Running a White House division named for an internet meme was beyond what Elon Musk could “possibly imagine”

Donald Trump and Elon Musk, right, at UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden in November.

Elon Musk said running an official, extremely powerful White House division named for an internet meme was "unbelievable" and something he could "not possibly imagine" ahead of the election, the world’s richest person quipped on an episode of the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast released Friday.

"This is the most absurd outcome," Musk responded when Rogan asked if running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for President Donald Trump was something Musk "ever set out to do."

"And then it's covered by every news outlet and people are discussing it at the dinner table."

Beyond the scope of Musk’s role overseeing federal government spending and wide-ranging layoffs, Musk remarked the official name of DOGE, a nod to the dogecoin cryptocurrency token he’s touted for years, with an official mascot in the Shiba Inu dog breed is "totally" further "evidence of the simulation," as Rogan remarked.

Musk's nod to the preposterousness of DOGE comes as polling suggests Americans have mixed opinions on his leading role in the government, with just 23% of respondents to a CBS News/YouGov poll agreeing with Musk having "a lot" of influence and 54% of respondents to a Pew Research Center survey sharing they hold an unfavorable view of Musk.

"People have very strong feelings about Elon Musk," the Pew researchers wrote in March.

Musk then shredded the idea of meme coins—crypto tokens with no intrinsic value popular with some traders for their high volatility which can cause quick riches or losses.

"Don't bet the farm on a meme coin," because "you're not gonna win," advised Musk, who likened trading of the crypto tokens to "musical chairs."

"If you expect to win at meme coins...you're being foolish," said Musk.

Meme coins have surged in popularity in recent months. Perhaps the most famous meme coin comes from Musk's boss Trump, who released an official $TRUMP token last month, losing more than 80% of its value from its peak shortly after its Jan. 17 release, though Trump's company received $290 million in fees from the meme coin launch. Dogecoin is the most valuable meme coin in the world with a market value of nearly $30 billion, more than that of Tyson Foods or Carnival cruise line.

DOGE's wide-sweeping layoffs of thousands of federal government employees has attracted pushback from both sides of the aisle, including from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who called the layoffs a "big problem." Some 85% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Americans have an unfavorable view of Musk, and Congressional Democrats have frequently slammed the billionaire's efforts, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who last week accused Musk of hiding behind a "gusher of silly tweets."

Musk is worth $359 billion, according to Forbes's latest estimates, which is more than $90 billion higher than he was worth prior to the election. Most of his fortune comes from his leading stakes in a trio of companies he leads as chief executive officer in the publicly traded electric vehicle maker Tesla and his private aerospace firm SpaceX and generative artificial intelligence startup xAI.