Elon Musk’s tenure in Washington is coming to an end after just 130 days. On Tuesday, he wrote on X that his “scheduled time” as a special government employee was over, saying, “the @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.” Speaking about DOGE, in a series of unofficial exit interviews over the last week, the richest man in the world expressed confusion over why so many people despised the group he oversaw—which has terrorized federal workers and inflicted haphazard budget and personnel cuts that will impact the country and world for years to come—saying that DOGE had become “the whipping boy for everything“ and that “something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.” (Cue a symphony of sad trombones.) Musk also reportedly didn’t expect to be personally hated for taking a (literal and figurative) chainsaw to the federal government, nor did he see the reputational hit on Tesla coming, calling the burning of the electric cars “really uncool.”
Anyway, Musk is leaving, and it’s safe to say no one is throwing him a going-away party in the break room or chipping in on a gift to see him off. That’s probably because, over the course of his four months in Washington, Musk:
Hired teens and early-20-somethings to wage a government takeover
Among the children Musk brought in was a college freshman whose nickname is “Big Balls.” Not surprisingly, none of them had virtually any experience working in government.
Among the legion of short-sighted moves by Musk, one of the biggest ones was to dismantle the US Agency for International Development, imperiling services like HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention across the world. USAID also funded clinics that prevented people from dying of things like cholera, and as a result of Musk’s handiwork, one group said at least five children and three adults died in South Sudan because they couldn’t get care.
Cut scientific research off at the knees
DOGE directed deep cuts to medical research, and, according to sworn testimony, ordered the National Institutes of Health to terminate funding for hundreds of specific projects. Cancer treatment? Life-saving medications? Who needs those?
Oversaw a “massacre” of federal jobs
More than 121,000 federal employees, many of them with decades of experience and deep institutional knowledge, had been laid off or targeted for layoffs as of the end of April (some say the figure is closer to 200,000). While Musk has bragged about how much money he and his lackeys have supposedly saved taxpayers, a nonpartisan group has estimated the cuts will cost $135 billion, due to things like having to rehire people after mistakenly firing them. (See: bird flu experts who got the ax.) Experts have said the cuts have not only traumatized those directly affected but will impact those who have held onto their jobs, which could lead to PTSD.
Wore two hats for some reason
This is obviously far from the most damaging thing Musk did during his time in Washington, but it was pretty bad as far as assaults on the eyes go.
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Waved a chainsaw around onstage
Nothing says “I don’t give a fuck if my actions have deep and lasting consequences on your life” than some light prop comedy:
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