Elon Musk faces new challenges to DOGE’s effort to reshape Washington, but there is one thing he isn’t doing: lowering expectations.
Over the course of a raucous 30-minute back and forth in the Oval Office on Tuesday, both Musk and President Donald Trump seemed to be competing to make the biggest claims about DOGE — with both offering the sense that they felt their time for wholesale action could be limited.
Trump assailed recent legal challenges to his spending plans in part because they “slowed down the momentum” of Musk’s moves. The men predicted that Musk’s effort would find $1 trillion in cuts and help lead to “no inflation” next year. At another point Musk said he was trying to be “maximally transparent” even as he and Trump repeatedly dodged questions about their undertaking.
It was Musk’s first time answering questions from the media since launching his overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, with a session held alongside the signing of a new executive order around implementing his team’s efforts to cut the federal workforce.
All in all, it was a striking Oval Office moment complete with Musk’s son atop his shoulders “sticking his fingers in my ears” as the world’s richest man tried to downplay market fears that his actions at the US Treasury could upend bond markets.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with his son X Æ A-Xii join President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on February 11. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) · JIM WATSON via Getty Images
Perhaps the only thing that was abundantly clear after cameras left the room is that both Trump and Musk are determined to make as deep a mark as possible — and aren’t interested in listening to critics who could slow them down.
“We are moving fast so we will make mistakes but we will also fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk noted at one point, defending cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) when asked if the rapid cancelling of contracts could lead to new outbreaks of disease.
The apparent determination from both men comes in spite of mounting legal and political pressure, not to mention a negative public perception of Musk personally.
But his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort has already made deep cuts at the USAID, cancelled (at least temporarily) the oversight work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and is in the process of eliminating, Musk said, the Department of Education.
And even bigger pillars of the federal government await, from the US military to perhaps even the Federal Reserve system.
Musk even offered in an early Wednesday morning post that “NATO needs an overhaul.”
Musk, the world’s richest man, also brushed away repeated questions Tuesday about his conflicts of interest, suggesting in one moment that SpaceX would continue to receive billions in government contracts even as he serves as both the company CEO and oversees a review of those contracts because they provide “the best value for the taxpayer.”
The most dramatic claims from both men were put forth with little to no evidence, but Tuesday’s session also saw Trump and Musk make very concrete promises about the effects of DOGE.
The president predicted Musk would eventually find close to $1 trillion in cuts and lop the annual federal deficit in half even as there is little evidence Musk is on pace for that level of spending reduction.
Musk then added that the effects of those cuts alongside things like trimming regulations would have a stark effect.
It would mean zero inflation and a lowering of interest rates, Musk predicted. He asked listeners to imagine a scenario where next year “they’re going down the grocery aisle and the prices from one year to the next are the same and all the debt payments have dropped.”
Trump underlined the point calling Wednesday morning for lower interest rates “hand in hand with upcoming tariffs.”
It’s a scenario Musk has taken to repeating — he offered something similar last week on X, his social media platform. But the specificity of the claims could be ones that political opponents are likely to remind voters of ahead of next year’s elections if Trump and Musk fall short.
“Competence and caring will cut the deficit in half,” Musk said at one point when pressed on exactly how he would achieve his goals.
Democrats, meanwhile, have shown little ability to slow or stop his actions. But they could be scoring political points.
New polling released Tuesday from the left-leaning Data for Progress found that 37% of voters, a plurality, pick the word “chaotic” to describe the Trump administration so far. Additionally, 57% of respondents said Musk has too much influence.
Demonstrators hold signs against President Donald Trump and DOGE Elon Musk’s anticipated plan to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on February 10. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) · SAUL LOEB via Getty Images
But much of the immediate focus is on the court system, where a series of rulings have blocked Musk’s access to sensitive Treasury payments systems and limited the deferred resignation program.
It’s clear that Musk and Trump are headed for giant clashes with the judicial branch over their spending plans and are willing to look at all options.
Musk has called for the impeachment of certain judges and Trump added Tuesday “maybe we have to look at the judges.”
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
Every Friday, Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman and Ben Werschkul bring you a unique look at how U.S. policy and government affects your bottom line on Capitol Gains. Watch or listen to Capitol Gains on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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