Elon Musk began and ended his town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Sunday by urging attendees to back conservative Brad Schimel in the state’s high-stakes Supreme Court election on Tuesday.
But the bulk of Musk’s nearly two-hour event was ultimately focused not on the off-year election that he’s poured millions of dollars into — which he said could “affect the entire destiny of humanity” — but rather the work of his Department of Government Efficiency, with Musk outlining its purpose and defending its work against naysayers who’ve questioned the constitutionality of the sweeping cuts to the federal government overseen by the group.
“The very simple, straightforward goal of the DOGE team is to get rid of waste and fraud. It’s mostly waste. It’s or, depending on how, you know, I’d say it’s probably 80% waste, 20% fraud, something like that,” Musk said.
The event comes amid broader backlash to how DOGE has enacted its sweeping cuts to the federal government’s workforce and spending, with a NBC News poll this month finding a majority of voters have a negative view of both Musk and the entity he helped create.
In an apparent effort to change the perception of DOGE, Musk said its work could ultimately curb inflation.
“People see the prices rising at the grocery store or for goods and services or for houses, and they tend to like blame the store, but it’s not the store, it’s the government. The government has reduced the value of money, and as a result, prices rise. So by changing — by reducing waste and fraud, we’ll essentially make the economy more efficient,” Musk said.
Musk answered questions regarding the formation and naming of DOGE, dismissed the idea that his DOGEcoin would be used by the federal government, deflected when asked when “DOGE checks” would be sent to Americans, and responded directly to critics who assert his work to significantly curb government spending is unconstitutional.
“When I get these sort of attacks of like, oh, it’s unconstitutional, I mean, like, well, which expenditure is unconstitutional that we have stopped?” Musk said. “They don’t know, actually, because they don’t — they haven’t actually looked at anything.”
The attacks Musk has faced while working in lock step with the White House to implement Trump’s agenda served as another central focus of the event, with one attendee using his question to have his father pray for the billionaire’s protection.
The attacks, Musk said, included vandalism to Tesla vehicles and the drop in value of the company’s stock from its once record highs.
Musk has poured significant resources into the state’s upcoming Supreme Court race, which he argued could impact Trump’s ability to enact his agenda. In addition to the two $1 million checks Musk awarded to voters tonight despite a lawsuit from the state’s attorney general, his PAC has invested roughly $12 million into the effort, largely focused on canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts.
The checks, which Musk offered to any Wisconsin voter willing to sign a petition against “activist judges,” faced a legal challenge by Wisconsin’s democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who argued the giveaways were illegal. The state’s Supreme Court ultimately declined to intervene.
