Trump’s Cabinet unleashes war on waste as Musk asks: Are government workers even real?

President Donald Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday, discussing a wide range of pressing topics with the media.

Questions addressed by Trump and his administration pertained to the Russia-Ukraine war, immigration, cost of living, the fentanyl crisis, Hamas, and election integrity.

'We're trying to figure out: Do they exist?'

Trump was joined by Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and many other members of his administration — including some still awaiting confirmation — and Elon Musk, who is serving as one of the president's top advisers.

After starting the meeting with a prayer, Trump provided a brief opening statement before turning it over to Musk to discuss the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to cut government waste.

Image Source: Blaze News

Christopher Bedford, Blaze News senior editor for politics, joined the Cabinet meeting and asked Musk about an email the DOGE had sent to all government employees. The email asked workers to list five things they had accomplished over the previous workweek.

Bedford asked Musk, "About half of the government employees so far appear to have responded to your request for what they've been doing over the past week. Is there a timeline in place for next moves, for people being fired? When can the American people expect to see results from that?"

"To be clear, I think that email was perhaps misinterpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse-check review," Musk responded, prompting a few laughs.

"If you have a pulse and two neurons, you can reply to an email. I think this is not a high bar," he continued. "Anyone could accomplish this."

"We're literally trying to figure out, 'Are these people real, are they alive, and can they write an email?'" Musk added. "The American public would have at least that expectation of someone in the public sector."

He explained that the administration has reason to suspect that some individuals on the federal government's payroll are either dead or fictitious.

Musk said the DOGE plans to send another email to government workers, adding that his goal is "not to be capricious or unfair."

Image Source: Blaze News

Musk stated that the DOGE team has become "tech support" to fix the federal government's computer systems.

"Many of these systems are extremely old. They don't communicate. There are a lot of mistakes in the systems. The software doesn't work. We are actually tech support. It's ironic, but it's true."

"Just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department's spending. We spend a lot on the Defense Department, but we're spending over a trillion dollars on interest. If this continues, the country will become de facto bankrupt," Musk said.

He noted that he is confident that the DOGE will be able to find a trillion dollars in savings.

"DOGE is a support function for the president and for the agencies and departments to help achieve those savings," Musk added.

He explained that the administration must move quickly to achieve the trillion-dollar deficit reduction goal by fiscal year 2026.

Trump noted that through the DOGE's efforts, he believes the administration could be close to balancing the nation's budget this year or next.

He stated that the government workers who have so far refused to respond to the DOGE's pulse-check email are "on the bubble."

"We're trying to figure out: Do they exist? Who are they? And it's possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired," Trump said. "This country's gotten bloated and fat and disgusting and incompetently run."

"I think we had the worst president in the history of our country," he stated, referring to former President Joe Biden.

At one point during the Cabinet meeting, Trump indicated that the Environmental Protection Agency may be considering cutting roughly 65% of its workforce. He also noted that those responsible for the botched Afghanistan withdrawal will also likely face termination.

"There will be full accountability," Hegseth added.

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