‘I Got Carried Away’: Elon Musk Opens Up About His Detour Into Politics

“I think I got a little too involved in politics,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO told The Economist. “I got carried away frankly.”

Musk took an increased interest in politics amid the 2024 elections, pouring more than $250 million into backing President Trump. After Trump won, he announced the billionaire would head up a cost-cutting effort known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“The goal with the sort of DOGE stuff was to try to do something about the deficit, which is massive,” Musk said in the interview.

“We need to sort of take a close look at spending and make sure that money is being spent in sensible ways and that it is not wasted or spent on fraudulent activities,” he added. “And I got a lot of flak from this.”

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Carried away? He didn’t go far enough.

— KingoftheWorldIII (@KingotWorldIII) July 24, 2026

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Elon admitting he got too deep in politics? Respect for the honesty. But thank you for helping crush the woke mind virus and back Trump. America needs more fighters like you, not less.

— Irina (@lrina90) July 24, 2026

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We had a nation to save @elonmusk, and you saved it by saving Free Speech.
Thank you

— cagrown5 (@cagrown5) July 24, 2026

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Musk maintained that the organizations that had their funding cut were operating fraudulently, before reiterating that “zero people died because of DOGE.”

Although Musk donated more than $250 million to Trump’s reelection campaign and was often seen at the president’s side after he retook the Oval Office, the two had a brief but contentious falling out following Musk’s departure from government.

Asked whether he still supports the administration, Musk said he’s “not going to agree with everything any administration does,” but that “on balance,” Trump’s team is doing “excellent.”

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