Elon Musk lost his cool with Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain when she quizzed him on his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) missing its $2 trillion target.
📉 “It’s not gonna get to $2 trillion”
Husain reminded him:
“You’ve talked about $4 billion a day being saved… but if you add that up, it’s not gonna get to $2 trillion over the lifetime of DOGE.”
DOGE has so far claimed just $160 billion in cuts—far short of Musk’s Madison Square Garden promise to slash “at least $2 trillion” from federal spending.
🕹️ “Like talking to a computer”
When Husain repeated her question, Musk snapped:
“You’re trapped in the NPC dialogue tree of a traditional journalist… it’s like talking to a computer.”
NPC—non-playable character—is gamer slang for mindless bots that follow scripted lines.
🛡️ Defence of the indefensible
Musk back-pedalled, stressing DOGE is “an advisory group” doing its “best”. He admitted the three branches of government “are to some degree opposed to that level of cost savings.”
⚠️ Dream or nightmare?
Once front and centre in Trump’s second term, Musk has scaled back his DOGE role after backlash. Even Trump quipped Musk “wants to get back home to his cars.” Now Musk says he’s done with big political spending too.
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