Elon Musk, appointed by President Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is facing backlash after implementing measures reminiscent of his contentious Twitter layoffs. Critics say his aggressive approach misreads Trump's true intent, risking major fallout. 

Politico has published an article speculating that Elon Musk's impending demise may be hastened by his failure to accurately predict President Trump's intentions.

With the explicit goal of eliminating wasteful spending from the government budget, Trump nominated Musk to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

According to veteran political commentator Jonathan Martin, Musk is mishandling his new role by trying to impose his views on the federal staff in the same way he did on Twitter: by threatening employees unless they comply with his drastic proposals to slash costs.

Musk just sent a note to federal employees that was quite similar to his 2022 letter to Twitter staff: either commit to "excellence" and be "reliable, loyal, trustworthy," or get out of Dodge.

On the other hand, Musk's plan disregards his new boss's penchant for the theatrical. According to Martin, the president is more interested in receiving media attention for his large victories than in implementing a conservative ideological program to reduce the government workforce.

He goes on to argue that Musk and Trump's ideological appointments should also understand that the president isn't serious when he says he supports slashing government employees or programs. As soon as these endeavors infuriate Republican lawmakers, GOP governors, or, once again, a deluge of negative press, Trump will deny what Musk believed was his order. Success for Trump is the one and only definition of Trumpism.

Per The Raw Story, although Martin agrees with Trump's general philosophy on the need to reduce the size of the federal government, he contends that this does not constitute substantive action. Republican lawmakers have made this same error before when they attempted to carry out what they believed to be Trump's goals but then realized they were mistaken.

"I don't doubt that Trump - who's been obsessive about getting federal employees back to the office five days a week - is broadly supportive of rooting out waste and inefficiency. At least in theory," Martin answered.

"But tread carefully. Your political moonlighting will only last so long you recognize what actually drives Trump. And if you think its government efficiency, well, somebody I know has a casino on Mars he wants to sell you. Tick-tock."