Cover Story: Nobody in Donald Trump’s inner circle has made feathers fly like Elon Musk. His so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has broken laws with glee and callously destroyed careers. It has made false claims about waste and seized personal data protected by law. Some federal employees still have to send a weekly email listing five things they did last week. But the inbox is full and they bounce back.
And yet we are hesitant to write off Mr Musk completely. We cannot ignore his record of transforming one industry after another. In other countries government reform, however painful and controversial, has often proved benign. And more is clearly needed: over the past 15 years voters across the West have become frustrated, because their governments seem more adept at slowing things down than making them go.
The cover package sets out to decode DOGE’s top dog—by looking at his business, his dream of getting people to Mars and the mess he is creating in Washington. Is he remaking government, or breaking it as part of an ideological crusade to boost executive power and crush liberal values?