Elon Musk says he’s caught between supporting and opposing Donald Trump: ‘Creates a bone of contention’

Tech billionaire Elon Musk spoke about the Trump administration during a recent interview, striking a careful balance between agreement and distance.

“And you know, it’s not like I agree with everything the administration does,” Musk said, speaking with CBS.

“I agree with much of what the administration does. But we have differences of opinion… I don’t wanna, you know, speak up against the administration, but I also don’t wanna take responsibility for everything this administration’s doing.”

On the tax bill: “Big or beautiful — not both”

Musk criticised the administration’s latest spending bill, which he believes undermines the goals of DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative associated with government cost-cutting.

“I was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, doesn’t decrease it,” Musk said.

“It undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”

“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” he added with a laugh. “But I don’t know if it could be both. My personal opinion.”

On tariffs and trade wars: “Affect things a little bit”

Asked whether his multi-industry businesses were affected by tariffs and global trade tensions, Musk acknowledged a moderate impact.

“You know, tariffs always affect things a little bit,” he said, without elaborating further.

On immigration policy: “Let’s stick to spaceships”

When asked about proposed restrictions on foreign student visas — a topic especially relevant to Musk, an immigrant entrepreneur — he pivoted away from the political discussion.

“Yeah. I mean, I think we wanna stick to, you know, the subject of the day, which is, like, spaceships, as opposed to, you know, presidential policy,” Musk said.

When pressed further, he simply responded, “No, well—no.”

DOGE firestorm: “Became the whipping boy”

Musk defended DOGE amid public backlash for cuts in government services, arguing that the agency had become a scapegoat.

“It’s a bit unfair because DOGE became the whipping boy for everything,” Musk said.

“If there was some cut, real or imagined, everyone would blame DOGE. I’ve had people think that, like, somehow DOGE is gonna stop them from getting their Social Security check — which is completely untrue.”

Ideology over understanding

Addressing criticisms that DOGE moved too fast without understanding the agencies it was defunding, Musk framed it as a matter of ideology.

“I’m like a proponent of smaller government, not bigger government,” he said.

“So if somebody’s a proponent of more government programs… they’ll be fundamentally opposed to DOGE.”

“My frank opinion of the government is that, like, the government is just, like, the DMV that got big. So when you say, ‘Let’s have the government do something,’ you should think, ‘Do you want the DMV to do it?’”