(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Are Elon Musk and fellow Trump officials feuding? The liberal New York Times wants its readers to believe so.
The Trump cabinet met on Thursday to discuss best practices for reducing government waste and fraud. The meeting allegedly turned fiery when Musk singled out Secretary Marco Rubio for his alleged failure to fire bureaucrats within his agency. The Times’s Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman reported the exchange on Friday.
Musk reportedly said Rubio had fired “nobody.” In response, Rubio countered that over 1,500 State Department employees had taken early retirement buyouts. He sarcastically asked whether Musk wanted to rehire them for a performative mass firing and then detailed his goals to reorganize the State Department.
“Mr. Musk was unimpressed,” Swan and Haberman reported. “He told Mr. Rubio he was ‘good on TV,’ with the clear subtext being that he was not good for much else.” The reporters noted that Trump stood silent while observing his two officials debate.
The clash was not limited to Musk and Rubio, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also bumping heads with Musk and DOGE, the federal initiative aimed at cutting government waste and fraud.
Duffy reportedly pushed back against Musk’s team and their attempt to fire air traffic controllers. “What am I supposed to do? Mr. Duffy said. I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?” Swan and Haberman claimed.
Musk dismissed Duffy’s comment as a “lie” and demanded to know who had asked for air traffic controllers to be fired. Duffy affirmed there were no names because he had already halted the proposed firings.
Musk further said that control towers might have been infiltrated by workers hired under so-called diversity, equity and inclusion programs—an assertion that Duffy also pushed back against.
Following the heated exchange, Trump concluded that Musk would continue as an advisor to federal agencies, with final termination decisions resting with the respective secretaries.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the meeting as “great and productive,” noting that cabinet members met to “discuss cost-cutting measures and staffing across the federal government.”
She added, “Everyone is working as one team to help President Trump deliver on his promise to make our government more efficient.”
Trump tapped Musk—the wealthiest man in the world—to help lead DOGE. To date, DOGE has saved taxpayers billions by canceling wasteful leftist initiatives and grants.
🚨 NEW: Elon Musk walks out of the Oval Office with Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, on their way to board Marine One
If Elon is laughing along with Susie, you KNOW the New York Times article about tension between Musk and the Trump administration are bullsht.
Again: NYT is… pic.twitter.com/XkdSyZyL5H
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 8, 2025
