Yesterday afternoon, during a meeting in the Oval Office, President Trump signed an executive order strengthening the authority of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. The new executive order commands federal agencies to “coordinate and consult” with DOGE to cut jobs, and to limit large-scale hiring.
Trump and Musk answered reporters’ questions in a freewheeling exchange that lasted more than half an hour, but the two spoke mostly in general terms and gave no details about the actual performance of the agency headed by the world’s richest man.
For weeks, Musk has railed against what he calls waste and fraud. On Monday, the DOGE account on X said the administration had terminated 89 contracts worth $881 million, but without specifying what they were or why they were deemed an unnecessary waste of money.
Among the most criticized statements made by Musk in recent days, moreover, is surely the one that the U.S. spent 50 million on condoms for the Gaza Strip. Yesterday, when confronted with reporters’ questions on that issue, the 53-year-old acknowledged that some of his statements about the government’s alleged wasteful spending turned out to be inaccurate.
“We will make mistakes, but we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes,” he said. “I’m not sure we should be sending $50 million worth of condoms to anywhere. Frankly, I’m not sure that’s something Americans would be really excited about. And that is really an enormous number of condoms.”
Despite this, yesterday President Trump again praised the work done by his loyal ally, who wore a black MAGA cap for the occasion and had his 4-year-old son with him, and his young team of techno nerds, saying he wanted to grant the department further power.
While the two have used the words “waste,” “fraud,” or “abuse” dozens of times, without ever providing evidence to substantiate their claims, they have done virtually nothing to silence allegations that they are violating the Constitution by attempting to shut down federal agencies without congressional consent.
Experts, moreover, noted that even if DOGE succeeds in reducing the number of federal employees, their pay actually makes up a small percentage of the overall budget, about 6.6%. The vast majority of federal spending goes to Social Security, health care for the elderly, disabled and poor, the military and interest on the national debt.
Yesterday’s press conference, in addition to the at least questionable statements made by Trump and Musk, also came into the spotlight for one more incident. The White House banned two Associated Press reporters after the agency refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by the MAGA leader’s imposed name of “Gulf of America.”
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” said Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”
As of this week, Google Maps in the U.S. began identifying the place in question as “Gulf of America,” thus following the executive order signed by the MAGA leader. Apple Maps, on the other hand, at least for the time being, shows both toponyms.
