Elon Admits His $2 Trillion in Federal Cuts Were Kind of a Pipe Dream

Oh, would you look at that? Elon Musk is now admitting what we told you last month: his $2 trillion federal budget-slashing fantasy was never going to work. Speaking to strategist Mark Penn on Wednesday, Musk downgraded his promise to a “best-case outcome” and said cutting the federal deficit in half might be more realistic. Translation: even Elon can’t bend math to his will.

As we told you, Musk and his co-budget-cutter Vivek Ramaswamy promised not to touch Social Security or Medicare, which together swallow 38% of federal spending. But even if they gutted every single non-defense discretionary program, which is made up of wildly unpopular things like schools, roads, and housing, they’d still be a trillion dollars short. Closing flashy targets like the Department of Education or the IRS? That saves less than $250 billion, which is barely pocket change in federal budget terms.

And forget defense. At $842 billion, it’s politically sacred, and Musk isn’t about to mess with Pentagon contracts while he’s launching rockets for them. That leaves the $1.3 trillion behemoth: Social Security. It’s the biggest federal expense, and, inconveniently for Musk and Ramaswamy, the most politically untouchable.

We said this last month, and here it is again: cutting Social Security risks electoral annihilation. Ask George W. Bush, whose 2005 privatization push triggered a Democratic landslide in 2006. With the 2026 midterms already looking dicey for the GOP, the party isn’t about to poke this bear.

So, Elon actually could hit his $2 trillion target, but only if he wants to vaporize Republican majorities in Congress. For now, his “target-rich environment” for budget cuts looks more like wishful thinking. So, yeah, Elon’s finally catching up to the facts we laid out weeks ago. You’re welcome.