Elon Musk, a guy whose quest to be adored by everyone grows more pathetic with each passing day, appeared at President Donald Trump’s cabinet meeting Wednesday despite not being a member of the cabinet. The head of DOGE donned two hats simultaneously for the meeting, a perplexing move until he spoke. Musk said he wears a lot of hats. Get it? The billionaire oligarch wears a lot of hats.
The cabinet meeting, which was broadcast live on all the major cable news networks, has been a familiar location for Musk, who’s running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Cabinet officials need to be confirmed by the Senate, but that hasn’t stopped Musk from acting like a member of the cabinet and throwing his weight around constantly. Musk’s DOGE has been destroying vital services from the U.S. government, as the billionaire unilaterally decides what stays and what goes, proclaiming without a shred of evidence that he’s getting rid of “waste, fraud, and abuse.” In reality, Musk is costing the U.S. huge sums of money long term while delivering a death sentence to millions of people.
President Trump told Musk on Wednesday that he loves the double hat and that he’s “the only one who could do that and get away with it,” perhaps suggesting in Trump’s odd way that Musk was being disrespectful.
“Well, Mr. President, they say I wear a lot of hats. It’s true. Even my hat has a hat,” Musk said, laughing at his own joke as the table of sycophants laughed along. Musk went on to claim that Trump has accomplished more than “any administration before ever, period,” calling it the “greatest administration since the founding of the country.”
Trump thanked Musk and told him he’s “sacrificed a lot,” to which the Tesla CEO made references to the protests and arson that have taken place at his dealerships since Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. That also happens to be the day that Musk made two Nazi-style salutes. “They do like to burn my cars, which is not great,” Musk said, appearing to get emotional while forcing a laugh. “Could be better.”
After Musk’s jokes had gotten their laughs, Trump moved on to the elephant in the room. How much longer is Musk going to be sticking around and destroying the federal government?
“You’re invited to stay as long as you want. And at some point, I guess, you want to get back home to his cars…” Trump said.
Musk has gotten plenty of headlines recently for saying that he’ll soon be stepping away from DOGE to devote more time to his companies. But if you look at how he actually talks about that, it’s clear Musk wants to be intimately involved in the government until Trump eventually leaves office, whenever that may be. Musk has a unique view inside the federal government right now, one that any other government contractor would kill for. SpaceX, one of many Musk companies that benefit from government money, now seems poised to have an edge on competitors thanks to the oligarch’s access.
Musk’s assertion that Trump’s was the greatest administration in the entire history of the country was echoed ad nauseam on Wednesday as they went around the table to praise Trump like any dictator in an authoritarian country might expect his underlings to do. But it was Trump’s own words about the economy that arguably made the biggest splash of the day.
Trump addressed the fact that his trade war was starting to hurt the country economically, but he argued it was all for a good cause. That cause? Selling more stuff to China than they sell to us, something Trump is fixated on for no good reason.
“They made a trillion dollars with Biden selling us stuff,” Trump said of China. “Much of it we don’t need. Somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are gonna be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”
Trump on China: “They made a trillion dollars with Biden selling us stuff. Much of it we don’t need. Somebody said, ‘oh, the shelves are gonna be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more.”
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 30, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Nobody is saying the shelves are going to be “open,” which isn’t a thing people say in English. They’re saying the shelves will be empty. And that, of course, is a stunning admission by any sitting president. Trump acknowledges that Americans are going to be able to buy fewer consumer goods, but he insists it’s a good thing. It’s hard to imagine that if he’d included that as part of his tariff pitch on the campaign trail in 2024, he would’ve garnered many votes. In fact, polling suggests that most Americans who voted for Trump thought he would help bring down the price of goods, not make the shelves empty.
Marco Rubio also made some stunning statements during the cabinet meeting, one of which was even tweeted out proudly by the State Department. Rubio was asked by a reporter whether he’d been in touch with El Salvador about bringing back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to the country. The secretary of state was indignant, clearly performing for Trump.
“Well, I would never tell you that, and you know who else I would never tell? A judge. Because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president,” Rubio said.
Reporter: “Have you been in touch with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia?”@SecRubio: “Well I would never tell you that and you know who else I would never tell? A judge. Because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the President.” pic.twitter.com/ORrW5ezcOj
— Department of State (@StateDept) April 30, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump needs to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia, but the president has repeatedly said he won’t bring back the wrongly deported man. And Rubio’s assertion that even he would refuse to cooperate with the courts makes it clear the Trump regime believes it can act outside the law without consequence.
Sadly, they appear to be right. We’re at the point where Trump has defied a Supreme Court order and has no plans to rectify that. The New York Times reported Wednesday that perhaps Trump’s team may be communicating with El Salvador about Abrego Garcia but quoted experts who warned that could very well be little more than ass covering. We don’t know at this point, but the longer this all drags on, the worse the American people will be.
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