Elon Musk cast himself in the role of tech support to President Donald Trump’s administration Wednesday as he spoke at the first Cabinet meeting of Trump’s second term.
“I actually call myself the humble tech support here,” Musk said in a video posted to social media platform X. Musk wore a T-shirt with “tech support” emblazoned upon it.
“Because this is actually … as crazy as it sounds, that is almost a literal description of the work the DOGE committee is doing,” Musk said to laughter.
The Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group, was created by Trump to reduce the costs of providing government services.
Elon Musk: “I actually just call myself humble tech support here.” (as he opens his jacket to reveal tech support shirt). ????
“Helping fix the govt computer systems – many of these systems are extremely old. They don’t communicate. There are a lot of mistakes in the systems.… pic.twitter.com/jfLC0eZndL
— Musk Derangement Syndrome_MDS (@BarbieTrueBlue) February 26, 2025
He said DOGE is “helping fix the government computer systems. Many of these systems are extremely old. They don’t communicate. There are a lot of mistakes in the systems. The software doesn’t work. So, we are actually tech support,” he said.
“It’s ironic, but it’s true,” he said.
During the Cabinet meeting, Musk called his request to have employees submit a summary of their work “a pulse review,” according to The Hill.
“There are fictional individuals collecting paychecks,” Musk said. “Are they alive, and can they write an email?”
Musk unveils ‘tech support’ t-shirt at Trump cabinet meeting pic.twitter.com/g3BXSxAtjg
— Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) February 26, 2025
Trump indicated that he is taking the request seriously.
“Those people are on the bubble, as they say,” Trump said, according to NBC.
“You know, maybe they’re going to be gone, maybe they’re not around, maybe they have other jobs, maybe they moved and they’re not where they’re supposed to be.”
Trump said, “It’s possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired.”
Elsewhere in the meeting, Musk warned that America cannot keep spending itself into a fiscal grave.
“We simply cannot sustain as a country $2 trillion deficits. Just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department’s spending. … If this continues, the country will become de facto bankrupt,” he said, according to The Washington Post.
During the public part of the Cabinet meeting, Trump said he stands behind Musk, according to Newsweek.
“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, then we’ll throw them out of here,” Trump said.
“They have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this. And some disagree a little bit. But I will tell you for the most part, I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled,” Trump said.
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