Trump ally Elon Musk promised last year that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency would cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget. Wednesday, he said the real figure may end up being half that.
“I think we’ll try for $2 trillion, I think that’s like the best case outcome,” Musk told Stagwell CEO Mark Penn, who was once an adviser to former President Bill Clinton, in a livestream conversation on X. “But I do think that you kind of have to have some overage. If you try for two trillion you have a good shot at getting one.”
While Musk appears to have lowered his expectations, he remained adamant that $1 trillion would still free up the economy and lead to “no inflation.”
“That, I think, would be an epic outcome,” Musk said.
Discussing specific areas in the government he’d make cuts, Musk said “it’s a very target rich environment.”
“It’s like being in a room full of targets, you can close your eyes and you can’t miss,” Musk said.
Even after lowering expectations to $1 trillion, Musk’s goal is no easy feat and could require severe cuts to certain parts of the government. Still, he’s found some momentum in Congress, which already has caucuses in both chambers dedicated to working alongside him and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy.
President-elect Donald Trump, too, has started to mitigate expectations that he made on the campaign trail, telling Time Magazine that it will be “hard” to bring down grocery prices, something he campaigned on often last year, though he believes they will still go down.
"Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard," Trump told Time.
