Despite the corporate media’s attempts to controversialize Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration, the DOGE chief’s appearance at President Trump’s first cabinet meeting was a hit with the president’s cabinet members, who endorsed his work with a hearty round of applause.

Musk showed up at the meeting wearing his notorious “tech support” tee-shirt and dark MAGA hat, telling the group, “I actually just call myself humble ‘tech support’ here.”

“That is almost a literal description of the work the DOGE team is doing,” Musk added, explaining that they are helping to fix the government’s computer systems, which are outdated.

“Many of the systems are extremely old. They don’t communicate, there are a lot of mistake in the system and the software doesn’t work,” he said. “So we are tech support. It’s ironic, but it’s true.”

Musk then pointed out that the real reason for his work at DOGE is because the country can’t be sustained with $2 trillion yearly deficits.

“Just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department’s spending,” he explained. “We spend a lot at the Defense Department, but we spend over $1 trillion on interest.”

“Our spending on interest is now larger than the budget of the defense department—over $1 trillion,” he added. “If this continues, the country will go de facto bankrupt. It’s not an optional thing, it’s an essential thing.”

Musk went on to note that he has taken “a lot of flack” over  his mission to slash waste, fraud and abuse from government spending.

“I’m getting a lot of death threats, by the way—they’re stacking up,” he said.

Musk expressed confidence that his team’s work will result in $1 trillion in savings, or roughly 15 percent of the $7 trillion budget and thanked Trump’s cabinet for their support.

“This can only be done with your support,” he said.

Musk said people can check the mission’s progress at the DOGE website, adding that there will be mistakes, but when they are made, his team will correct them quickly.

“But we do need to move quickly if we want to achieve a $1 trillion deficit reduction,” he noted. “It requires saving $4 billion per day every day from now through the end of September.”

When a reporter asked Musk if he was hearing any negative feedback from any members of Trump’s cabinet, the president didn’t miss a beat.

“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, we’ll throw them out of here!” Trump cracked, evoking laughter from his cabinet members, then applause for Musk.

“They have a lot of respect for Elon—that he’s doing this, said Trump. “Some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you everyone for the most part are not only happy, they’re thrilled.”

The DOGE chief responded: “President Trump has put together, I think, the best cabinet ever. Literally. And I do not give false praise. This is an incredible group of people.”

“I don’t think that such a talented team has actually ever been assembled, he added. “I think it’s literally the best cabinet that the country’s ever had and I think the country should be incredibly appreciative of the people in this room.”

Another reporter asked Musk about the deadline for government employees to respond to his email asking them to explain their work.

“That e-mail was misinterpreted as a performance review, but it’s actually a pulse check review,” Musk replied, to more snickers in the room. “Do you have a pulse and two neurons? If you have that you can reply to an e-mail. It’s not a high bar,” he continued, going on to explain why the emails were necessary.

“We think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead or not real people that are collecting paychecks. We’re trying to figure out if people are real, if they’re alive, and if they can write an e-mail. I think the American public would have at least that expectation of someone in the public sector.”

Musk said he got a partial response and would be sending out another email soon.

“Our goal is not to be capricious or unfair,” he stressed. “We want to give people every opportunity to send an email, and the email can simply be, ‘what I’m working on is too sensitive or classified to describe,” he added. “That would be sufficient.”

As for cuts to the workforce, Musk said he was aiming to keep everyone whose job “is essential” and who are “doing it well.” Anyone whose job is not essential, or is not doing it well, do not need to be on the government’s payroll, he said.