Bernie Sanders turns heads with support for Donald Trump's DOGE, ‘Elon Musk is right’

Bernie Sanders has expressed his support for Donald Trump’s planned new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Bernie Sanders recently expressed his support for Donald Trump’s planned new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The lefty senator even admitted that “Elon Musk is right.”

Bernie Sanders turns heads with support for Donald Trump's DOGE (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)(REUTERS)

“The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions,” the 83-year-old Vermont senator wrote on X. “Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That must change.”

Shortly after winning the election, Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would serve as the co-heads of DOGE until it concludes its work by July 4, 2026. DOGE is an outside organisation – and not a government department – that is set to coordinate with the White House and Office of Management and Budget to root out waste.

‘Welcome home, Bernie’

Notably, Sanders has long criticised the US defence spending. He previously panned it as “bloated and wasteful,” and also called for more resources toward social spending.

Musk replied to Sanders’ post with several American flag emojis. His America super PAC wrote in response, “Sensible spending is not a partisan issue. The general public supports @DOGE holding government accountable to spend taxpayer money more wisely.”

“Welcome home, Bernie,” former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) commented on Sanders’ post. Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, wrote, “Glad you realized Elon Musk is not the problem. The problem is the federal government which has wasted and lost trillions of dollars of taxpayer money.”

“Bernie Sanders just went MAGA,” one user commented, while another wrote, “Welcome to Team Reality.” “Bernie Sanders said Elon Musk was right...The tide has turned... and Democrats are waking up,” wrote one user. Another wrote, “When the biggest billionaire hater can agree with the world's wealthiest person who is part of the Trump administration on the desire to clean up the government, you know we're on the right path.”