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Rift at DOGE Started Early On
The Wall Street Journal|January 24, 2025
Musk, Ramaswamy differed in focus and on mission to remain an outside entity
- BY KEN THOMAS AND JOHN MCCORMICK
Rift at DOGE Started Early On

The Department of Government Efficiency was originally envisioned as a joint Elon Musk-Vivek Ramaswamy mission outside the federal government. Now it is all Elon-and he is inside.

Musk's vision for DOGE-along with his relentless, 24/7 online promotion of its goals-has quickly won out in President Trump's first days in office, as Ramaswamy has decamped for his home state of Ohio to announce next week a planned bid for governor in 2026, and the DOGE operation has been installed inside the new president's administration. Musk has been working this week from a West Wing office, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Tensions and philosophical differences between the two billionaires, who first met in 2023 when Ramaswamy was still challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, didn't take long to emerge.

People familiar with the situation said Trump's inner circle of aides had become annoyed with Ramaswamy's outspokenness on virtually any topic, a tendency that had also aggravated the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive.

"There were always going to be tensions between two CEOs who have built successful companies," said a person familiar with DOGE. "Everyone saw the writing on the wall."

A frequent poster on Musk's X platform, Ramaswamy also angered some Trump supporters and aides in late December when he let loose with a long message as part of a debate over H-1B visas, suggesting some U.S. technology companies hire foreign workers in part because U.S. culture has "venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long."

This story is from the January 24, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

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This story is from the January 24, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

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