Musk says DOGE cuts necessary or 'ship of America will sink'
Billionaire Elon Musk spoke about why he's passionate about the work done by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut federal spending, saying he thinks it's needed to prevent the country from sinking into bankruptcy.
Musk was asked during an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" why spending cuts and the elimination of alleged fraud, waste and abuse is needed to shore up the U.S. government's finances.
"The government waste and fraud is so high that it is causing a $2 trillion annual deficit, so that's 2,000 billion dollars of waste and fraud that's happening," Musk claimed. "The cost of our debt has gotten so high that just the interest payments on the debt exceed the entire military budget, and it was just growing out of control."
"The country is going bankrupt. A country is no different from a person. If a country overspends and doesn't spend wisely, just like a person, a country will go bankrupt," he explained.
DOGE CUTS RIPPLING THROUGH LOCAL ECONOMIES AROUND US
"So the reason I'm here is because I'm very worried about the country going bankrupt due to the corruption and waste. And if we don't do something about it, the ship of America is going to sink. And we're all on that ship," Musk said.
He then said that Americans who have wealth or control companies should be supportive of DOGE's efforts because if the country goes bankrupt, those businesses would no longer exist.
"This may be a message to, you know, people out there who are wealthy, have a lot of means, or control companies – it's like, just remember, we're all on the ship of America here. Your company is not going to exist if the ship of America sinks, and we should do everything we possibly can to ensure that America is strong for far into the future, or we're all sunk," Musk said.
TESLA BEING TARGETED WITH 'HEINOUS VIOLENCE,' WHITE HOUSE SAYS
The federal government runs a nearly $2 trillion annual budget deficit that is driven primarily by rising spending on Social Security and Medicare due to the aging of America's population, as well as elevated interest expenses caused by the growing national debt and elevated interest rates.
Last year, federal spending on servicing the national debt surpassed the size of the Department of Defense budget for the first time.
Musk's work with DOGE has spurred protests from opponents who have in some cases targeted Tesla, the automaker he serves as the CEO of. Those incidents have featured cases of vandalism targeting individual Tesla owners, as well as the EV-maker's dealerships and charging stations.
TESLA ATTACK IN LAS VEGAS 'CERTAINLY HAS SOME OF THE HALLMARKS' OF TERRORISM, FBI OFFICIAL SAYS
One such incident occurred in Las Vegas in the early hours of Tuesday morning when multiple vehicles at a Tesla service center were set ablaze. Five vehicles were damaged, including the two that were set on fire, and the FBI said the incident "certainly has some of the hallmarks" of a terrorist attack, but that it was still too early to say for sure.
Musk said in a post on his social media platform X that, "This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong. Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks."
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Fox News Digital's Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.