Vivek Ramaswamy's Departure From DOGE Was Reportedly Orchestrated by, Who Else? Elon Musk

It turns out that Elon Musk might not be super into the idea of having a partner. The day that Donald Trump was inaugurated, we also learned the news that Vivek Ramaswamy, the former presidential candidate who had been tapped to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, alongside Musk, had been fired from that role.

Following the news that Ramaswamy had left DOGE, many wanted to know more about why he had left. Here's what we know about how his departure shook out:

According to reporting in Politico, Musk had made it known in the days leading up to the inauguration that he wanted Ramaswamy out as the co-leader of the agency. According to the reporting, Ramaswamy had irked not just Musk but also a variety of other people in Trump's inner circle.

He “just burned through the bridges and he finally burned Elon,” a Republican strategist explained. “Everyone wants him out of Mar-a-Lago, out of D.C.”

Ramaswamy is planning to announce a run for Ohio governor in the coming days, but the straw that broke the camel's back was apparently a tweet he sent out in December around H1-B visas.

In the tweet, Ramaswamy went after American culture, saying that tech companies hired and fired workers through visas because they “venerated mediocrity over excellence.”

Trump transition spokesperson Anna Kelly said that the reason Ramaswamy was leaving DOGE behind was his run for governor.

She said that Ramaswamy had “played a critical role in helping us create DOGE” but that his decision to run for governor “requires him to remain outside of DOGE based on the structure that we announced today.”

Ramaswamy had apparently been iced out of all major decisions at DOGE since early December.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, has maintained that his relationship with Musk remains good, and the only reason he left the agency was so that he could run for governor.

What seems clear, though, at least based on the Politico reporting, was that Musk was the person behind the decision, which will now give him free rein to run DOGE however he sees fit with little to no input from Ramaswamy.

The move is also a reminder of just how much Musk has infiltrated Trump's inner circle even in the days since the election. Musk hit the campaign trail hard in the days after the election, and it's only become clearer in the aftermath of the election just how much his influence mattered in determining the outcome.

It remains unclear how much Musk will try to shape Trump's overall policy approach.

What the firing of Ramaswamy makes clear, though, is that Musk has won yet another battle for Trump's attention, which is what ultimately matters most in the months ahead.

Musk is already the richest man in the world, and now, it looks like he might be the person best able to focus the attention of the president, and the one who might have his ear when important decisions need to be made.