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| - In early 2025, tech billionaire Elon Musk began the process of cutting the staffs and funding of various federal agencies through the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The second administration of U.S. President Donald Trump began the process of dismantling government agencies, laying off employees and disrupting government processes on the day of his inauguration, Jan. 20, leading to an outcry from federal workers and the general public.
Many online said Musk had warned Americans during the 2024 election that they would suffer "temporary hardship" from these actions. One post on X stated: "The man with more money than anyone else on Earth says everyone's temporary hardship will be worth it. How much hardship will HE endure during all this?"
(X user @FAFOmyfriend)
Musk did indeed say that Americans would suffer "temporary hardship" as a result of the spending curbs he and Trump planned to implement in the federal government. He made the comment during a telephone town hall on X in October 2024. As such, we rate this claim as a correct attribution.
During the town hall, Musk was asked by a listener how DOGE would tackle the U.S. national debt. Musk responded (emphasis ours):
The reality is that there is so much government waste [...] kind of like being in a room full of targets, you can't miss. Fire in any direction and you're going to hit a target. As a country, we need to live within our means. That means looking at every line item, every expense and saying, 'Is this necessary at all?' and if it is necessary how do we get better value for money? [...] My opinion is we need to simplify the tax law. It's incredibly complex [...] Companies and people are spending a bunch of money on complex accounting and legal stuff. We just need to have a much simpler tax code that is easier to understand. Most importantly, we have to reduce spending to live within our means. That does really involve temporary hardship but it will ensure long term prosperity.
Readers can access the comments at the 1:08:00 mark through the uploaded audio available on X.
In an October 2024 post on X, Musk also agreed with an opinion that policies like reducing the deficit and "hacking away" at the government would cause "severe overreaction in the economy" and a "tumble" in financial markets. Musk wrote in response to the now-deleted post, "Sounds about right."
Since Trump took office, he and Musk have taken drastic measures to curb government spending, which critics call an "erosion" of democracy. Snopes has covered a range of such measures, including DOGE allegedly accessing a critical payment system managed by the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the government freezing international aid efforts.
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