In a surprising turn, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and spacex, has engaged in a series of interviews with major news outlets, including CNBC, CBS, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and Ars Technica. This media blitz comes despite his previous dismissals of traditional journalism. As he declared on X in January, You are the media now. The interviews suggest a concerted effort to rehabilitate his public image and mitigate potential damage to his companies stemming from political involvement with DOGE.

Breaking Away From the Administration

Mr.musk appears to be strategically distancing himself from the White House. in an upcoming interview with CBS Sunday Morning, he voiced concerns about President Trump’s fiscal policies. I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing, Mr. Musk stated. He further added, I think a bill can be big or it can be stunning, but I don’t know if it can be both.

DOGE Under Fire

In a separate interview, Mr. Musk characterized DOGE as the administration’s whipping boy. He elaborated,Something bad would happen anywhere,and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it. This shift marks a significant departure from his earlier close association with President Trump, where he was a prominent figure during Cabinet meetings and frequently enough took a leading role in discussions.

Shifting Blame and Lowering Expectations

Having reduced his involvement with DOGE,Mr. Musk seems to be setting the stage to deflect blame should the initiative fail to meet its ambitious goals. These goals include his earlier promise to cut $2 trillion in government spending. The GOP spending bill,which is expected to increase the deficit by nearly $4 trillion and increase the cost of electric vehicles, provides a convenient scapegoat.

Though, even without the spending bill, mr. Musk’s initial promises were considered unrealistic. His subsequent claim that DOGE would identify $1 trillion in cuts by the end of May also faced skepticism. When questioned about the $2 trillion promise by a Bloomberg interviewer, he called her question “absurd in its fundamental premise,” ignoring entirely his role in establishing that premise.

According to DOGE’s own figures, the group has cut $175 billion in spending. However, the accuracy of this number has been questioned due to data transparency issues. Despite these shortcomings, Mr. Musk is attempting to attribute the problems to Washington. The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized, he said. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.

Refocusing on Government Technology

Mr. Musk now appears to be tempering public expectations for DOGE. In his interview with The Washington Post, he indicated that the group will now concentrate on enhancing government technology. This is similar to the mission of the United States Digital Service before Mr. musk took over and faced significant departures of key personnel.