Elon Musk stirred up much hope among many small government advocates when he spoke on stage at Donald Trump’s October 27 presidential campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Musk declared then his expectation that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk would go on to run with Vivek Ramaswamy, would reduce yearly United States government spending by “at least two trillion dollars.” This week, Musk let those small government advocates down, reducing by more than half the spending cuts he predicts DOGE will accomplish.
On Wednesday, Musk stated in an interview with host Mark Penn at X that cuts reaching two trillion dollars is now “like the best-case outcome” and that there is just a “good shot” at achieving a one trillion dollars reduction in yearly spending.
That’s how much expectations have been lowered before Trump is even sworn in as president later this month. A year from now, will Musk have downsized the expected achievement of DOGE so much that he will have given up on projecting any spending reduction? Will he then be talking about how DOGE can limit the increasing of US government spending?
