"America will go bankrupt...": Elon Musk criticises high trade deficit, expenditure of tax money

Washington, DC [US], February 19 : Tesla CEO and DOGE Head, Elon Musk, criticised the current state of US spending, saying that an average citizen in the country "should be made as hell" over the expenditure of the tax money.
In an interview with Fox News telecast on Tuesday (local time), Musk said that US President Donald Trump inherited a USD 2 trillion trade deficit. He further warned that "America will go bankrupt" if it fails to bring the deficit under control.
Criticising the USAID spending, he added, "I think the average taxpaying American should be mad as hell because their tax money is being poorly spent."
"Well, the -- the overall goal is to try to get a trillion dollars out of the deficit. And if we if the deficit is not brought under control, America will go bankrupt. This is a very important thing for people to understand. A country is no different from an individual, in that if an individual overspends, an individual can go bankrupt, and so can a country. And the out, the massive waste, fraud, and abuse that has been going on, which is leading to a USD 2-trillion-a-year deficit, that's what the president was handed on Jan 20th, a USD 2 trillion deficit. It's insane," he said in the interview.
Donald Trump agreed, saying, "Yes, we inherited it." He said that inflation is back, but he has nothing to do with it, as the Democrats ran the country for the last 4 years.
"No, think of it, inflation is back. And they said, "...I had nothing to do with it. These people have run the country. They spent money like nobody has ever spent. They were given USD 9 trillion to throw out the window -- USD 9 trillion, and they spent it on the Green New Scam, I call it. It's the greatest scam in the history of the country. One of them. We have a lot of them, I guess. But one of them," Trump said.
Stating that there are "hundreds of billions of dollars worth of fraud" in the system, Trump said Musk is doing an "amazing job" with the DOGE.
Trump spoke about the waste and fraud that Elon Musk and DOGE is finding and stressed that Musk is doing an "amazing job."
"They're finding things far worse than that. And they're finding billions and it will be hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of fraud. I say waste and abuse, but fraud, waste, and abuse. And he's doing an amazing job. And he attracts a young, very smart type of person. I call them high-IQ individuals, and they are very high IQ. And when they go in to see the people and talk to these people -- you know, the people think they're going to pull it over. They don't. These guys are smart, and they love the country. You know, there's a certain something. But he uses the word "care." So, people have to care," Donald Trump told Fox News.
The DOGE Head also hit back at the criticism faced by Democrats over DOGE cuts and blamed the bureaucracy for the criticism for not allowing the implementation of presidential orders.
In the interview, Musk said that they are trying to restore the will of the people through the president and if the will of the president, who is the representative of the people, is not implemented, it implies that they do not live in a democracy but bureaucracy.
He said that there's a vast bureaucracy that is opposed to President Trump and the Cabinet and cited the voting in favour of former US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, DC.
When asked about Democrats' criticism over DOGE cuts, Musk said, "Why are they reacting like this...Well, I guess...if we're the target, we're doing something right. Like, they wouldn't be complaining so much if we weren't doing something useful, I think. All we're really trying to do here is restore the will of the people through the president. And what we're finding is there's an unelected bureaucracy. Speaking of unelected, there's a vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably opposed to the president and the Cabinet. And you look at, say, DC voting. It's 92 percent Kamala. Okay, so we're in 92 percent Kamala. That's a lot," he added.
"I think about that number a lot. I'm like, 92 percent. That's, basically, almost everyone. And so but if -- but how can you -- if the will of the president is not implemented, and the president is representative of the people, that means the will of the people is not being implemented, and that means we don't live in a democracy, we live in a bureaucracy. And so, I think what we're seeing here is the sort of, the thrashing of the bureaucracy as we try to restore democracy and the will of the people," Musk further said.
US President Donald Trump said that he aimed to get good people on board and praised Musk, calling him an "amazing and caring person." He mentioned an example that if a government agency signs a contract for three months and leaves that signed contract and they pay the contract for 10 years.
"And my goal was to get great people. And when you look at what this man has done, I mean, it was something -- I knew him a little bit through the White House. Originally, I'd see him around a little bit. I didn't know him before that, and I respected what he did. And he fought hard. You know, he was maybe questioned for a while. He was having some difficulties. It was not easy doing what he did. I mean, how many people have started a car company and made it really successful and made a better car where it's, you know, beating these big companies that that's all they do is cars? I mean, it's really amazing the things that he's done. But, I didn't know it as much then as now. I mean, the fruits have sort of taken hold. But I wanted great people, and he's a great person. He's an amazing person. He's also a caring person. You know, he uses the word care," Trump said.
"So, they sign a contract in a government agency, and it has three months. And the guy leaves that signed the contract, and nobody else is there, and they pay the contract for 10 years. So, the guy is getting checks for years and years and years, and he's telling his family, obviously -- maybe it was crooked, maybe he paid to get the contract, or maybe he paid that they didn't terminate him. But, you know, we have contracts that go forever, and they've been going for years, and they're supposed to end in three months or five months or two years or something, and they go forever, So, the guy is either crooked -- you know, where he knew this was going to happen -- or he's crooked because he's getting payments that he knows he shouldn't be getting. But they're finding things like that," he added.
Elon Musk said that winning the election is opportunity to fix the system and "restore the power of democracy."
During the interview, Trump also slammed some media outlets like MSNBC, CNN, PBS, AP and CBS, calling them "bad, horrible and terrible." He even accused CBS of changing an answer of Kamla Harris.