Elon Musk calls for the U.S. government to delete entire agencies: ‘Remove the roots of the weed’

The U.S. government needs to “delete entire agencies” in a cost and efficiency drive, tech billionaire and Tesla co-founder Elon Musk said Thursday when asked about whether the changes he is implementing as part of the Donald Trump administration will last beyond the current president’s term.

“I think we do need to delete entire agencies, as opposed to leave part of them behind ... It’s kind of like leaving a weed,” Musk said. “If you don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back. But if you remove the roots of the weed — it doesn’t stop weeds from ever going back, but it makes it harder.”

Musk, who also founded SpaceX and owns social media platform X, made the comments while speaking via video link to an audience at Dubai’s annual World Governments Summit, as part of a conversation hosted by the United Arab Emirates’ Artificial Intelligence Minister Omar Sultan Al Olama.