Trump Tells Musk: ‘Get Extra Aggressive’

• Trump says he’d prefer to see Elon Musk “get extra aggressive.”
• Musk is the face of DOGE, which has upended Washington with its price range cuts and layoffs.
• Musk responded to Trump’s remark a couple of hours later.

So far as President Donald Trump is worried, Elon Musk’s DOGE is not slicing sufficient.

On Saturday, Trump praised Musk’s efforts to streamline authorities operations and cut back the dimensions of the federal paperwork after which referred to as on his ally to do much more.

“Elon is doing an ideal job, however I wish to see him get extra aggressive,” Trump wrote in all caps on his social media platform, TruthSocial.

A couple of hours later, Musk responded on his social media platform, X.

“Per President @realDonaldTrump‘s directions, all federal workers will shortly obtain an e mail requesting to grasp what they obtained performed final week. Failure to reply will likely be taken as a resignation.”

In simply over a month in workplace, Trump and the White Home DOGE workplace have pushed by means of buyout affords and laid off swaths of staffers on the US Company for Worldwide Growth, the Shopper Monetary Safety Bureau, and elsewhere.

DOGE on Thursday stated it had already saved taxpayers $55 billion, principally by means of canceled contracts, although it has made some errors in its accounting, like reporting a contract was price billions when it was really price hundreds of thousands.

Musk says his final purpose is to chop not less than $1 trillion — or a “best-case end result” of $2 trillion — from the federal price range.

“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, a vocal supporter of Trump’s financial insurance policies, additionally stated throughout a CNN interview on Thursday that Musk ought to go even additional in his efforts.

“I do not suppose he is slicing sufficient,” O’Leary stated. “If you discover a damaged firm, no matter you suppose it’s best to lower, you add 20 p.c extra to it. Then you definately see how the group adjusts, and you may all the time rent again.”

“There’s all the time going to be a chance to criticize some lower that was too deep or the improper particular person obtained lower,” he continued. “However my level is, so long as you retain the mandate in place, preserve slicing, preserve hacking, preserve slashing. That is good for presidency.”

Musk’s move-fast and break-things effort to disrupt and reinvent the federal authorities is having a big real-world impression throughout the nation.

Along with the 1000’s who’ve left their jobs and are actually unemployed, many farmers and organizations that depend on federal funding are looking for clarification on whether or not invoices for accomplished work will likely be paid.

Authorized challenges to Trump’s slew of government actions have added to the uncertainty federal employees now face.