Musk Reveals DOGE Email Was a ‘Pulse Check,’ Warns of US Bankruptcy

Elon Musk was invited by President Donald Trump to address the Cabinet at its first meeting in full on Wednesday to talk about the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) progress.

Musk spoke in a black jacket and T-shirt at a meeting attended by the media. He clarified what he and DOGE are doing, as well as an email that was sent recently to employees of the government.

Musk said, “I call myself a humble tech hero.” Musk stated that the DOGE team’s work is “almost a literal” description of their efforts to fix government computer systems. The systems, he said, are “extremely outdated” and have many errors.

Musk replied, “So in reality we’re tech support. It’s funny but true.”

Also, he defended the productivity email sent to federal workers last week. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Tuesday at a briefing for the media that over 1 million federal employees participated in Musk’s and the Office of Personnel Management’s directives to submit a bulleted list of work achievements from the prior week.

I think the email may have been misinterpreted, as it was a review of your pulse. Have you got a pulse? Musk replied.

Musk claimed that the challenge was not “a difficult one” and “anyone can accomplish it.”

“But what we are trying to get to the bottom of is we think there are countless people on the government payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond,” Musk said. “And some people who are not real people … like they’re fictional individuals that are collecting a paycheck … well somebody is collecting paychecks on a fictional individual, so we’re just literally trying to figure out are these people real, are they alive, and can they write email, which I think is a reasonable expectation.” 

Musk said the DOGE team’s “overall objective is to address the huge deficit”.

Musk stated that the country cannot survive with a deficit of $2 trillion, noting that the debt interest exceeds the Defense Department’s spending.

“We spend $1 trillion on Interest. The country could go de facto broke if this trend continues. It’s not optional.”

“It is the main reason why I am here. Musk continued, And taking a ton of criticism, and receiving a bunch of death threats. If we do not act now, America is going to go bankrupt. It’s for this reason that it must be done.”

Musk thanked the Cabinet for its support and expressed his confidence that DOGE would be able to save $1 trillion, which is roughly 15% of the $7 trillion budget.

Musk stated that “we need to act quickly. If we want to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion in the 2026 financial year, then we must save $4 billion every day between now and September 30th. We can and we will make it happen.”