US President Donald Trump on Tuesday heaped praise for tech billionaire Elon Musk as they discussed his leadership of the department of government efficiency (DOGE), space exploration, and their longstanding relationship.
In a joint interview with Musk on Fox News, trump praised musk for his intelligence and claimed that he couldn’t have found someone smarter to lead DOGE.
“I wanted somebody really smart to work with me in terms of the country… He’s a leader. Yeah. He gets it done. I wanted to find somebody smarter than him. I searched all over. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t find anyone smarter for the country. But this is the thing. We settled on this guy”, he said.
Musk responded with a smile, “Well, thanks for having me.”
Trump also praised Musk’s, lauding his work with SpaceX, especially his Starlink satellite program, which has provided vital communication support in disaster-hit areas. Recounting the call he made to Musk during the North Carolina disaster, Trump said, “He got like thousands of units of this communication and it saved a lot of lives. He got it immediately, and I said, that’s pretty amazing.”
During the interview Trump also took a potshot at Musk’s team on how they dress worse than the tech billionaire.
“He’s got some very brilliant young people working for him that dress much worse than him, actually… They dress in just t-shirts,” Trump said.
The president also confirmed that Musk would recuse himself from any decisions involving potential conflicts of interest, noting, “If there’s a conflict, he won’t be involved. I mean, I wouldn’t want that, and he wouldn’t want it.”
Musk, in turn, praised Trump’s leadership, calling his 2024 presidential election victory an “opportunity to fix the system.” Musk emphasized that the president’s competence and care for the American people would lead to better outcomes, stating, “The president cared. The president was competent. And so when you add more competence and caring, you get a better deal for the American people.”
Trump also reflected on the media’s attempts to drive a wedge between him and Musk.
“They tried it. Then they stopped. Actually, Elon called me. He said, you know, they’re trying to drive us apart… They said, ‘We have breaking news. Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk.’ It’s just so obvious. They’re so bad at it, Trump said.
To this, Musk responded “I respect him. I’ve always respected him. I never knew that he was right on certain things. And I’m usually pretty good at this stuff. He did Starlink. He did things that were so advanced that nobody knew what the hell they were.”