Billionaire CEO Elon Musk confessed to the Cabinet Monday that his cost-cutting scheme fell enormously short of the $1 trillion savings he had promised the American people, Reuters reported Thursday.
The embarrassing reveal proved that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) saved only $150 billion, or 85 percent less than his original goal.
Musk has led the crusade to slash the federal government since President Donald Trump took office, firing tens of thousands of workers and nearly destroying agencies like the Department of Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“Our goal is to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion,” the Special Government Employee Musk told Fox News last month.
Reporter Bret Baier then asked him if, as a “special government employee,” he would leave the office in his given time period of 130 days.
“I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame,” he said.
House Democrats have warned Musk that he must leave his government role by May 30.
The empty promise comes as Musk is on track to be the world’s first trillionaire by 2027, Informa Connect Academy estimated last year. His current estimated net worth is over $350 billion, making him the richest man on the planet.
The most recent Census found that 36.8 million Americans were in poverty in 2023. About 73 million Americans are dependent on Social Security benefits, which include retirement, disability, survivor benefits, and Medicare.
Musk, who called Social Security the “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” most recently plunged the SSA into chaos by announcing 7,000 layoffs and paused the SSA’s phone claim system, forcing thousands of Americans to drive miles to field offices and line up in person just to get their benefits.
DOGE has also shuttered measles clinics, restricted foreign aid, torn apart the U.S. Institute of Peace, and left veterans jobless—moves that were backed by his support staff of teen and early-20-something goons. A federal judge recently accused DOGE, whose staff includes a Gen-Z 19-year-old college freshman, of violating the constitution after forcefully entering and shuttering an independent agency.
Musk anticipates only $150 billion in savings in the 2026 financial year, an announcement that was met with angry X comments (“Over promise, under deliver. Just like a real president,” one said). The grand total makes up just 2 percent of the 7 trillion in debt that Musk promised to axe.
Musk has called DOGE “the most transparent organization in government ever” but has yet to come clean about the defeat. So while (as seen on Musk’s favorite hat) “Trump was right about everything,” Musk sure wasn’t.
BREAKING: @elonmusk tells Trump’s cabinet he anticipates savings of $150 billion in FY2026 from the work DOGE is doing.(This is a lot lower that the $1 trillion in savings he promised earlier)
— Nandita Bose (@nanditab1) April 10, 2025
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Trump administration for comment.
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