President-elect Donald Trump is tapping Elon Musk to be his “secretary of cost-cutting,” putting him and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk’s mission? Slice a whopping $2 trillion out of the federal budget—about a third of what the government blew through last year. The plan involves slashing thousands of federal jobs and tearing down layers of bureaucracy in favor of a leaner, smaller government with some hard-hitting leaders at the top.

Trump said, “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”

On Sunday night, Musk took to X to hype up his new gig, saying it’s all about smashing through “Kafkaesque” rules designed to slow down change. He hopes to get a team of ultra-dedicated, small-government crusaders on board to shake things up. Musk’s comment came as a response to a post by Vivek Ramaswamy, who was celebrating their win and calling for a massive reduction in government size and power.

Ramaswamy posted:  “We won & now have a once-in-a-century opportunity to radically downsize the size, scope, and mission of the federal government. And the top obstacle to our success won’t even be the Democrats.”  Ironically, Ramaswamy believes that the real hurdles might come from within the government system itself, including entrenched interests, career bureaucrats, and potentially even elements within his own party.

Trump has less than three months to get this overhaul going, and federal workers across D.C., Northern Virginia, and Baltimore are already on edge, fearing they might soon be out of a job. According to recent numbers from the Washington Post, about 15% of the 2.19 million full-time federal civilian employees—around 328,500 people—live in Virginia, Maryland, and even a bit of the West Virginia area.

As of this year, that figure’s closer to 373,000, so any major job cuts would have a serious impact on the local economy and could completely shake up the D.C. area. While some see it as an economic hit, others see it as the long-awaited “drain the swamp” Trump promised.