James Fishback, the principal architect of the “DOGE checks” initiative, announced on Friday his withdrawal from the movement following Elon Musk’s criticism of Donald Trump and demanded that Tesla CEO apologise to the President.“I believed in Elon Musk’s vision to shrink government and make it work better for Americans. I’m proud of the DOGE Dividend proposal I developed and will keep working with the administration to return savings to taxpayers.” Fishback said. “The truth is that Elon set expectations that he relayed to the President, me, and the country that he did not come close to fulfilling. That’s disappointing, but okay. What’s not okay is his baseless personal attacks against President Trump,” he added. Praising President Trump, Fishback said that he is a once-in-a-century leader. He also said that the president won the popular vote, the Electoral College, and all seven swing states by championing the priorities in his Big Beautiful Bill which Musk said that he wants to “kill.”President Trump has shown grace and patience at a time when Elon’s behavior is disappointing and frankly downright disturbing, Fishback said and demanded aplology from Musk. He said, “It’s time for Elon to apologize to the President and his family, cool off, and get back to work on inventing the future at Tesla and SpaceX.”
Who is James Fishback?
The founder of the investment firm, aged 30, was raised by a bus driver and a Colombian immigrant. He left Georgetown University to start a hedge fund when he was 21, as reported by MarketWatch.According to the LinkedIn profile, in his professional journey includes working at Greenlight Capital in 2021, followed by establishing Azoria in 2023, where he currently holds the CEO position. Additionally, he leads Incubate Debate, a non-profit organisation helping secondary school students develop debating skills.Currently, he is involved in legal proceedings with Greenlight Capital. The company claims he misrepresented his position, whilst he has filed a countersuit for defamation.In December, he visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago to introduce Azoria Meritocracy ETF, which aims to invest in S&P 500 companies avoiding diversity, equity and inclusion practices. He has connections with former DOGE representative Vivek Ramaswamy and appeared on his podcast in November, Newsweek reported.Regarding the origin of the “DOGE Dividend” proposal, he revealed to Newsweek that the concept occurred to him during sleep. He stated, “It came to me in a dream. I woke up and called our Head of Research at Azoria, and we drafted the proposal during a two-hour lunch at Capital Grille.”His “DOGE Dividends” concept aligns with his broader perspective of governmental rewards for citizens who identify wasteful expenditure. He stated, “… DOGE can save even more and as a result deliver an even bigger DOGE Dividend check to hard-working Americans.”The proposal indicates that approximately 79 million American households could receive direct payments for reporting inefficiencies, potentially leading to increased savings.Sceptics suggest that while the plan is ambitious, it could potentially increase inflation and might be perceived as politically motivated rather than genuine financial reform.Fishback, who established a self-described “free thinking” investment company, rose to prominence amongst conservatives when he suggested distributing $5,000 stimulus payments to American taxpayers, which would be funded through DOGE’s anticipated government savings.Despite never officially becoming part of DOGE, Fishback’s “DOGE checks” concept received endorsement from Musk on X and caught Trump’s attention, who showed interest in a “DOGE dividend.”In December, Fishback introduced his anti-woke investment fund at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
