Elon Musk admits he “got carried away” working inside Donald Trump’s administration as the unelected director of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, where he implemented mass firings and radically cut federal spending.

“I think I got a little too involved in politics. I got carried away, frankly,” he told The Economist in a wide-ranging interview published Thursday, but offered few specifics on what he regretted.

But the world’s wealthiest man — who pumped millions of dollars into Trump’s campaign before he was deputized to oversee the president’s brutal cost-cutting operation — defended the work of DOGE and his dismantling of the nation’s global aid agency that he once promised to put through a “wood chipper.”

“We need to sort of take a close look at spending and make sure that money is being spent in sensible ways and that it is not wasted or spent on fraudulent activities. And I got a lot of flack for this, obviously,” he said.

I wonder if he can just see the writing on the wall, or if he was actually using a cannon to kill a fly? Maybe its that SpaceX isn't doing so hot? Maybe its the investigation related to tRump going on about how Musk "really knows those voting machines" and how they'll "never have to vote again".

Either way, people are dead because of him. We won't forget, and there will be an accounting for this.

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[–] 21 points 4 days ago* (2 children)

This article tries to make him sound better than he was too. "where he implemented mass firings and radically cut federal spending."

He didn't radically cut federal spending. Federal spending isn't down, he just fired people and the money stayed the same really.

Let's say the CDC that is struggling to track this parasite presumed in lettuce(cyclosporiasis) which was tracked since 1997. Why, well Kennedy told them not to track it anymore in July 2025. July 2026, largest number of cases ever recorded.

The CDC fired ~3200 people, roughly 25% of their staff. Yet the budget request for the CDC in 2026 isn't really any different than 2025, 2024 etc. Maybe a fair comparison would be comparing the 2018, 2019 time period during Trump's first admin to now, the CDC budget is essentially the same when you adjust it for inflation over that time.

Full federal budget estimates look like

2024 budget: 6.8 trillion

2025 budget: 7 trillion

2026 we are at 5.52 trillion including June with 6 months left

So it surely doesn't look like he "radically cut federal spending"... He just radically cut federal employment, and they are still spending the money.

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  • [–] [S] 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

    So it surely doesn’t look like he “radically cut federal spending”… He just radically cut federal employment

    He radically cut spending alright. He radically cut spending on ensuring the wellbeing of the not-rich. The spending is now just all going to the Epstein class.

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