Russell Vought, the brains behind DOGE, more important than Musk, in his planned crusade since Project 2025

‘Musk’s DOGE’ has been unveiled as ‘Vought’s DOGE.’ Russell Vought is the brains behind the cut engine, best known for co-authoring the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The tech billionaire has been the face value. It was Vought who quietly did much of the actual work. 

As reported by Bloomberg, Russel Vought has been the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Cat Farman, who also works for the agency, has been observing what Vought has been doing. 

Those who have studied Vought say he is loyal and knows how the government works, which makes him maybe the most powerful person in Washington who isn’t Donald Trump. Almost certainly, any Republican politician or Trump administration worker who talks about the “deep state” or the “regime” has read his work.

“Nobody in DC has a better grip on the numbers and the management process of the federal government than Russ Vought,” says Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist. “He’s one of the critical architects of the Trump restructuring of the US government.” 

Musk has been in regular contact with Vought from the start of the presidential transition and is the public-facing arm of Vought’s agenda. 

Russel Vought’s tough play behind the scenes

On February 8, Vought’s first full day as interim head of the CFPB, he told employees to stop what they were doing in an email. He also told the Federal Reserve that the CFPB would not take any more money for the year. 

In the days that followed, he shut down the office, canceled most of the agency’s contracts, fired more than 200 people, and started getting ready to fire even more.

Cat Farman said, “He wasn’t trying to make it more efficient […] They were trying to illegally fire everybody.” However,  the Trump administration has disputed this.

In addition, a few months ago, Trump told the Economic Club of New York that he was making a government efficiency commission and putting Musk in charge. That same day, a longtime Vought aide offered an idea about how things should be done.

Mark Paoletta wrote, “Impound, baby, impound!” in an X post that tagged Musk. Paoletta was Vought’s OMB general counsel and has since returned to that position. He was talking about the idea of “impoundment,” which is when the president refuses to spend money that Congress has given to the government.

He said Musk might be able to “find savings” with this strategy. Many papers from Vought’s think tank had already suggested this method, and Paoletta sent Musk one of them in his message. In the following weeks, Musk kept bringing up the idea of using DOGE to freeze funds directly. 

Also, the Center for Renewing America, which Vought runs, has written many policy papers supporting Trump’s pet projects, such as annexing Greenland and imposing high tariffs. According to him, just as sometimes a nation must go to war with guns and bombs, so sometimes trade wars are necessary. 

Vought to take over officially when Musk steps down

DOGE has hurt Musk’s business badly, and he might quit. If he does, Vought will become even more important. A person in the Trump administration who asked to remain anonymous to talk about internal discussions says that Vought is generally thought to be getting ready to pick up where Musk leaves off. 

Musk is all for “smash and grab,” but Vought knows how things work at DOGE and might have the patience to see the cuts through. This person says that Vought is “waiting in the wings.”

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