“It’s the new Manhattan Project”

In emphatic tones, the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trumphe defined “the Manhattan Project of our times” the choice to name Elon Musk – in collaboration with Vivek Ramaswamy – leading the new DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency, Department for Government Effectiveness). What will not be a real new Department, to create which would require a vote of Congress, but rather a consultancy body, will be responsible for cutting expenses allocated to the various federal agencies. Trump wrote on his Truth social network, speaking about Musk and Ramaswamy: “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut excessive regulations, cut unnecessary expenses And restructure federal agenciesessential for movement Save America”.

The comparison with Manhattan Project – that is, the secret plan developed by the USA during the Second World War to develop the first atomic bomb, entrusted to the physicist Robert Oppenheimer and at the center of Christopher Nolan’s latest film – it definitely is high-sounding and effective, appropriately chosen by the tycoon to refer to the disruptive and “explosive” effects that his plan to reorganize the American administration aims to achieve. “Republican politicians – explained the next occupant of the White House – have dreamed of the DOGE’s objectives for a long time. To drive this type of dramatic change, the Department of Government Effectiveness will provide advice and guidance from outside government and work with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to lead a large-scale structural reform and create a entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”

The announced nomination, coinciding with Trump’s electoral victory, has for days raised strong fears about the potential, Musk’s gigantic conflict of interestwhich is one of the largest contractor of the federal government and whose business activities, from AI to self-driving cars, are subject to laws and regulations. The owner of Tesla, SpaceX and Super Pacthe tool for financing certain political candidates without reporting the donations, usually subject to precise tax rules. Musk then went on to finance a special lottery in the states that most needed to assign their electors to the republican candidate, that is, those swing (in the balance).

The task of the billionaire of South African origin, therefore, will be crucial and central, despite the DOGE is not a real Department; moreover, his will be a “temporary” role: the president-elect has in fact explained that “their job will end no later than July 4, 2026: A smaller government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America in 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I’m sure they will succeed!”.

“I look forward,” the president-elect added to Truth, “for Elon and Vivek to make changes to the federal bureaucracy with an eye to efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans. It is important that we eliminate the enormous waste and fraud that exists in ours 6.5 trillion dollars in annual public spending”. In concrete terms, the expected reduction – already announced by Musk himself during the election campaign – would be around two thousand billion dollars. But the owner of Space X and Tesla has not clarified how he intends to follow up on these promises. What matters, as Trump himself made clear, is that he and Ramaswamy “will work together to liberate our economy and hold the United States government accountable to the people”.