Billionaire Elon Musk, who is heading US President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, gave an update on the effort early on Monday, saying they were working to shut down the US foreign aid agency USAID.
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, discussed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a Monday social media talk on X, which he also owns. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel.
The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“It’s beyond repair,” Musk said, adding that Trump agrees it should be shut down.
On Sunday, it was reported that the Trump administration had removed two top security officials at USAID during the weekend after they tried to stop representatives from Musk’s DOGE from gaining access to restricted parts of the building, three sources said.
The website of USAID appeared to still be offline on Saturday and some users could not access it on Sunday. USAID has a staff of more than 10,000 people.
Speaking more broadly about cutting US expenses and fraud, Musk estimated the Trump administration can cut US$1 trillion from the US deficit next year.
Musk did not offer any evidence to support his fraud claim or explain how he reached the amount of US$1 trillion.
Since taking office 11 days ago, Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
~~“It just burning money to ‘help people’, they’ve never been in the black. It’s a money sink hole. Completely useless.”
It’s a service that my tax dollars gladly pay for~~ I will not gladly pay for that same money to go into your pocket, you fucking nazi.
Edit: was clarified on the particular organization. Should wake up before reading bad news. I stand by my Nazi statement though.
The vast majority of USAID went to support regime change and help the ruling classes of those we are friendly with. A minority went to helping people. What this means, it is speculated, that the US has realized its last several attempts at regime change in countries like Venezuela and Bolivia have failed due to the emergence of alternatives, therefore it is cheaper to drop it entirely and focus on open economic warfare rather than subtle. Tarriffs, sanctions, etc.
Thank you for clarifying for me. Still don’t want that unelected nazi in control of anything in the government.
Oh, of course. I'm not saying this is necessarily a "good thing," I am more pointing out what we need to watch for. This signals more open aggression, like the United States has been known for, potentially even going to war.
It is spelled 'Lebensraum'
Or, "Manifest Destiny." Nazi Germany did find great inspiration in the US, after all!