After days of speculation, the world's richest man will play the exact role in Donald Trump's White House - how much power he will have, whether he is an employee of the government - he has brought to the social media platform he owns To clarify.

"My preferred title is just 'technical support'," Elon Musk wrote on Tuesday. It's an understatement of knowledge.

As head of the Department of Efficiency in the New Generation Administration (DOGE), Musk has become the dazzling dominant force in Trump's second administration.

In just two weeks, he led the effort to capture the federal payment system, dismantled the entire agency and provided the last general formula for millions of civil servants - exit or fired.

But Musk's increasingly bold attempt to reshape the federal government with the blunt force he used to control companies like Twitter, which led him to collided with Washington agencies.

Despite his possession of a place in Trump’s inner circle, observers wonder if a showdown between these two powerful figures could be imminent.

Musk's journey from billionaire entrepreneur to White House power player is not straightforward. Through his own accountant, Musk has been a reliable vote for Democrats for decades.

However, in the premise of the 2024 presidential election, Musk was not satisfied with Biden's position on the issue of labor law to trans rights.

Initially, Musk called on Trump to "hang up his hat and sail into the sunset" and supported his rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to receive a Republican nomination. But he soon became the president's biggest booster, donating $288 million to Trump and other Republican candidates and becoming a key adviser to the campaign.

By the time Trump took office, Musk was his right-hand man, sitting behind President Des' left shoulder, a clear symbol of his influence.

Trump said of Musk welcomed him on stage at the rally the day before, saying, "You know I always say we have to protect our genius because we don't have too many geniuses."

Musk has been in the US capital since then.

After the election, Trump hired Musk to run for Doge, a new role that seemed to give him the ability to cut and change the federal government, driving massive reforms at a startling pace.

The New York Times reported that although Trump had said Musk would not set up an office in the West Wing, tech leaders and their teams have moved the bed to the federal personnel office next door to the White House.

Trump administration officials confirmed that he has the highest confidential security permit that could give him access to extensive highly classified information.

The former employee said his tactics – ruthless, sometimes ruthless – are reminiscent of the way his previous company was running.

Tesla's former plan manager spoke with the BBC on anonymous to discuss sensitive matters, saying Musk "doesn't care" about the human cost of his decision.

"He only cares about his current goals. I think he sees interpersonal and conflict as auxiliary things that are not worth spending time," he said.

Sometimes, Musk tends to be impulsive. The manager recalls Musk seeing Musk’s Tesla employees in the garbage can on the spot.

"He interpreted this sign as a person, showing that the person is not as proud of his work," he said. "That's the nuance of that...but at the end of the day, someone was fired because they admitted their own The trash can overflowed."

The employee said the approach generates a firm workforce. He said that if you follow Musk’s mission, that single-minded focus is inspiring and helped cheer on for 13 hours.

"He could get more from it than anyone else I've ever met," he recalled.

But for those in the federal government, the staff added: “It’s a cultural shock.”

Musk's so-called work on behalf of Trump is not as strong as the US Agency for International Development anywhere.

Government agencies responsible for international development range from allocating billions of dollars in aid to programs around the world to effective cessation in just two weeks.

When Trump ordered the 90-day halted U.S. foreign spending, while the government reviewed funds to ensure they were in line with the president's policy objectives, it has greatly reduced U.S. International Development's work.

But in recent days, when Musk turned his attention directly to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), employees watched in increasingly shock as their agents marked "criminal organizations" on X.

Musk's increasingly demanding remarks are consistent with the same drastic changes in the United States Agency for International Development.

On February 1, the U.S. Agency for International Development's website ceased to work; soon after, its X account seemed to disappear. On the same weekend, The Washington Post and other U.S. media reported that two top security officials were placed on administrative leave after confronting Doge representatives with security facilities that accessed security facilities.

On Monday, U.S.A.D. employees were told to stay home, while hundreds of employees were locked in emails. CBS, a U.S. news partner of CBS, reported that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees will be withdrawn from their respective countries by Friday.

"This is irreparable," Musk said during a 50-minute conversation on X-space early Monday morning.

"I went into detail about him and he agreed we should close it," Musk said of the conversation with Trump. "And I actually checked with him a few times and said 'Are you sure?'"

"Elon Musk's comments were particularly cut, calling us "criminal organizations" and needing 'death'," said an AIA staff member.

"It feels very weird from the richest person on the planet," the employee said.

“I see diplomats who have been serving all their lives – a large part of overseas – and the sacrifices they make,” they said. “It’s disrespectful to be dragged into the dirt like this.”

The turmoil at the U.S.A.I.D. has attracted attention from Democrats and experts on whether Trump and Musk's actions are legitimate.

On the surface, Trump and Musk's efforts to shut down the USDA "is not legal because it is related to what Congress has done explicitly before." US government.

Congress has established the United States Agency for International Development as an independent body and the legislative department allocated funds.

However, as head of federal agencies, Trump does have broad powers to bring certain U.S. Agency for International Development under the State Department’s control, according to George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Brookings Agency and former U.S. George Ingram, deputy deputy chief executive of the International Development Bureau, said.

Such moves include the appointment of Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Influential Republicans in Congress seem ready to work with the administration to allow for some degree of change.

"I support the Trump administration's efforts to reform and reorganize the agency in a way that is better for the benefit of the U.S. national security," said James Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Although Musk has no authority to close or reorganize the US Agency for International Development, the agency may not have been demolished as quickly and thoroughly without his influence.

"I can't think of any precedent, the presidential administration essentially handed over the ropes to private citizens to remake and control the executive branch," Rogowski said.

"Musk "selflessly serves President Trump as a special government employee and complies with all applicable federal law.”

Before Trump took office, some of Musk's peers expressed optimism about the prospect of injecting a startup culture into Washington.

"I think we've just had a very exciting time," Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of the billionaire, told the BBC in December. It's a new chapter in the United States."

He said at the time: “There are many incredible people in the tech industry and in the business community.

But within two weeks of the Trump administration, some observers said that not everyone in Silicon Valley is enthusiastic.

Niki Christoff, a former Salesforce executive who now runs a communications company in Washington, D.C., told the BBC that “many people in the (tech) industry seem to have been passed by two The incident was clumsy for a week.”

"The CEOs of most publicly traded multinational tech companies need predictability. They want stability. They want a dollar," she added. "They want predictable supply chains, and Washington comes out." Many of the policies and headlines are causing anxiety and uncertainty.”

Dr. Philip Low, a neuroscientist and CEO of Neurotechnology Company Neurovigil, said Musk's script could wreak havoc on government agencies. He said the two had been close to nearly 15 years before their relationship deteriorated.

Dr. Low took Twitter as an example and said: “His model is to invest companies, destroy them, and then replace them.”

"In this case, the White House is his biggest investment to date. He is now destabilizing the U.S. government."

According to Dr. Low, Musk became a trusted deputy, which could cause him to collide with the president (his boss).

"Know Elon like I do, he doesn't want to be second or third. He's going to take over," he said.

"Whatever he decides, whatever he decides, go," said the former Tesla employee. "He will never choose the answer."

After the US Agency for International Development reorganization, Trump made it clear that ultimate authority will always be with him.

When asked if he was satisfied with Musk after the agency rose, he said yes - "in most cases."

"Sometimes we won't agree with it, we won't go where he wants to go. But I think he did a great job," he said on Monday.

"Elon can't do anything without our approval, nor will he do anything, and we will give him approval if appropriate. In case of inappropriate circumstances, we will not."

“He reported it.”