Elon Musk said on the campaign trail that he would slash $2 trillion from the federal budget. Then it became $1 trillion. Then $150 billion. According to Steve Bannon, it’s now effectively nothing. "None of this makes sense," Bannon said during the Semafor World Economy Summit in April, criticizing Musk's Department of Government Efficiency project for falling far short of its ambitious promises.

Bannon Doubts Real Savings

Bannon, a former chief strategist to President Donald Trump, said that although Musk arrived in Washington, D.C. with a bold plan, the results were minimal. "He went from $2 trillion a year to $1 trillion a year to $150 billion next year with nothing this year," Bannon said. “We need to know exactly what he found as far as fraud goes.”

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When asked whether he trusts Musk not to misuse government data, Bannon replied: "Trust but verify."

Musk has officially stepped down from DOGE, concluding a 130-day tenure as a "special government employee." In a post on his social media platform X on Thursday, Musk expressed gratitude to Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful government spending, saying, “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

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Numbers Don't Add Up

“If you thought DOGE was really about cutting costs, you weren't in on the joke,” The Atlantic concluded.

Even Musk himself has admitted it didn't go as planned. In an interview with the Washington Post recently, he said, "The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized." He acknowledged DOGE had become a political scapegoat: "DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything."

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Frustration On All Sides

Musk also expressed disappointment with Trump's signature spending package, the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill," telling CBS News: "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing."

For Bannon, the project's failure underscores the need for structural reform and transparency. He insisted the country is running out of time to fix its finances. "Our choices narrow every day," he said. "The current system is not sustainable."

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