POLITICS: ‘Not a Happy Meeting’: Inside Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s ‘Explosive’ Feud Following Cabinet Drama – USSA News

Despite how much President Donald Trump tries to downplay it, tensions between Elon Musk and the Cabinet Secretaries are on the rise, with the friction between the billionaire and Trump’s Cabinet erupting into an explosive meeting last week.

Knewz.com has learned that the Cabinet meeting saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Musk engage in a heated argument, where the two laid bare their thoughts about each other.

At the heart of the argument was the efforts made by the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in laying off masses of federal employees as part of its mission to scan the government for places to cut federal expenditure.

According to reports, Musk charged Rubio by saying that he had not fired anyone from his Cabinet staff, and “scornfully” added that perhaps the only person Rubio laid off was a DOGE employee.

Rubio retaliated by saying that the tech mogul was not being truthful and asked whether the 1,500 State Department officials who took early retirement in buyouts did not count as layoffs.

The Secretary of State then laid out his plans for reorganizing the State Department, although Musk was reportedly “unimpressed” with it.

It has been reported that Secretary of State Rubio had secretly been furious at Musk ever since DOGE shuttered the civilian foreign aid and development assistance agency USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) as one of its first projects, slashing its workforce from 10,000 to less than 300.

During the argument, Musk also told Rubio he was “good on TV,” reportedly insinuating that “he was not good for much else.”

President Trump intervened in the conversation after the argument went on for an “uncomfortable” amount of time, per reports, and defended the Secretary of State.

He stated that Rubio was doing a “great job,” adding that “he is very busy, he is always traveling and on TV, and he has an agency to run. So everyone just needs to work together.”

Trump further stated that Musk and DOGE would only serve an advisory role when it comes to laying off federal staff and that the final call would be made by Cabinet Secretaries and Department heads.

Musk has said that he is on board with the President’s decision, according to reports.

This marked the first shift in the Trump administration’s approach towards Musk and the DOGE, which has enjoyed unrestrained authority regarding federal personnel and the fate of their jobs.

It is worth noting that Trump, Musk, and DOGE were sued by a coalition of 14 states, led by New Mexico, alleging that the department’s efforts to slash government spending are “unconstitutional.”

The states demanded that the court stop the tech billionaire from “making changes to the disbursement of public funds, government contracts, regulations or personnel, as well as receiving access to or altering data systems,” according to reports.

The states wrote in the filing:

“Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen or click of a mouse would have been shocking to those who won this country’s independence.”

However, Trump’s latest statement seems to indicate that he intends to put the DOGE on a shorter leash.

Trump has also been trying to downplay the rising friction between the Cabinet secretaries and Musk in his recent statements, where he wrote that the “meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others” was a “very positive one.”

“The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he added.

In a statement on Sunday, March 9, Trump said, “I don’t think the tensions are high… Elon’s a very special person and and these Cabinet people are special people. I think they have a fantastic relationship to Elon.”

However, he did admit that there has been a little difference of opinion between Trump’s cabinet and Musk: “That doesn’t mean they don’t have a little bit of an argument here and there about something.”

Regarding how the Trump administration intends to handle DOGE, Trump wrote on Truth Social:

“It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people. We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done.”

Trump further stated:

“I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing. As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the “scalpel” rather than the “hatchet.” The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.”

“I want the numbers but I also want to keep the good people,” the president explained to reporters in the Oval Office.

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