Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a key topic of discussion during US President Donald Trump‘s first cabinet meeting. At this meeting, Trump expressed his support for the billionaire and even endorsed Musk and his team at DOGE‘s proposals to reduce government spending and the federal workforce. Despite acknowledging that some members of his cabinet held differing views, Trump indicated his administration was “thrilled” with the influence given to Musk. This focus on Elon Musk at the cabinet meeting occurred amidst reports of potential disagreements regarding Musk’s recommendations for broad government spending reductions.
According to a report by The New York Times, at his first cabinet meeting after assuming office for the second time, Trump asked, “Is anybody unhappy with Elon?” As nervous laughter filled the room, he continued, “If you are, we’ll throw him out of here. Is anybody unhappy?” His cabinet members responded with applause.
“Some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you for the most part I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled,” Trump added. Earlier, he dismissed reports of discord over his influence, posting on his social media platform Truth Social: “ALL CABINET MEMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ELON.”
Musk also reshared a post with a screenshot of the same on Twitter (earlier X). The post read: “President Trump stated that all cabinet members are extremely happy with Elon Musk.”
What Musk said in the cabinet meeting
During the meeting, Trump also reportedly asked Musk, who was wearing a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap to stand up and discuss the contentious program of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
At the cabinet meeting, Musk mentioned that he has been getting “a lot of death threats” for his actions. His comments came after Trump asked him to explain how DOGE was functioning and the extent of the cost-cutting measures.
“If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt,” Musk said to cabinet members at the White House, adding that he was “taking a lot of flak, and getting a lot of death threats by the way.”
At one point, the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon described his role as “humble technical support” for Trump’s government—before opening his overcoat to reveal a black t-shirt displaying “Tech Support” in white letters, the report added
Dismissing US media reports that some cabinet members had expressed frustration over DOGE emails sent to all federal employees, which demanded they justify their jobs or face dismissal, Musk stated it was the “best cabinet ever” and thanked them for their “support.”