Elon Musk opens up: Admits DOGE has fallen short of expectations

Elon Musk acknowledges his budget-cutting exercise known as DOGE hasn't been as successful as he hoped. But he says it may go on for President Trump's entire four years in office — more than twice as long as originally planned.Why it matters: DOGE was set up to terminate on July 4, 2026. But Musk now says his controversial group could help oversee the slashing of federal spending through the end of 2028."I think so," Musk said of DOGE being extended. "It's up to the president."Zoom in: Musk held an hour-long Q&A session with Axios and about a dozen other news outlets in the White House's Roosevelt Room, just outside the Oval Office. It had the feel of a de-facto exit interview for Musk, who's planning to scale back his time in Washington to focus on running his companies. Tesla last month reported a big drop in profits. Musk told analysts he'll spend more time running the car company "now that the major work of establishing Department of Government Efficiency is done."Musk insisted his transition doesn't mean DOGE was done."DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism," he said. "Buddha isn't alive anymore. You wouldn't ask the question: 'Who would lead Buddhism?'"Top takeaways from the wide-ranging interview:1. He acknowledged DOGE's shortcomings.Musk said that so far, DOGE has cut $160 billion in federal spending — far short of the $2 trillion goal he set last year."In the grand scheme of things, I think we've been effective. Not as effective as I like ... but we've made progress."Many critics — including some of the thousands of federal workers who lost their jobs to DOGE cuts — have questioned whether the relatively small savings is worth the chaos.Some of the resistance to the cost-cutting, he said, has come from within the administration."There's a long way to go," he said. "It's pretty difficult ... It's like: How much pain is the Cabinet and Congress willing to take? It can be done. But it requires dealing with a lot of complaints."DOGE leaders said they had cut about 1% of the federal workforce, or 20,000 people."I think we're probably getting things right 70-80% of the time," Musk said, adding that he thought DOGE eventually could reach $1 trillion in savings. 2. He hasn't always liked the job.Musk recounted the backlash he faced for leading DOGE, and protests and vandalism targeting Tesla dealerships. "Being attacked relentlessly is not super fun," he said. "Seeing cars on fire is not fun."3. He's quietly advised the Pentagon on defense spending.Musk — owner of the SpaceX rocket company — said he'd aggressively encouraged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to invest in hypersonic missiles and low-range drones."I think he's in agreement, by the way," Musk added.4. Musk sometimes stays in the Lincoln Bedroom.He's been tight-lipped about where he spends his time while in Washington. But he revealed that he'd stayed overnight "more than once" in the White House's Lincoln Bedroom at Trump's invitation."He was like: 'Where are you staying?' I was like: 'I don't know. At a friend's house, I guess.' And then he was like: 'Why don't you stay here?' I was like: 'Sure.'"Trump, Musk recalled, once called him late at night and encouraged him to get ice cream from the White House kitchen. "Don't tell RFK," Musk joked.5. His West Wing office is small. And doesn't get much natural light.Musk, the world's richest person, said he plans to keep his tiny office to use when he's in Washington, which he said will be just one to two days a week. He said it's a tight space and gets only a "glimmer of sunlight."But Musk, who's spoken previously about the death threats he and his team have faced, said he didn't mind it from a security standpoint."It has a view of nothing," he said. "It has a window but all you see is the HVAC unit, which is fine. It makes it harder to shoot me, I guess. There's not a good line of sight."

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