'Elon basically runs the show': Trump insider claims as Ramaswamy eyes DOGE exit

Vivek Ramaswamy may have his sights set on becoming Ohio's next governor, despite plans for him to head up Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) along with with Elon Musk, according to a new report.

Trump appointed the two billionaires to the newly-formed department with a goal of cutting $2 trillion of waste from the federal budget. Musk has since revised that number to $1 trillion.

Ramaswamy (R), who recently ran for the Republican nomination for president, intends to formally announce his gubernatorial candidacy by the last week in January, according to Politico.

Incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine will not run again in 2026 due to term limits, and he recently appointed his Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Ramaswamy, an Ohio resident, is said to have been "interested" in filling Vance's seat before Husted was announced.

Politico cited "multiple" anonymous sources in its reporting.

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Reporter Adam Wren wrote that on Saturday "Ramaswamy showed up at an all-hands DOGE meeting at the SpaceX headquarters in Washington," adding that "Musk was not present."

The report continued, "Privately, some in Trump’s world see Ramaswamy’s nascent gubernatorial campaign as a way to clear a path for Musk to do his own work at the agency without him."

An "informal" adviser to Trump added, “Elon basically runs the show."

Wren wrote, "A person well briefed on the inner workings of DOGE said that multiple executive orders related to its purview are expected in the first week of the Trump administration, including one that deals with government contracts and one that assigns how the DOGE workforce is embedded throughout the federal government."

Representatives for Ramaswamy, Musk, and DOGE declined to comment on these latest developments.