Trump reins in Musk's influence on federal layoffs
Donald Trump informed his cabinet members that they are to make decisions about who will lose their job after gaining the appropriate knowledge. This is the first move by the President of the United States that may limit the ambitions of his close associate, Elon Musk. Americans did not react positively to the mass layoffs of federal employees.
President Donald Trump personally informed his cabinet members that they are responsible for their departments, not Elon Musk, reports Politico. The statement was made at a meeting convened by the US President on Thursday. The billionaire, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was present.
Trump told his top administration officials that although Musk is authorized to issue recommendations to departments, he should not make unilateral decisions regarding personnel and policy.
Trump on layoffs: Scalpel rather than hatchet
Politico indicates that this is the first move by Trump that can be interpreted as an attempt to limit Musk's power. According to the new presidential guidelines, DOGE and its employees should play an advisory role — but it is the administration members managing individual departments who should make the final decisions regarding staff, policy, and the pace of implementing changes.
He confirmed his statements from Thursday in a post on Truth Social.
"As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the 'scalpel' rather than the 'hatchet.' The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level," the US President wrote.
Musk, the owner of SpaceX and Tesla and the richest person in the world, supported Donald Trump in the presidential campaign with an enormous sum, and after his victory in the election, he was appointed to head the newly created department of efficiency — DOGE. His task is to radically reduce administrative costs.
The billionaire and his team almost immediately started massive reductions and a campaign to force federal employees to resign. Many of these decisions caused upheavals — some had to be reversed — like the dismissal of those responsible for the US nuclear arsenal or halted — like getting rid of air traffic controllers and other employees of the Federal Aviation Administration. There have been reports that individuals to be laid off are being selected using artificial intelligence.
