Elon Musk leaves legacy of self-destruction at DOGE

Elon Musk arrived in Washington as the most powerful political outsider ever, brimming with Silicon Valley swagger and bipartisan buy-in for his goal of streamlining the federal government. He's leaving with his reputation wounded, relationships severed, companies in crisis, fortune diminished—and little to show for DOGE but chaos and contested savings. He's still beloved by President Trump, but his favorability ratings have plummeted amid scrutiny of DOGE's mass layoffs, sweeping program cuts, and unprecedented access to Americans' personal data. Musk may not have achieved his audacious goal of cutting $2 trillion from America's debt, but the disruption he unleashed inside the federal government will reverberate for decades.