Musk on challenges as DOGE chief, pressure on Tesla:'Costing me a lot to...'

Elon Musk attended the event ahead of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election

Speaking about the challenges he has been facing as the  Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said "it's costing me a lot to be in this job".

"The radical left say that we're stealing social security. First of all, I don't need the money. In fact, it's costing me a lot to be in this job. You had Tim Walz dancing on stage showing a chart of Tesla stock, which is an awful thing to do. What they're trying to do is put pressure on me and Tesla so I stop doing this. They cut my stock and the the stock value of everyone holding Tesla in half. This is an expensive job, is what I'm saying," Musk said at a townhall event in Wisconsin's Green Bay.

ELON MUSK: "The radical left say that we're stealing social security. First of all, I don't need the money. In fact, it's costing me a lot to be in this job. You had Tim Walz dancing on stage showing a chart of Tesla stock, which is an awful thing to do. What they're trying to pic.twitter.com/AaQ1BSevny
Autism Capital (@AutismCapital) March 31, 2025

Musk's remarks were met with an applause from the crowd.

He attended the event ahead of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election that the tech billionaire cast as critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda and “the future of civilization".  Musk also gave out $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters, declaring them spokespeople for his political group.

Musk plans to step down from his cost-cutting role in the Trump administration at the end of May after reducing the US deficit by $1 trillion, the tech billionaire said on Thursday, according to The Fox News.

Musk (54) expressed confidence in getting close to that goal, which would halve the annual federal deficit, in just 130 days — saying his team was averaging “$4 billion a day, every day, seven days a week.”

In an interview with Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier", Musk said that he was confident his DOGE could find $1 trillion in savings, slimming current total federal spending levels of about $7 trillion down to $6 trillion. Musk was designated by the White House as a "special government employee," which caps his work at 130 days. That means his period leading the DOGE operation could finish as soon as the end of May.

"I think we will accomplish most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame," Musk said when asked about his tenure and how quickly he expected to achieve his cost-cutting target.