Elon Musk Admits He Got Carried Away With Politics

Former Director of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk admitted in an interview with The Economist that he became too deeply involved in politics and "got carried away" during his tenure. Musk, who provided up to $250 million in financial backing for Donald Trump's 2024 election, suggested he should have focused more on his business ventures.

Established by executive order in January 2025, DOGE sought to eliminate federal waste and fraud. Before formally shutting down on July 4, 2026, the agency oversaw the removal of over 272,000 federal employees and cut approximately $214 billion from the federal budget. Musk defended these actions, specifically denying that funding cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) caused deaths. He characterized USAID as a "political organization" and argued that private philanthropic entities could have filled any aid gaps.

These claims contradict data from public health researchers and the Impact Counter tracker, which document more than 780,000 deaths, including 518,000 children, within the first year of the cuts. During the interview, Musk also offered predictions that AI and humanoid robots will render money meaningless by 2036 and that the United Kingdom will face civil war within 20 years due to immigration and race issues.