Trump’s former chief of staff says Elon Musk will have an easier time getting to Mars than making proposed DOGE cuts

Mick Mulvaney reportedly told clients he doubts Musk can cut $2 trillion.

Mick Mulvaney, President-elect Donald Trump’s second chief of staff, doubts that Elon Musk will achieve his lofty goal of slashing $2 trillion from the federal budget, sources told the New York Times.

On a recent call with clients of Actum, the lobbying firm where Mulvaney now works, the former Cabinet member told the 70-odd people listening to the call that Musk will soon discover that “going to Mars is easier” than radically reforming the federal budget, according to the Times. Musk founded SpaceX with a goal of colonizing the Red Planet and wore an “Occupy Mars” shirt at a Trump rally in October.

Trump recently appointed Musk the co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency, along with biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy. The two have vowed to slim the federal workforce, “delete” agencies, and fundamentally reshape how the government spends money.

As the former director of the Office of Management and Budget, which prepares the president’s budget requests for Congress, Mulvaney has intimate knowledge of how federal spending works. He said on the call that he doesn’t anticipate DOGE will successfully implement structural changes to how the federal government conducts business, and doubts that Musk will stay in his upcoming role long enough to see his goals through.

Mulvaney also reportedly predicted that tech executives, including venture capitalist David Sacks and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, will have a big influence on Trump’s second-term agenda.

Musk and Ramaswamy outlined their plans for DOGE in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. They intend to rely on recent Supreme Court rulings, sweeping executive orders, and early retirement incentives, among other measures.

Though doubts prevail, Musk has been known to succeed against all odds in the private sector — both Tesla and SpaceX have rebounded from near financial collapse, making him the richest man in the world. But he’s already faced some setbacks in his new government advisory role, such as his failed push to make Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick the nominee for Treasury secretary.

Representatives for Trump and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.