In some cases, Reuters' Helen Coster and Alexandra Ulmer note, "Musk backed people who either lost out on the roles or withdrew from consideration, suggesting some early limits to the Republican mega donor's influence even as he has emerged as one of Trump's most powerful allies."

Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter has had two dominant ideological hallmarks. One is a slash-and-burn view of fixing a business, which Musk is now posturing that he’ll import to the federal government.

Elon Musk has asked social media users if funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should be "deleted" in a poll on X, formerly Twitter. "The IRS just said it wants $20B more money," Musk, who has been appointed to co-lead the informal Department of Government Efficiency under President-elect Donald Trump, wrote on X.