Musk's Department of Government Efficiency Faces Controversy After Staff Resignation

Marko Elez, a 25-year-old member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), has resigned following reports linking him to a now-deleted social media account promoting racism. Elon Musk acknowledged the situation on social media, where a poll indicated significant support for Elez's potential return despite the backlash. The resignation coincides with ongoing scrutiny of Doge's initiatives, amidst dramatic cuts to the federal government.

A young member of Elon Musk's newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) unit has resigned after being linked to a racist social media account. Media reports tied Marko Elez, 25, who had previously worked for Musk's SpaceX company, to a now-deleted social media account that promoted racism and eugenics. The White House confirmed on Friday that Elez resigned, though it did not specify why. Musk himself acknowledged the departure, posting a poll on X, the social media platform he owns, asking followers whether he should bring back the Doge staffer who made "inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym". "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool," read one post from the pseudonymous account in July. The account connected to Mr Elez - first reported by the Wall Street Journal - posted a variety of incendiary comments which were verified as authentic by the BBC. "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity," a post on the account said in September. "Normalize Indian hate," another post that month said. All of the posts have since been deleted. As of Friday morning, more than 385,000 people appear to have participated in Musk's poll about re-hiring Mr Elez, though it did not mention him by name. So far, 78% have voted in favour of his return. Responding to one user who said Musk should have a talk with Mr Elez "about the racist stuff. Not cool", the billionaire replied: "True." Vice-president JD Vance said on Tuesday that while he disagrees "with some of Elez's posts... I don't think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life". "So I say bring him back," he added. Mr Elez's resignation comes amid growing scrutiny of Doge, the cost-cutting advisory group established by Trump that has emerged as a dominant force in the early days of his second term. Musk and his team have led a dizzying effort to slash the size of the federal government. On Thursday, a US judge threw up a roadblock to one of those initiatives, halting a plan to offer incentives to millions of federal workers to voluntarily resign this month. Musk has also championed an effort to dismantle USAID, the government agency responsible for international development. All but a handful of essential staff - from a workforce of about 10,000 people - are set to be put on administrative leave at midnight on Friday, including thousands based overseas.