Right wing billionaire Elon Musk compared his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to a religion with him as its leader.
In an interview with reporters to reflect on the first 100 days of DOGE, Musk said the controversial budget slashing task force is here to stay even though he plans to step back soon.
“DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism,” he said. “Buddha isn’t alive anymore. You wouldn’t ask the question: ‘Who would lead Buddhism?'”
Musk plans to scale back his time in Washington to focus on running his companies especially Tesla which has experienced a 71 percent drop in net income since Inauguration Day due to plummeting sales brought on by his role in the Trump administration.
Musk claims that DOGE save the federal government an estimated $160 billion which he admitted is well short of his stated $2 trillion goal.
“In the grand scheme of things, I think we’ve been effective,” he said of DOGE. “Not as effective as I like… but we’ve made progress.”
Despite bipartisan criticism, including from Republican voters at town halls across the country, Musk declared that DOGE is “getting things right 70-80% of the time,” adding that he thought DOGE eventually could reach $1 trillion in savings.
