Elon Musk admits he got carried away leading DOGE

Elon Musk says he "got carried away" when working with the White House, and now thinks he shouldn't have continued running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for so long.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk says he’ll give every kid in America a SpaceX share in 2027 President Donald Trump established DOGE within days of his inauguration last January, tasking vocal supporter Musk to lead it in reducing alleged government overspending.

DOGE soon sent federal organisations into turmoil by taking sweeping measures such as laying off over 280,000 government workers and shutting down the U.S.' international aid agency .

Speaking on The Builders podcast on Tuesday, Musk agreed with host Walter Isaacson's suggestion that he appeared "intoxicated" by his proximity to power while working with the White House.

Isaacson specifically referenced an incident last February in which the billionaire waved around a chainsaw while on stage at a conservative conference, calling it "the chainsaw for bureaucracy." "Yeah, I think that's true," said Musk, indicating that he regretted being so public-facing.

"I got carried away basically." Musk gained significant attention for various stunts during his time working with the Trump administration, such as his infamous "Roman"/Nazi salute .

He and Trump also co-hosted a Tesla ad together at the White House , with the president deriding Musk's critics and purchasing a $90,000 Tesla Model S Plaid .

"It was interesting to sort of go around with President Trump and go on Marine One and Air Force One and all that sort of stuff," said Musk.

"It was a little bit [seductive].

I mean, it was kind of cool 'cause I'm just there in the Oval Office while all these like, big momentous decisions are being made and, you know, sometimes having some impact on what's being done.

"But I think maybe I should have been more in the background, and probably only had it last for, you know, a month or two.

Because at that point you've sort of seen most of what there is to see within a month or two." Musk had initially claimed DOGE would reduce government spending by at least $2 trillion, but such savings failed to materialise.

The billionaire later revised DOGE's goal down to $150 billion , yet even then, many claimed savings were either exaggerated or could not be verified .

Even so, Musk still seems to believe he could have eliminated the U.S. government's debts had he been given even more free reign.