Washington DC:
US President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk sat down together for their first joint television interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Tuesday night, where they praised each other and defended the DOGE-led overhaul of the federal workforce and agencies against Democrats’ criticism. The President also declared that “inflation is back” and blasted the media for trying to wedge a rift between him and his advisor Musk.
Speaking from the Oval Office with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, Mr Musk talked about “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and tried to counter Democrats who are accusing them of violating the Constitution.
On Attempts To Force Them Apart
Referring to The New York Times, The Washington Post and late-night shows, Mr Hannity said the media wants a “divorce” between Mr Trump and Mr Musk and wants the two men “to start hating each other.”
“And they try all, ‘President Elon Musk,’ for example. You do know that they’re doing that to you,” he asked.
Replying to the Fox News host, President Trump said the growing speculation about the new friendship prompted Mr Musk to call him. “Actually, Elon called me. He said, ‘You know they’re trying to drive us apart,'” Mr Trump said. “I said, ‘Absolutely.'”
Blasting the media for “just so obvious” attempting to drive a wedge between them, Mr Trump said, “I used to think they were good at it. They’re actually bad at it, because if they were good at it, I’d never be president.”
“You know what I have learned, Elon? The people are smart. They get it. Yeah, they get it. They really see what’s happening to us,” he added.
On Inflation
The President also acknowledged the concerns related to inflation and blamed his predecessor John Biden’s administration for “running the country dry”.
“I’m only here for two and a half weeks. Inflation is back,” Mr Trump said.
“Inflation’s back and they said, ‘Oh, Trump.’ I had nothing to do with it. These people have run the country…They spent money like nobody’s ever spent,” he added in an apparent dig at the Biden administration
On DOGE’s Role
Mr Trump said he believes Mr Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will be able to find $1 trillion in cuts to the federal government.
“As good as they are, they’re not going to find some contract that was crooked, you know crooked as hell. And I mean this going to be so much that isn’t found. But, what is that I think he’s going to find $1 trillion,” he said.
“Yeah, I think so,” Mr Musk agreed. On Tuesday, DOGE determined it has found $55 billion in savings in the last month.
The tech billionaire said his aim is to pay down US debt by trying “to get $1 trillion out of the deficit.”
“If the deficit is not brought under control, America will go bankrupt. This is a very important thing for people to understand. A country is no different from an individual in that if an individual overspends, an individual can go bankrupt. And so can a country and the massive waste, fraud and abuse that has been going on, which is leading to a $2 trillion a year deficit, that’s, that’s what the president was handed on Jan 20th, a $2 trillion deficit. It’s insane,” he added.
On ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’
Mr Musk talked about his ‘real’ experience with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” – a phrase co-opted by President Trump and his allies to describe a belief that political adversaries let their irrational dislike of the Republican leader cloud their judgement.
The tech billionaire said you “don’t realize how real this is until, like, it’s – you can’t reason with people.”
“I happened to mention the president’s name and it was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained like methamphetamine and rabies,” Mr Musk said.
He imitated the people at the party going crazy and questioned can’t people have normal conversations regarding Mr Trump. “It’s like they’ve become completely irrational,” he added.
Response To Democratic Attacks
Talking about the criticism he and his team have faced while spearheading the Trump administration’s efforts to offer buyouts to federal workers and to find ways to cut waste, Mr Musk blamed the bureaucracy for the pushback.
“If the bureaucracy is fighting the will of the people and preventing the president, the president from implementing what the people want, then what we live in is a bureaucracy and not a democracy,” Mr Musk said.
Mr Hannity pointed out that Democrats are calling Mr Musk a “vernacular for a male body part” and claiming he is causing a Constitutional crisis.
Reacting, the DOGE chief asked, “Why? Why are they reacting like this?”
“All we’re really trying to do here is restore the will of the people through the president. And, and what we’re finding is that there’s an unelected bureaucracy. Speaking of unelected… there’s a vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably opposed to the president and the cabinet. And if you look at, say, D.C. voting, it’s 92 per cent Kamala (Harris),” Mr Musk added, referring to the former Vice president’s winning Washington DC by 92 per cent in November.
Mr Musk also slammed the Biden administration saying it didn’t act in a competent or caring manner and it lied to the American public.
“In order to save the taxpayer money, it comes down to two things, competence and caring …And the problem is that the American taxpayer has been getting a terrible deal because look at the last administration,” he said.