Elon Musk and the DOGE team make their first appearance: This is a revolution! Plan to cut $1 trillion in spending before the end of May

The shocking "DOGE" (Department of Government Efficiency) has finally unveiled its mysterious veil. On Thursday local time, Musk, along with seven members of the DOGE team, made their first public appearance in an exclusive interview with Fox News. Musk stated that the reforms of DOGE are changing the way the U.S. government operates, "the biggest revolution since the American War of Independence." In the interview, Musk mentioned that DOGE aims to reduce spending by eliminating waste and fraud, targeting a 15% reduction in expenditures: Government efficiency is low, with a lot of waste and fraud. So we are confident we can reduce spending by 15% without affecting any critical government services. Musk expressed confidence in cutting $1 trillion from government spending by the end of May. This means that since Trump took office on January 20, DOGE will achieve this level of cost savings within 130 days (15% of the 2024 government spending): I believe we will accomplish most of the work needed to reduce the $1 trillion deficit during this period. This is an ambitious goal, requiring a reduction of more than half of the U.S. discretionary spending on non-defense programs for 2024 ($1.8 trillion). But for now, DOGE's progress is clearly lagging. As of March 27, DOGE claimed to have saved American taxpayers $130 billion, averaging $807.45 per taxpayer. Trump gave the agency 18 months to optimize the federal government, streamline operations, and cut spending. However, this so-called "revolution" has led to the firing of tens of thousands of federal employees, the closure of multiple agencies, and the cancellation of numerous grants and contracts, fundamentally overturning the way the U.S. government operates. Critics argue that the organization has too much access to the federal system and should not be allowed to cancel federal contracts or cut funding to various agencies. In response to external attacks, Musk countered by pointing out that the agency's reduction methods are "thoughtful": "This is not to say we won't make mistakes. If we were to handle this with the standard of not making any mistakes, it would be like saying a baseball player must hit the ball every time. That's impossible. So when we do make mistakes, we will correct them quickly and move on. Musk also argued that when critics attack DOGE, they never target any specific content, but rather vaguely claim that DOGE's actions are "somewhat unconstitutional or illegal," and when asked which specific cost-saving measure they oppose, "they can't point to any." Regarding government waste, Musk revealed a mundane yet "illustrative" example during the interview: the federal government has about 4.6 million credit cards, while the number of employees is only between 2.3 million and 2.4 million: This makes no sense. One of the things all teams are doing is working with agencies to say, 'Do you need all these credit cards?' Are they being used? Can you tell us where they actually are? It is worth noting that Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of the DOGE office appointed by the White House, did not appear in the exclusive interview, and her name was not even mentioned. Instead, Musk was surrounded by allies including long-time partner Steve Davis, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, and former Morgan Stanley banker Anthony Armstrong. Although Gleason and another White House official claimed in federal court that Musk is neither an employee of the DOGE office nor a leader of the initiative, Musk continues to act as the de facto leader of DOGE. This ambiguity in the power structure has led to multiple lawsuits. Trump has granted DOGE greater authority to review how federal agencies spend money through an executive order, marking the latest expansion of Musk's cost-cutting powers. In a speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump referred to Musk as the "head" of DOGE, further blurring Musk's formal role