Reporter David Pogue asked SpaceX CEO about his thoughts on Donald Trump’s policies, including increased restrictions on international students, so Elon Musk’s interview with CBS Sunday morning appears to have gotten off to a troubling start.
“We want to stick to the subject of the day. It’s like a spaceship, in contrast to presidential policy,” Musk said.
Pogue was surprised and replied, “Ah, it’s okay, ‘Whatever” said.”
“No,” Musk said as he looked into the distance. “Well… no.”
However, he commented on the controversy over the efficiency of his government, with active cuts throughout the federal agency, and that Musk has become a “flashing boy for everything.”
“Everyone would blame Doge if there were any realistic or imagined cuts,” he said.
Musk also suggested that he was “bound” when it comes to the Trump administration, saying that “I don’t want to oppose the administration, but I don’t want to be held responsible for everything the administration is doing.”
The Pogue interview took place on Tuesday before SpaceX’s Starship test flight. This successfully launched the ship, but lost control of re-entry. He was asked if there is anything in addition to SpaceX that would link his various companies together. Tesla (facing an ongoing anti-muscle protest), Xai and X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink, and the boring company – Musk replied, “I think you can think of a business as something that improves the trajectory of probability.”
At the time, Musk was probably pulling back from his government work, but he said he would remain involved for “a day or two” a week. He told Pogue: “Doge will continue to live a life, and I will take part in it in some way, but as I have publicly said, my focus must be on the corporations at this point.”
Pogue noted after their conversation that an interview clip in Musk’s comments criticizing the Trump-backed budget bill promoted their own news cycle. And soon, Musk said he was finishing his time as a special government employee. But Trump later said Musk “hasn’t actually left.”