media representatives also said in statements to Reuters that DOGE would continue its work. DOGE has overseen job cuts at nearly every federal agency as part of US President Donald Trump's attempts to shake up the federal bureaucracy. However, software engineer Sahil Lavingia, who spent almost two months working for the group, said he expects DOGE to quickly "fizzle out." "It'll just die a whimper," Mr Lavingia, who was fired from DOGE earlier this month, said. "So much of the appeal and allure was Elon." He said he expected DOGE employees to "just stop showing up to work. It's like kids joining a startup that will go out of business in four months." That would cap a remarkable undoing for DOGE, which Mr Musk initially vowed would cut $2 trillion in federal spending. Instead, DOGE estimates its efforts have saved around $175 billion so far and the group's tallies have been riddled with errors. The White House praised DOGE but did not comment on Mr Lavingia. "DOGE is integral to the federal government's operations, and its mission, as established by the President's executive order, will continue under the direction of agency and department heads in the Trump administration," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said. Mr Lavingia, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of creator platform Gumroad, said he was recruited by DOGE through a personal contact and joined the team in March. While he said he was proud of certain achievements at the Department of Veterans Affairs, including modernising the agency's internal artificial-intelligence chatbot, he said he was often at a loss about what work he was expected to do. "I got dropped into the VA with an HP laptop. What are we supposed to do? What is the road map?" Mr Lavingia said he asked, to no avail. "I felt like I was being pranked." Veterans Affairs press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement to Reuters: "VA looks forward to continuing to work with its DOGE liaisons to help the department improve its performance, customer service, and convenience to Veterans." Mr Lavingia said Steve Davis, the president of Mr Musk's tunneling enterprise the Boring Company, ran day-to-day operations while Turkish-born venture capitalist Baris Akis helped with DOGE recruitment and DOGE logistics. Mr Davis and Mr Akis did not respond to requests for comment sent via the White House. When instructions did come through, they were usually communicated through phone calls or small chats on the encrypted Signal messaging app that would typically auto-delete in one day, Mr Lavingia said. He said instructions included moving faster to increase mass layoffs at the VA, the federal government's second-largest agency. The only time he met Mr Musk, Mr Lavingia said, was at an all-hands meeting in March with what he estimated was between 40 and 60 fellow DOGE employees. Mr Lavingia said he asked to open-source, or make freely available, some of his computer code, which Mr Musk approved. He then asked if they could livestream DOGE meetings to increase transparency. "Elon said: 'That's a great idea. We'll do it next week.' He then caught himself and said: 'Maybe we pre-record it because of security risks.'" Mr Lavingia said he never heard back. In early May, after he spoke to media outlet Fast Company about working at DOGE, Mr Lavingia said his computer access was revoked in what amounted to a firing. He said Mr Musk and team leaders never explicitly told him he should not talk to journalists. "My DOGE days were over," Mr Lavingia wrote in a blog about his experience.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Without Elon Musk, DOGE likely to fizzle out, says ex-staffer
Without billionaire Elon Musk in the Trump administration , his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency project is likely to sputter out, a former DOGE staffer said in his first interview since leaving the team. Tesla CEO Musk announced on Wednesday evening that he was ending his time as a special government employee but vowed that DOGE would continue without him. Administration media representatives also said in statements to Reuters that DOGE would continue its work. DOGE has overseen job cuts at nearly every federal agency as part of U.S. President Donald Trump 's attempts to shake up the federal bureaucracy. However, software engineer Sahil Lavingia, who spent almost two months working for the group of pro-Musk technologists, said he expects DOGE to quickly "fizzle out." "It'll just die a whimper," Lavingia, who was fired from DOGE earlier this month, told Reuters. "So much of the appeal and allure was Elon." He said he expected DOGE staffers to "just stop showing up to work. It's like kids joining a startup that will go out of business in four months." Live Events That would cap a remarkable undoing for DOGE, which Musk initially vowed would cut $2 trillion in federal spending. Instead, DOGE estimates its efforts have saved around $175 billion so far and the group's tallies have been riddled with errors. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories The White House praised DOGE but did not comment on Lavingia. "DOGE is integral to the federal government's operations, and its mission, as established by the President's executive order, will continue under the direction of agency and department heads in the Trump administration," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Lavingia, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of creator platform Gumroad, said he was recruited by DOGE through a personal contact and joined the team in March. While he said he was proud of certain achievements at the Department of Veterans Affairs, including modernizing the agency's internal artificial-intelligence chatbot, he said he was often at a loss about what work he was expected to do. "I got dropped into the VA with an HP laptop. What are we supposed to do? What is the road map?" Lavingia said he asked, to no avail. "I felt like I was being pranked." Veterans Affairs press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement to Reuters: "VA looks forward to continuing to work with its DOGE liaisons to help the department improve its performance, customer service, and convenience to Veterans." Lavingia said Steve Davis, the president of Musk's tunneling enterprise the Boring Company, ran day-to-day operations while Turkish-born venture capitalist Baris Akis helped with DOGE recruitment and DOGE logistics. Davis and Akis did not respond to requests for comment sent via the White House. When instructions did come through, they were usually communicated through phone calls or small chats on the encrypted Signal messaging app that would typically auto-delete in one day, Lavingia said. Lavingia said instructions included moving faster to increase mass layoffs at the VA, the federal government's second-largest agency. The only time he met Musk, Lavingia said, was at an all-hands meeting in March with what he estimated was between 40 and 60 fellow DOGE staffers. Lavingia said he asked to open-source, or make freely available, some of his computer code, which Musk approved. He then asked if they could livestream DOGE meetings to increase transparency. "Elon said: 'That's a great idea. We'll do it next week.' He then caught himself and said: 'Maybe we pre-record it because of security risks.'" Lavingia said he never heard back. In early May, after he spoke to media outlet Fast Company about working at DOGE, Lavingia said his computer access was revoked in what amounted to a firing. He said Musk and team leaders never explicitly told him he should not talk to journalists. "My DOGE days were over," Lavingia wrote in a blog about his experience.
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Without Musk, DOGE likely to fizzle out, says ex-staffer
Tesla TSLA.O CEO Musk announced on Wednesday evening that he was ending his time as a special government employee but vowed that DOGE would continue without him. DOGE has overseen job cuts at nearly every federal agency as part of U.S. President Donald Trump 's attempts to shake up the federal bureaucracy. However, software engineer Sahil Lavingia, who spent almost two months working for the group of pro-Musk technologists, said he expects DOGE to quickly 'fizzle out.' 'It'll just die a whimper,' Lavingia, who was fired from DOGE earlier this month, told Reuters. 'So much of the appeal and allure was Elon.' He said he expected DOGE staffers to 'just stop showing up to work. It's like kids joining a startup that will go out of business in four months.' That would cap a remarkable undoing for DOGE, which Musk initially vowed would cut $2 trillion in federal spending. Instead, DOGE estimates its efforts have saved around $175 billion so far and the group's tallies have been riddled with errors. Lavingia, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of creator platform Gumroad, said he was recruited by DOGE through a personal contact and joined the team in March. While he said he was proud of certain achievements at the Department of Veterans Affairs, including modernizing the agency's internal artificial-intelligence chatbot, he said he was often at a loss about what work he was expected to do. 'I got dropped into the VA with an HP laptop. What are we supposed to do? What is the road map?' Lavingia said he asked, to no avail. 'I felt like I was being pranked.' The White House, the VA and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The White House has previously said that DOGE works at a fast pace to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and generate savings for American taxpayers. Lavingia said Steve Davis, the president of Musk's tunneling enterprise the Boring Company, ran day-to-day operations while Turkish-born venture capitalist Baris Akis helped with DOGE recruitment and DOGE logistics. Davis and Akis did not respond to requests for comment sent via the White House. When instructions did come through, they were usually communicated through phone calls or small chats on the encrypted Signal messaging app that would typically auto-delete in one day, Lavingia said. Lavingia said instructions included moving faster to increase mass layoffs at the VA, the federal government's second-largest agency. The only time he met Musk, Lavingia said, was at an all-hands meeting in March with what he estimated was between 40 and 60 fellow DOGE staffers. Lavingia said he asked to open-source, or make freely available, some of his computer code, which Musk approved. He then asked if they could livestream DOGE meetings to increase transparency. 'Elon said: 'That's a great idea. We'll do it next week.' He then caught himself and said: 'Maybe we pre-record it because of security risks.'' Lavingia said he never heard back. In early May, after he spoke to media outlet Fast Company about working at DOGE, Lavingia said his computer access was revoked in what amounted to a firing. He said Musk and team leaders never explicitly told him he should not talk to journalists. 'My DOGE days were over,' Lavingia wrote in a blog about his experience.
