Elon Musk has embarrassed himself with yet another lame late-night stunt. He showed off his latest new toy on X—a fake police badge proclaiming himself “The Dogefather.”
“Knock knock… it’s @DOGE” the world’s richest man tweeted while brandishing the replica badge, which is estimated to have cost around $100 and is also inscribed with the number “69420.”
For those who can’t keep up with Musk’s famous quick wit and comedic chops, 69 is a reference to the sexual position (funny!) and 420 is—of course—the “weed number” (even funnier!)
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In addition to his hilarious inscriptions, the badge also features the Department of Justice symbol and the agency’s motto “Qui pro domina justitia sequitur” (“Who prosecutes on behalf of justice?”)—a curious addition considering Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has no official authority to prosecute anyone.
The name “Dogefather” appears to date back to Musk’s infamous appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live in 2021, and much like his other self-appointed alias “Kekius Maximus” is yet another reference to a decade-old 4chan meme which went out of style years ago. Nevertheless, the name remains consistent with Musk’s desire to “become meme,” as he declared during a similarly unhinged and embarrassing interview at CPAC back in February.
But “jokes” aside, the badge is curious acquisition by Musk at a time when the billionaire, who publicly claims to be neither the administrator of DOGE or an official employee of the agency, announced he would be stepping back from government duties in order to refocus his efforts on running Tesla after his White House antics saw the car company’s profits drop by 71 percent in the first three months of 2025.
In a Tesla earnings call, Musk told investors he would “continue to spend a day or two” working at DOGE each week “probably for the remainder of the president’s term,” but was otherwise dedicated to his electric vehicle company, The Verge reports.
“Starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla, now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done,” Musk said, before adding he would continue to support DOGE “for as long as the President would like me to do so, and as long as it is useful.”
Trump has already started referring to the “Dogefather” in the past tense, and there are signs that Musk’s influence in the White House appears to be waning. Polling data reveals that Musk is by far the least popular member of Trump’s cabinet, and staffers have struggled to hide their disdain for the billionaire’s “irritating” and “unfunny” behavior.
“I have been in the same room with Elon, and he always tries to be funny. And he’s not funny. Like, at all,” a White House insider told Rolling Stone earlier this month.
“He’s just the most irritating person I’ve ever had to deal with, and that is saying something,” they added, before revealing staffers had come up with their own nickname for Musk: “Crazy Uncle Elon.”
Nevertheless, no matter how lame the joke is and how noxiously unpopular Musk has become, his flagrant flaunting of judicial authority is still very much in-step with the rest of the Trump administration. During a period in which government agents are sidestepping the law at every turn in order to imprison dissenters and deport “undesirables,” Elon’s sad little fake police badge might in some ways be the most honest thing about this administration.
