All bark, no bite? Musk's DOGE unlikely to have any real power

Or it's a way to give them their first time government experience without much risk. Next time it will be more significant (unless they fail even at this).

Sounds just like onboarding junior devs.

I don't think he's trying to sideline anyone.

Regardless of how effective Musk & Ramaswamy are as an advisory committee, it will look like Trump's doing something to keep a campaign promise. The average person won't understand the committee is toothless -- Trump will simply say his opponents are stonewalling them and attacking his leadership. His supporters will love the narrative: "those corrupt bureaucrats in DC refuse to listen to these 2 brilliant CEO's who could fix everything."

During Trump's first term he repeatedly tried to operate outside the existing structures and systems of governance. I think he wants Musk & Ramaswamy to do the same. He wants them to be advisors and he wants people in other parts of the government to conform to their advice even if they don't have any formal authority. It removes them from being held accountable and bypasses existing checks and balances.

You can find examples of this from Trump's first term: * Trump rebukes the DOJ in a tweet for not investigating Clinton, the DOJ responds by investigating Clinton despite the Uranium One conspiracy already being debunked. * Trump tweets his disdain for Andrew McCabe, the FBI director who openly opposed him. In response McCabe is wrongfully fired and a criminal investigation is opened on flimsy pretenses, ultimating going nowhere.

The difference is that Trump makes moves like these to persecute his political enemies. Musk and Ramaswamy will likely make moves like these to dodge lawsuits and disarm regulations that are holding back their private endeavors. It's easy to imagine Musk and Trump openly tweeting about how inefficient various EPA regulations are. The question is which of Trump's ally's within the gov't will act on those unofficial orders.

In my opinion they will be used as great excuses for messing with regulations that are annoying for Musk, Trump and co businesses...

Egoistic business decisions will be presented like libertarian government efficiency proposals, and with a good deal of propagande in tweeter and co everyone will believe it.