Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / BREAKING NEWS: Elon and DOGE lied to us all

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BREAKING NEWS: Elon and DOGE lied to us all · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everyone, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
• 0:05
  I'm thrilled to share some exciting news with you over the
• 0:08
  next two weeks. We're evolving.
• 0:10
  We'll be broadening our focus to cover all the tech Titans
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  shaping our world. You'll still get the latest
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  insights on Elon Musk, plus so much more.
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  So stay tuned for our official relaunch coming soon.
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  Now let's get into this episode. The number is staggering, 200
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  billion dollars. That's what Elon Musk's Doge
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  claims. It has saved the American
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  taxpayers since President Donald Trump returned to the White
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  House. But one unavoidable question now
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  grips anyone hearing the claim. How much of it is real?
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  How much is smoke and mirrors? And what evidence is there
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  behind these extraordinary figures?
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  Question that matters deeply because the size of the claim
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  implies the government overhaul of historic proportions,
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  reshaping where billions of dollars flow every single month.
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  Now, if Doge's numbers are even Mostly True, it would suggest an
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  era of unprecedented fiscal tightening.
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  And if not, it raises concerns about transparency and
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  accountability at the highest levels.
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  Understanding the reality behind these claims is not just a
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  matter of curiosity, though. And when Elon Musk introduced
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  those shortly after Trump's inauguration, the concept was
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  simple. Get aggressive, cut waste,
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  eliminate bloated spending, and cancel unnecessary projects
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  leftover from past administrations.
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  The problems were huge, the scope is large, and its
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  ambitions are clear. The targets contracts, grants,
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  and federal leases, while also aiming to slash fraud and trim
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  the government workforce. DOGE has positioned itself as
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  the muscle behind Trump's push to overhaul Washington spending
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  habits. Now, DOGE publishes a running
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  tally of its reported savings on its official website, where it
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  claims to have reached $160 billion in savings as of April
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  20th. Yet only about 40% of that
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  figure is broken down into specific transactions that can
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  be independently reviewed. Analysts from the BBC Verify
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  took a closer look at these numbers and found serious gaps
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  in documentation and evidence supporting these claims.
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  Now, in October of last year, Elon Musk raised eyebrows when
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  he pledged to cut at least $2 trillion from the federal
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  budget. However, the goal was later
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  scaled down. By April 10th, Musk was speaking
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  about aiming for about 150 billion in savings by the end of
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  2026, concentrating efforts on reducing fraud and waste.
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  That's a huge difference. Now.
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  The revised figure still represents an immense amount of
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  money though, especially considering federal budget for
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  the last fiscal year was $6.75 trillion.
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  Now, we pulled some data directly from DOJA site on April
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  23rd and examined the reported savings from cancelled
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  contracts, grants and leases. The findings reveal that
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  approximately half of the itemized savings had a
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  corresponding document or some form of cited evidence.
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  This leaves a substantial portion of claims savings
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  essentially undocumented. Moreover, scrutiny from U.S.
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  media revealed mistakes within Doge's accounting altogether.
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  For instance, the agency had boasted about an $8 billion
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  saving from canceling an immigration contract, when in
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  reality the contract's full value was only $8 million.
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  The DOGE acknowledged the errors and stated that they're working
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  to upload all necessary receipts and documentation in a
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  digestible and transparent manner.
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  Now. Currently, receipts accounting
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  for only about 30 ercent of total savings are available,
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  with some listed as unavailable for legal reasons.
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  Now, understanding how DOGE calculated savings is key to
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  evaluating its claims. Though many savings figures are
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  based not on actual expenditures that were stopped, but on
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  projected maximum contract values extending years into the
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  future, the contracts often list an upper spending limit, not an
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  actual or expected expense. The real costs are only tailored
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  after the contract is actually completed.
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  Now, a close examination of Doge's four largest claimed
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  savings reveals discrepancies between the numbers and reality.
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  These four savings supposedly added up to $8.3 billion.
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  However, when comparing the available documentation and
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  consulting experts, the actual figures appear far lower.
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  The biggest individual saving to which claims is $2.9 billion
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  from cancelling a facility construction contract intended
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  to house migrant children in Texas.
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  The contract signed during the Biden administration is
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  scheduled end date of 2028. Yet it was reviewed annually,
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  meaning there was no guarantee of full renewal.
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  And according to a source, the $2.9 billion figure was based on
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  speculative maximum figures that would never have been realized.
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  The actual immediate saving from halting the contract was closer
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  to $153 million, not 2.9 billion.
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  Now, operational costs were 18,000,000 per month, and the
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  site never reached its intended maximum occupancy.
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  For the second case, DOGE claimed to save $1.9 billion by
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  cancelling a contract between the IRS and an IT company, which
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  is Centennial Technologies. Now, the linked FPDS document
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  showed a maximum value of 1.9 billion, but reported $0.00 in
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  actual spending so far. Now, this doesn't necessarily
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  mean that no money was spent, as government departments often
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  delay updating expenditure and contract databases.
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  Furthermore, the CEO of Centennial Technologies told the
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  New York Times that the deal was already terminated during the
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  Biden administration before DOGE could take credit for cancelling
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  it. The third largest saving listed
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  by DOGE involved cancelling a $2.4 billion IT services
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  contract with A1 Fed Impact for the Department of Defense.
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  DOGE claimed 1.76 billion in savings from this cancellation.
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  However, again, there is no evidence of any spending against
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  the contract at the time it was terminated.
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  It remains unclear how DOGE calculated the $1.76 billion
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  figure, and neither the Pentagon nor the contractor has provided
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  any clarity on this matter and they should know they were part
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  of it. The 4th claim large savings here
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  1.75 from DOGE canceling USAID grant to GAVI, an international
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  Health Organization that works to improve vaccine access.
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  According to usaspending.gov linked page confirmed that $880
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  million had been paid to GAVI in three installments during the
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  Biden administration, and their spokesperson said that they were
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  unaware of any termination notice.
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  Without confirmation from USAID, it remains a mystery how DOGE
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  arrived and it's $1.75 billion saving figure now.
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  The credibility of Dojo's reporting savings matters
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  because these claims are being used politically to justify
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  sweeping changes to federal departments and budgets.
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  When savings are exaggerated or poorly documented, it undermines
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  public trust and raises questions about how government
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  reforms are being communicated to the public and for everyday
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  Americans. The operations of DOGE have real
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  world effects. Cutting federal spending can
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  impact everything from government services, health
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  programs and infrastructure projects, the grants for
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  research, and also education too.
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  A misleading claim Misleading claims of cost savings could
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  mask reductions in essential services that millions depend
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  on. And moreover, if Doge's figures
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  continue to be presented without any solid evidence or data, it
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  could erode the standard of accountability the citizens
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  suspect from federal agencies. Transparency in spending and in
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  cuts is crucial for ensuring that the government acts
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  responsibly with public money. And beyond the practical impact,
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  the political ramifications are equally important.
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  Musk's leadership of DOGE has become a central symbol for
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  Trump's return to a smaller government platform.
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  Inaccurate or exaggerated figures risk providing critics
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  with ammo to attack Natalie Musk.
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  But the broader political mission behind it, and also
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  Trump? DOGE has done extensive work,
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  don't get me wrong, And according to its site, it's
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  reviewing thousands of contracts, grants, and leases
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  with a goal of trimming operational expenses across all
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  departments. But if the documentation does
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  not keep pace with the claims, its credibility could suffer
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  irreparable damage. But it's worth noting that
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  cutting government spending at the scale that doge claims would
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  be an almost unprecedented achievement.
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  Historic efforts to slash federal budgets, such as during
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  Reagan, often took years and encountered strong political
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  resistance. Attempting to achieve hundreds
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  of billions in cuts within months raises logistical and
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  bureaucratic challenges that cannot be glossed over now.
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  Adding to the skepticism are Musk shifting targets for
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  savings. Going from a $2 trillion target
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  to just 150 billion in a matter of months suggests that even
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  within Doge, there's uncertainties.
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  Elon didn't look at the data before he made the claim and as
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  an engineer you never under produce an over promise.
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  There's uncertainties about what is achievable from DOGE now.
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  Now. Further complicating matters,
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  the cancellation of contracts often carries hidden costs, such
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  as penalties for early termination, legal challenges,
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  or the need to renegotiate future contracts at higher
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  prices. Doge's reported savings do not
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  appear to account for these potential side effects.
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  And another layer of complexity comes from the nature of
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  government contracts themselves. Many contracts are written with
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  future contingencies in mind. Simply canceling a contract that
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  had not yet been fully activated does not always equate to an
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  immediate budget reduction. Despite appearances now, several
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  watchdog groups have called for an independent audit of Doja's
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  reported savings. Such review would likely require
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  months of detailed analysis, contract by contract, grant by
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  grant, before producing a reliable figure, and until that
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  happens, the exact amount saved remains uncertain.
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  As of now, the official DOGE site lists $160 billion in
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  estimated savings, but with less than half of those savings
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  traceable to public documents and multiple examples of
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  accounting discrepancies, we don't really know what's going
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  on behind the scenes at DOGE. Hey, thank you so much for
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  listening today. I really do appreciate your
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  support. If you could take a second and
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  hit subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
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  And I'll see you tomorrow.