Musk grabs spotlight: 5 takeaways from Trump’s first Cabinet meeting
President Trump hosted the first Cabinet meeting of his second term Wednesday, gathering top officials in one place and fielding questions for roughly an hour.
Trump addressed his administration’s efforts to drastically slash the size of the federal workforce, the conflict in Ukraine and tariffs, among other topics. He was joined by Cabinet officials and Elon Musk, who has amassed significant power as he leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Here are five takeaways from the meeting.
Musk steals spotlight
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of the social platform X, is not technically part of the president’s Cabinet, but his influence was on full display as he joined Wednesday’s meeting.
Trump recognized Musk to speak first. Musk referred to himself as “humble tech support,” but his comments reflected his wide-reaching role.
“The overall goal here with the DOGE team is to help address the enormous deficit. We simply cannot sustain as a country $2 trillion deficits,” Musk said, outlining how his team is seeking to update government computer systems while also dramatically reducing the federal deficit.
At one point, Musk acknowledged the DOGE team had “accidentally” canceled an Ebola prevention program.
“We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect,” said Musk, who added that he has been getting “a lot of death threats” with his increasing political profile.
Musk’s presence created a somewhat awkward dynamic, as his presence overshadowed the Senate-confirmed agency leaders who were in the room and have been tasked with carrying out Trump’s agenda.
“Elon, let the Cabinet speak just for a second,” Trump said at one point. “Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, we’ll throw them out of here.”
Several Cabinet members applauded.
Trump promises sweeping workforce cuts
The Cabinet meeting took place shortly after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed agencies across government to turn over plans for widespread layoffs of federal employees by March 13.
Trump and Musk both made clear that cutting back the size of the federal workforce was top of mind.
“We wish to keep everyone who is doing a job that is essential and doing a job well,” Musk said. “But if the job is not essential or they’re not doing the job well, they obviously should not be on the public payroll.”
Musk sparked confusion in recent days when he posted on X that federal workers should send their bosses a list of 5 accomplishments from the past week or face termination. The White House has said workers should heed the instructions of their agency leaders on whether to respond, and the OPM said responses were voluntary.
But Trump and Musk defended the initiative during Wednesday’s meeting. Musk described it as a “pulse check,” while he and Trump claimed some workers who don’t respond may not even exist.
“Some of the secretaries, we’re going to be going to them, we’re going to be talking about it today — we're going to ask them to do their own DOGE,” Trump said, signaling individual Cabinet agencies would be asked to slash spending and workers.
Trump said Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, “thinks he'll be cutting 65 percent or so of the people” there.
Zelensky meeting set amid questions about Ukraine
Trump confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the White House on Friday as the two leaders look to finalize a deal that would see the U.S. invest in Ukraine’s critical minerals supply.
The meeting will take place with the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly critical comments about Zelensky and his push to end the war in Ukraine. Trump demurred Wednesday when asked about security guarantees for Ukraine.
“We're going to have Europe do that,” said Trump, describing Europe as Ukraine’s “next-door neighbor."
"But we’re going to make sure everything goes well.”
Trump went on to suggest the critical minerals deal amounted to “automatic security,” because “nobody’s going to be messing around with our people.”
Trump last week raised eyebrows when he called Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” claimed he was doing a “terrible job” and suggested he was responsible for the start of the war.
Monday marked three years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after amassing troops on the border and demanding a ban on Ukraine ever joining NATO. The invasion took place nearly a decade after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Trump hits EU, Canada over trade
Some of Trump’s harshest criticism was reserved for some of traditional American allies as he railed against U.S. trade imbalances.
“Let's be honest: The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States," Trump said. “That's the purpose of it, and they've done a good job of it, but now I'm the president."
Trump also swiped at Canada, claiming the country is almost entirely dependent on the U.S. economically.
“Without us, Canada can’t make it,” Trump said. “I say Canada should be our 51st state.”
The president’s administration is preparing to slap tariffs on Canada, the European Union and other nations and specific goods.
Trump had delayed planned 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports until March 3 as he pushed for additional action to stop the flow of illegal drugs across the border. The president said Wednesday he would not be “stopping the tariffs.”
Other tariffs are expected to go into effect in early April, including reciprocal tariffs on any countries that have duties on American products. Trump has also threatened tariffs on imports of automobiles, pharmaceutical materials and semiconductors.
Other Cabinet secretaries weigh in
Wednesday’s meeting offered an opportunity for the White House press corps to ask questions of other Cabinet secretaries, or for Trump to press certain issues with agency leaders.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, was asked about a measles outbreak in Texas, a particularly sensitive issue given Kennedy’s rhetoric about vaccines.
“There are two people who have died, but we’re watching it … and we’re going to continue to follow it,” Kennedy told reporters.
Trump said “every single one” of the generals involved in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan should be fired.
“I'm not going to tell this man what to do, but I will say that if I had his place, I'd fire every single one of them,” Trump said, gesturing to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, seated beside him.
Hegseth replied that the Pentagon is “doing a complete review of every single aspect of what happened” with the deadly and chaotic August 2021 withdrawal and plans “to have full accountability.”
And Trump deferred to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to discuss the rising prices of eggs and how the administration is seeking to address the issue.
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