US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday featured in their first joint interview with Fox news attacking media and Democrats for criticising their work in the second stint in the Oval Office.
During the interview, Trump and Musk responded to criticism over his role in the Trump administration’s offer to buy out to federal workers and reduce waste at government agencies, blaming bureaucracy for obstructing the president’s goals. He criticized the Biden administration and discussed plans to cut $1 trillion from the federal deficit.
Here the key takeaways from the interview
‘Trying to restore the will of people’
Tesla chief Musk responded to the pushbacks he faced as he led Trump administration’s efforts to offer buyouts to federal workers and to find ways to cut waste and fraud at agencies, blaming the bureaucracy for the criticism.
“If the bureaucracy is fighting the will of the people and preventing the president, the president from implementing what the people want, then what we live in is a bureaucracy and not a democracy,” Musk said.
Reacting to the criticism, Musk added, “All we’re really trying to do here is restore the will of the people through the president. And, and what we’re finding is that there’s an unelected bureaucracy. Speaking of unelected… there’s a vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably opposed to the president and the cabinet. And if you look at, say, DC voting, it’s 92 percent Kamala.”
Musk also accused the Biden administration of not acting in a competent or caring manner and that it lied to the American public.
“In order to save the taxpayer money, it comes down to two things, competence and caring,” Musk said.
“And the problem is that the American taxpayer has been getting a terrible deal because look at the last administration,” he added.
Trump praises Musk
President Trump complimented Musk throughout the interview, highlighting his successful tech career and intelligence. trump said that he was impressed with Musk when he saw that Musk’s team had the ability to catch a rocket booster instead of having it crash into the ocean.
“Something that had an effect on me was when I saw the rocket ship come back and get grabbed, like, you grab a beautiful little baby, you grab your baby… you can’t really have a rocket program if you’re going to dump $1 billion into the ocean every time you fly, you have to save it. And he saved it,” Trump said.
Trump also claimed that Musk has a major role in implementing the dozens of executive orders he has signed since taking office.
“You write a beautiful executive and you sign it, you assume it’s going to be done but it’s not,” Trump said.
“He’s got some very brilliant young people working for him that dress much worse than him, actually,” Trump said in jest. “They dress in just t-shirts. You wouldn’t know they have 180 IQ. But he gets it done. He’s a leader. He gets it done.” he added.
On Trump’s assassination attempt
During the interview, Musk said that he would have endorsed Trump regardless in the 2024 election but that an assassination on Trump’s life in Butler in July sped up that process.
“Well, I was going to do it anyway, but that was a precipitating event,” Musk told Hannity.
“That speeded it up a little bit,” Trump said and Musk agreed.
To this Trump replied, “I didn’t know that.”
“It sped it up, but I was going to do it anyway,” Musk said.
Musk endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt, sharing his support for the then GOP-nominee on his social platform, X.
He shared a video at the time of Trump standing and raising his fist, with a bloody ear following a shooting at an outdoor rally as he was being hauled away by Secret Service.
‘Musk going to find $1 trillion’
During the interview Trump also said that he believes Musk will be able to find $1 trillion in cuts to the federal government. This comes after the department of government efficiency found $55 billion in savings .
“As good as they are, they’re not going to find some contract that was crooked, you know crooked as hell. And I mean this going to be so much that isn’t found. But, what is that I think he’s going to find $1 trillion,” Trump said.
“Yeah, I think so,” Musk agreed.
The tech billionaire said that his goal is to “try to get $1 trillion out of the deficit” and that he aims to pay down US debt.
“If the deficit is not brought under control, America will go bankrupt. This is a very important thing for people to understand. A country is no different from an individual in that if an individual overspends, an individual can go bankrupt. And so can a country and the massive waste, fraud and abuse that has been going on, which is leading to, a $2 trillion a year deficit, that’s, that’s what the president was handed on Jan 20th, a $2 trillion deficit. It’s insane,” Musk said.
The tech executive in early January said that he will “try for $2 trillion,” adding at the time, “I think that’s like the best case outcome.”
‘President Musk’
During the interview with Sean Hannity, Trump and Musk also accused the legacy media of driving a wedge between them.
Hannity said the media, referring to The New York Times, The Washington Post and late-night shows, want the two men “to start hating each other.”
“They want a divorce,” Hannity added. “And they try all, ‘President Elon Musk,’ for example. You do know that they’re doing that to you?”
Trump said the growing speculation about the new friendship prompted Musk to call him.
“Actually, Elon called me. He said, ‘You know they’re trying to drive us apart,’” Trump said. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
He added that the attempts are “just so obvious” and blamed the media for being “so bad at it.”
“I used to think they were good at it. They’re actually bad at it, because if they were good at it, I’d never be president.”
“You know what I have learned, Elon? The people are smart. They get it. Yeah, they get it. They really see what’s happening to us,” he added
Despite Musk’s insistence that he loves Trump “as much as any straight man could,” many political pundits have speculated the friendship of convenience will eventually crash as Musk expands and benefits from his role in the administration.
