He will make “errors”, will broadcast “false” information, but will save America from “bankruptcy”. Elon Musk, his little boy on his shoulders, defended his action from the oval office from the oval office in state spending on Tuesday, February 11, on the occasion of a surreal scene in front of journalists.
Named by Donald Trump at the head of a “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), responsible for considerably reducing public spending, Elon Musk and his team have been upsetting the federal apparatus for a few weeks. “We have a deficit of $ 2,000 billion and if we do not do something, the country will go to bankruptcy,” he argued.
Haarded with a black cap with the slogan “Make America Great Again”, a pendant decorated with a rocket around the neck, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, owner of the social network X, has embarked on an explanation, sometimes quite technical, work carried out by this commission.
He thus defended himself from criticisms of the Democratic opposition, which criticizes him for leading an illegal robbery of the federal state, or on the risks of conflicts of interest with his businesses. His teams notably had access to the very sensitive payments system of the US Finance Ministry, before a federal judge suspected this access to them on Saturday.
Since the taking of the function of Elon Musk, magistrates have disputed the legality of the number of measures taken by the DOGE, and more broadly criticize the political damage of the team of Donald Trump, which assumes from political prerogatives that ‘She doesn’t have. During the first three weeks of the new Trump administration, Elon Musk’s team inserted himself in at least 19 agencies, according to a count New York Timeswhere she began to identify the programs to be deleted.
Surreal scene
Pleasure on the attention of which his Doge is the object, Elon Musk said on Tuesday undergo the equivalent of a “proctology exam every day”. From time to time, Donald Trump’s right arm interrupted his speech to try to distract “X”, the son he had with the musician Grimes and whom the American president describes as a child at “High Qi”. Babling at times, perched on the shoulders of his father or sitting on the ground, the 4-year-old boy, of his full name “X æ A-12”, did not seem excessively impressed by the objectives robbed on him, scratching The nose or playing with the ears of his father, who ended up entrusting him to a woman present in the room so that she accompanies him outside.
Faced with criticism, Elon Musk assured that his action, which takes place in an uncertain legal framework, was of “maximum transparency”. “We are going quickly, so we will make mistakes, but we will correct these errors quickly,” he said. “The people voted for a reform of the major government. This is no doubt. […] The president spoke about it at each meeting “campaign, he continued.
Musk growing power
After ordering the freezing of billions of dollars in subsidies, the government of Donald Trump also ordered the freezing of hiring in the public service, and proposed to federal officials who wish to resign in exchange for compensation.
In a decree signed on Tuesday, President Trump also specifies that he wishes a ratio of hiring for four departures in each ministry, with the exception of all that relates to order, in order to Reduce the size of the US government.
Finally, the decree de facto confers on the commission for government efficiency, and therefore to Elon Musk, a right of veto on the new hires of civil servants, stressing that they will have to be “in consultation” with it. A measure that further strengthens Elon Musk’s authority on the American administration.