As billionaire Elon Musk and his team of young tech engineers rip through the federal government — forcing scores of federal employees to be put on administrative leave, pressuring more to take buyouts, and crippling agencies that support some of the poorest people in the U.S. and around the world — he is doing it all with his signature trolling, mocking his critics and targets along the way.
Musk has been essentially live-tweeting his Department of Government Efficiency efforts targeting agencies — posting nearly 200 times in a 24-hour period alone from Tuesday into Wednesday, according to a review by ABC News.
He has relentlessly mocked his detractors, whether they be members of Congress or affected federal workers and posting about which agencies he plans to target next.
Elon Musk arrives for the Inauguration of Donald Trump in the Capitol Rotunda, Jan. 20, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Pool/Getty Images
As Democrats in Congress attempt to push back against Musk — both at rallies and in hearings — the billionaire appears unfazed. Instead, he spends much of his time mocking them on X, frequently using laughing and tongue-out emojis, along with memes.
Earlier today, Musk also responded to Oversight Democrats’ attempts to compel him to testify before their committee. “How is this reality? Lmaooo,” Musk posted in response.
Employees of several agencies, including USAID — the U.S. Agency for International Development — have been scrambling as DOGE has forced spending cuts and deleted DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — programs.
In his X account bio, Musk is now describing his role as “White House tech support,” a title he has told to his allies.
Elon Musk during the presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the Capitol, Jan. 20, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Pool/Bloomberg via Getty Images
He is even using his social platform to poll his 216 million followers about whether DOGE should audit the IRS, with the options, “Yes,” “F Yes” and “No.”
Musk responded to a user who called him an “Effing legend” for finding “the source code” and “And started hacking” with a photo of a shirt that reads “The SYSADMIN.” The shirt is a reference to a meme popular in the IT world that likens system administrators to “The Godfather” with the movie’s logo that shows a hand pulling puppet strings.
He even reshared a post comparing himself to The Godfather.
Musk pinned a post on X Wednesday that is a direct response to a video Michigan Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury shared from a protest led by fellow Democrats at the Treasury Department earlier this week. Invoking “The Godfather,” he called himself “The DOGEfather” and made reference to a quote from the movie:
“She comes to me on this day of my DOGE’s wedding and makes these demands. But does she call me The DOGEfather? Is she even a friend? Buona sera, buono sera,” he wrote.