38 h. ago ‘They sowed chaos to no avail’: the lasting legacy of Elon Musk’s Doge

The billionaire – who had no government experience – left various federal agencies in disarray while overseeing an ‘efficiency’ drive across WashingtonAs Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, splurged more than $250m on Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, the US president commissioned his new ally to oversee a sweeping “efficiency” drive across the federal government.The Tesla and SpaceX boss, who had no experience inside government, was tasked with eradicating waste and cutting spending as part of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) – and was quick to stoke expectations. Continue reading...

Events

63 h. ago Elon Musk’s 2025 recap: how the world’s richest person became its most chaotic

How the tech CEO and ‘Dogefather’ made a mess of the year – from an apparent Nazi salute during his White House tenure to Tesla sales slumps and Starship explosionsThe year of 2025 was dizzying for Elon Musk. The tech titan began the year holding court with Donald Trump in Washington DC. As the months ticked by, one public appearance after another baffled the US and the world. Musk appeared to give a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration, staunchly championed a 19-year-old staffer nicknamed “Big Balls,” denied reports of being a drug addict while advising the president, and showed up at a White House press conference with a black eye – all in the first half of the year alone.“Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast. If you’re an incrementalist, you just won’t get your rocket to the moon,” Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, told Vanity Fair in an expansive interview earlier this month. “And so with that attitude, you’re going to break some china.” Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago We still don’t really know what Elon Musk’s Doge actually did

Calculating the actual savings and impact of the bulldozing US department that vowed to cut $1tn in waste is difficultElon Musk, AI and the antichrist: the biggest tech stories of 2025When Elon Musk vowed late last year to lead a “department of government efficiency” (Doge), he claimed it would operate with “maximum transparency” as it set about saving $2tn worth of waste and exposing massive fraud.Today, with Musk out of the White House, Doge having cut only a tiny fraction of the waste it promised, and dozens of lawsuits alleging violations of privacy and transparency laws, much of what the agency has done remains a mystery. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago DOGE promised to cut government spending. It went up under Trump, new report shows

Elon Musk initially promised that DOGE would slash $2 trillion in ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ a goal that was later reduced to $1 trillion

Politics

1 week ago Elon Musk, AI and the antichrist: the biggest tech stories of 2025

A look back at the biggest tech stories of the year, from the rise and fall of Musk’s Doge to lucrative investments into AIHello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, wishing you a happy and healthy end of the year. I myself have a cold.Today, we are looking back at the biggest stories in tech of 2025 – Elon Musk’s political rise, burst, and fall; artificial intelligence’s subsumption of the global economy, all other technology, and even the Earth’s topography; Australia’s remarkable social media ban; the tech industry’s new Trumpian politics; and, as a treat, a glimpse of the apocalypse offered by one of Silicon Valley’s savviest and strangest billionaires.How an obscure US government office has become a target of Elon MuskHow Elon Musk’s billionaire Doge lieutenant took over the US’s biggest MDMA company | Technology | The GuardianThe chaos Elon Musk and Doge are leaving behind in WashingtonEggings, swastikas and dog poop: Tesla bears brunt of people’s ire ag...

Politics

3 w. ago Musk calls Doge only ‘somewhat successful’ and says he would not do it again

Speaking on a rightwing podcast, the billionaire said he would not go back and lead the job-cutting program again Elon Musk has said the aggressive federal job-cutting program he headed early in Donald Trump’s second term, known as the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), was only “a little bit successful” and he would not lead the project again.Musk said he wouldn’t want to repeat the exercise, talking on the podcast hosted by Katie Miller, a rightwing personality with a rising profile who was a Doge adviser and who is married to Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s hardline anti-immigration deputy chief of staff. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Elon Musk concedes that DOGE was only ‘somewhat successful’ in interview with Stephen Miller’s wife

The Tesla and X billionaire opened up about his experience running the now shut down DOGE and his thoughts on God

Politics