Elon Musk Shows Up to Trump Cabinet Meeting Wearing 'Ironic' Self-Deprecating T-Shirt

Elon Musk took on the role of "tech support" for President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday when he attended the first Cabinet meeting of Trump’s second term.

“I actually call myself the humble tech support here,” Musk remarked in a video shared on social media platform X. He wore a T-shirt that had "tech support" printed across the front.

“Because this is actually … as crazy as it sounds, that is almost a literal description of the work the DOGE committee is doing,” Musk added, prompting laughter.

The Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group established by Trump, aims to cut costs in the delivery of government services.

Musk elaborated that DOGE is focused on “helping fix the government computer systems,” pointing out that many are outdated, don’t communicate effectively, and are riddled with errors. “The software doesn’t work. So, we are actually tech support,” he stated.

“It’s ironic, but it’s true,” he emphasized.

During the meeting, Musk described his initiative to have employees summarize their work as “a pulse review,” according to The Hill.

“There are fictional individuals collecting paychecks,” Musk claimed. “Are they alive, and can they write an email?”

Trump acknowledged the importance of the concern Musk raised.

“Those people are on the bubble, as they say,” Trump commented, according to NBC.

“You know, maybe they’re going to be gone, maybe they’re not around, maybe they have other jobs, maybe they moved and they’re not where they’re supposed to be.”

Trump added, “It’s possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired.”

At another point in the discussion, Musk issued a warning about the country’s financial trajectory, cautioning against reckless spending.

“We simply cannot sustain as a country $2 trillion deficits. Just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department’s spending. … If this continues, the country will become de facto bankrupt,” he warned, as reported by The Washington Post.

During the public portion of the meeting, Trump voiced his support for Musk, as noted by Newsweek.

“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, then we’ll throw them out of here,” Trump joked.

“They have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this. And some disagree a little bit. But I will tell you for the most part, I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled,” Trump said.