Trump praises Musk; Starlink saves lives, budget targets questioned
During a press conference in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump officially thanked Elon Musk for his cooperation, as Musk concluded his work for the White House on Friday. He referred to the billionaire as one of the greatest business leaders in the world.
The President stated that many employees of the Government Efficiency Department (DOGE), headed by Musk, will continue to work for his administration. The head of Tesla and SpaceX himself, who "did a fantastic job," will continue "to drop by Washington."
Musk assured that he will remain "an advisor and friend" to Trump. As the "New York Times" comments, both the president and the former head of DOGE are trying to dispel any impressions of misunderstandings between them.
This is not the end
The billionaire stated that his departure from DOGE does not signify the end of the team's work, and he is confident that in time, this department will help save approximately £800 billion from the US budget.
When a journalist remarked that opinions on Musk's work for the US administration are mixed, with only conservatives speaking favourably about him, Trump responded by saying that "Elon saved many lives" by providing Ukraine with the Starlink satellite internet network. He added that Musk had many successes, his "life was great", and the return of the SpaceX rocket to the docking station was so spectacular that it resembled a film effect.
Important matters in the Oval Office
The "NYT" highlights that although the press conference in the Oval Office was officially supposed to be dedicated to Musk's farewell, it quickly turned into a session for journalists' questions and the president's declarations on other topics, ranging from the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip to budget bill proposals, the White House's conflict with Harvard, and trade tensions in relations with China.
Trump repeatedly returned to the topic of immigration control and claimed that countries around the world are emptying psychiatric hospitals, aiming to send their patients to the USA, with most immigrants being depicted as "cold, hardened criminals" whom their governments wish to offload to save money.
Musk commented on this by stating that "the fundamental flaw of the West is empathy for criminals". He also expressed that courts trying to impede the president are acting "unconstitutionally".
Supposed to be £1.6 trillion, ended at £13 billion
Earlier on Friday, Axios reminded that during the election campaign, Musk promised that DOGE would help to cut expenditures by £1.6 trillion (€1.9 trillion), nearly a third of the entire annual budget. Now the billionaire claims to have saved £140 billion (€166 billion), but according to independent analyses, this figure is nearer £13 billion (€15 billion).
On Tuesday, Musk thanked Trump for the "opportunity to reduce unnecessary government spending."
"The key word here is +opportunity+. He had a chance to do something significant! But he did nothing, except (...) cutting thousands of jobs without apparent reason" - assessed Bloomberg.
