In the months leading up to the 2024 election, Elon Musk has become more and more vocal in his political opinions and his support of current President Donald Trump. He has been appointed Senior Advisor to the President and de facto administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He has also had some ‘unusual’ moments and geopolitical advocacies which many criticize him for. But what has he actually been doing with all this?
On President Trump’s inauguration day, Jan 20, 2025, Musk made a speech celebrating the victory. During that speech he said, “my heart goes out to you.” At the same time, he made what some would call a fascist salute, while some have said it was simply an ancient roman salute. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, responded on X stating: “@elonmusk is being falsely smeared. Elon is a great friend of Israel.” However, history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat of New York University said, “Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.” Nonetheless, extreme controversy stemmed from the event and some European political parties called for Musk to be banned from entering the country of topic.
The purpose of DOGE is, “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” according to whitehouse.gov. Institutions which DOGE has been particularly keen on targeting include Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and foreign aid. Since it’s foundation, DOGE has claimed that it has saved $65 billion dollars, although many news outlets including npr.org, cbsnews.com, and washingtonpost.com point out that there have been many errors in the grand total, and a more realistic saving amount would be around $7-9 billion.
As of Mar 1, 2025, Musk responded to a post on X which stated, “It’s time to leave NATO and the UN.” Musk’s reply? “I agree.” It is difficult to say what will arise from this, but responses to this have had mixed reactions.
