Trump demands bigger tax cuts in budget bill as Musk dodges question about reported drug use

Despite brief tangents about black eyes, gold ceilings and autopens, that meeting basically consisted of Trump showering Musk with praise as his turbulent tenure at Doge comes to an end, at least officially. “Elon’s service to America is without comparison in modern history,” said Trump from behind the Resolute Desk, as the world’s richest person stood to his right, in a black Doge hat and “Dogefather” t-shirt. “Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations,” Trump said, adding that Musk had delivered a “colossal change” in how Washington does things.

But despite the fanfare, both men said that Musk isn’t really going anywhere. He will continue to be “a friend and adviser” to the president and will still be “back and forth” to the White House, Musk said, with “most” Doge workers “staying on” to continue its work to cut “wasteful” federal spending. In the last 130 days Doge under Musk has caused chaos as it haphazardly eliminated thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in contracts without actually saving the country very much at all. Indeed Doge has failed to deliver a fraction of the $2tn savings Musk promised, though he insisted he was confident it would get to that number “in time”.