The revelation comes after Ramaswamy, who was to co-head the new DOGE in Donald Trump’s government, announced hours after Trump’s inauguration as the 47th US President to not co-head the new department. He is reportedly planning to run for the Ohio Governor next week.
Differences Over H-1B Visas?
Musk made it known that he wanted Ramaswamy out of DOGE in recent days due to “differences”, Politico reported citing three people close to the billionaire.
Musk was expected to have a huge influence in the new Trump administration and the latest report is one such instance. Ramaswamy had reportedly irked some Republicans in Trump’s circle over H-1B visas.
Ramaswamy’s “rant” on X on H-1B visas led to his departure, according to the report. Notably, both Musk and Ramaswamy had backed the H-1B visa while also pointing out that the system was broken and needed reform.
In December last year, the Indian-origin leader had said that the tech companies in the US hire foreign workers as the country has “venerated mediocrity over excellence”.
“Ramaswamy just burned through the bridges and he finally burned Elon. Everyone wants him out of Mar-a-Lago, out of DC,” a Republican strategist close to Trump advisors said.
“They wanted him out before the tweet — but kicked him to the curb when that came out,” one of the three people familiar with his exit, told Politico.
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Ramaswamy’s Plans To Run For Ohio Governor
As Ramaswamy is planning to announce a run for Ohio Governor next week, a person close to DOGE said that Musk did not think it was feasible for him to campaign while also working on DOGE.
Trump transition spokesperson Anna Kelly hailed Ramaswamy, stating that he played a “crucial role” in the creation of DOGE and his plans to run for governor “requires him to remain outside of DOGE based on the structure that we announced today”.
According to Politico, Ramaswamy told close associates as recently as Saturday evening that he was actively working on DOGE, even saying he was busy drafting executive orders. However, someone familiar with the situation revealed that he had done little to no work on DOGE since early December.
He and his team are working to put his departure positively, especially as it coincides with the start of Trump’s presidency.
Ramaswamy has opted not to comment on the rumoured tensions between him and Musk.
However, he posted a picture with Elon Musk and captioned it “a new dawn”.
A close associate of Ramaswamy said that both of them are now on good terms and that it was not possible for him to fun for governor and co-head DOGE “both at once.
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