Elon Musk bemoaned his Department of Government Efficiency becoming a “whipping boy” for the Trump administration as he revealed the agency’s next target in a new interview.
Approximately 1,500 miles away from the White House on the factory floor of SpaceX’s facility in Starbase, Texas, Musk issued a rare rebuke against President Donald Trump, arguing his federal government slashing force had become a scapegoat if “something bad would happen.”
“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,” Musk told The Washington Post on Tuesday. “So, like, something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.”
Earlier Tuesday, Musk sharply criticized Trump’s “one Big, Beautiful Bill” and argued it “undermines” the work done by DOGE. Trump’s showpiece tax bill is predicted to increase the federal deficit by more than $3.3 trillion over the next decade, contradicting Musk’s efforts to reduce the U.S. national debt through cost-cutting measures drastically.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he told CBS News.
After bankrolling Trump’s presidential campaign and being one of his closest allies during his first 100 days in office, the president’s “First Buddy” has significantly reduced his presence in frontline politics. Last month, Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles revealed the world’s richest man was no longer working from the White House.
Despite a shift in attention, Musk stated that his work with DOGE is not yet complete. He said he plans to focus on a less-controversial task than dismantling federal agencies: improving the federal bureaucracy’s computer systems.
“There’s, like, so many situations where the computers are so broken,” he said. “And this is just literally a thing that was brought to my attention.”
Musk’s perceived sway on the president and cuts enacted by DOGE, leading to more than 280,000 layoffs, did not come without costs. Tesla was caught in the political crosswinds, with the electric vehicle company’s share prices plunging to historic lows and a spate of arson attacks erupting across the globe.
“People were burning Teslas,” Musk said. “Why would you do that? That’s really uncool.”
Musk returned to Texas ahead of a test flight Tuesday of Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket, which spun out of control once it reached space and broke apart as it returned to Earth.
The tech billionaire also revealed a renewed focus away from D.C.: returning astronauts to the moon and sending people to Mars.
“I’m physically here. This is the focus, and especially around launch,” he said, sporting an “Occupy Mars” t-shirt. “Everything comes together at the moment of launch.”
Musk described his “maniacal sense of urgency” to propel the first humans onto the Red Planet.
“I think the primary goal should be Mars,” he said. “We could perhaps go back to the moon along the way. But the primary goal should be Mars, because that’s really the next great leap beyond Apollo.”
