What do Elon Musk and Russell Vought have in common? They’re both despised by Democrats, and they’re both going to be handling the Department of Government Efficiency’s operations. We know Mr. Musk is planning to step away from DOGE at some point this month.
Musk has become the center of intense hatred from liberal America for exposing the waste and pork pet projects that have enriched the wealthy and well-connected for too long. With Musk stepping away, Mr. Vought, the Office of Management and Budget director, will be taking the reins. Both men are firebrands. Vought has already picked his next target for review: the Pentagon (via WSJ):
Russ Vought, President Trump’s top budget official, is looking to lock in many of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting efforts once the billionaire CEO steps aside from government. A key part of his plan: steamrolling Congress.
Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, has already drawn the ire of Republican national security hawks by insisting that military spending receive increases only through a procedure known as budget reconciliation, as opposed to the annual budget. Aside from the reconciliation spending, the White House budget blueprint proposed maintaining military spending at current budget levels of $892.6 billion.
The move came even as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior Republicans pushed for more funding, lawmakers and congressional aides said.
Republican members of Congress and staff believed they had received assurances from Hegseth—some personally, aides said—that the number would be larger, and were shocked when the budget came out. They worry that getting a one-time boost through reconciliation would be temporary and not provide for long-term security needs.
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The defense budget fight shows how Vought’s presence will be felt more around Washington as Musk retreats to his businesses, including electric carmaker Tesla, whose fortunes have taken a hit in recent months. Vought has served as Musk’s lower-profile partner on DOGE, which has sought to slash government spending and cut the federal workforce during the start of Trump’s second administration.
During Trump’s cabinet meeting last month, members of the president’s team applauded Musk for his work on DOGE in what appeared to be a farewell of sorts. The president told the Tesla CEO he was “invited to stay as long as you want—at some point he wants to get back home to his cars.”
With the administration’s budget process kicking into high gear, Vought will oversee a series of initiatives, from cutting agency regulations and working with Congress to claw back funds to reclassifying federal workers and advancing a 2025 budget proposal that seeks to slash spending.
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One area that could lead to a White House clash with Congress is Vought’s push for impoundment authority, wherein the executive refuses to spend money already appropriated by Congress. That is going to set off some fireworks, and there are likely to be more than a few Republicans who will side with Democrats, who are bound to go indiscriminately insane. There will be lawsuits, but it also could be another way for the president to weed out the troublemakers in the party. Matt Gaetz's short nomination as attorney general smoked out the usual suspects, and they’re still a thorn in the side of the White House. In recent weeks, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has become an issue, as he pretty much nuked the DC attorney nomination of Ed Martin over January 6 issues, which no one believes.
Musk was a bulldog. Vought seems like a top pick to replace him.
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