14m ago
20.32 BST
Key
takeaways from Trump-Musk press conference
Despite
brief tangents about black eyes, gold ceilings and autopens, that meeting
basically consisted of Trump showering Musk with praise as his turbulent tenure
at Doge comes to an end, at least officially. “Elon’s service to America is
without comparison in modern history,” said Trump from behind the Resolute
Desk, as the world’s richest person stood to his right, in a black Doge hat and
“Dogefather” t-shirt. “Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most
sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations,” Trump
said, adding that Musk had delivered a “colossal change” in how Washington does
things.
But
despite the fanfare, both men said that Musk isn’t really going anywhere. He
will continue to be “a friend and adviser” to the president and will still be
“back and forth” to the White House, Musk said, with “most” Doge workers
“staying on” to continue its work to cut “wasteful” federal spending. As if
anyone needed reminding, in the last 130 days Doge under Musk has caused chaos
as it haphazardly eliminated thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in
contracts – all without actually saving the country very much at all.
Acknowledging that Doge had failed to deliver the $2tn savings promised, Musk
insisted he was confident it would get to that number “in time”.
The two
glossed over questions pertaining to Musk’s criticisms of Trump’s “big,
beautiful” tax bill, which will add massively to the national deficit and
undermine Doge’s mission to cut spending (though Trump did say he wants to see
bigger tax cuts in the bill), and to Musk’s alleged intense drug use over the
course of his chaotic tenure in the White House. They focused instead on
previously debunked claims about Doge’s “achievements”, with the president
saying his government plans to make many of Doge’s cuts permanent, while the
billionaire declared: “This isn’t the end of Doge, it’s more the beginning …
It’s a way of life.”
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