Musk, Standing Before Trump’s Cabinet, Gets Their Applause And Approval

President Donald Trump’s first word at his first Cabinet meeting went to someone who isn’t in the Cabinet.

That person, of course, was Elon Musk.

Donning his trademark “dark MAGA” baseball hat and “tech support” T-shirt under a black blazer, the multibillionaire Department of Government Efficiency chief on Wednesday joined all of the confirmed or nominated members of Trump’s Cabinet.

It was a media moment that appeared engineered to emphasize support of Musk’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government among that government’s full leadership, while also underscoring Musk’s deference to the commander-in-chief — two of the most powerful storylines in the first month of Trump’s second term.

“Is anyone unhappy with Elon? If you are, we’ll throw him out of here,” Trump said. One member could be heard shouting “grateful,” and the Cabinet applauded Musk, who is hellbent on taking a chainsaw to the bureaucracy they oversee.

“This can only be done with your support,” Musk told the people in the room, later adding that they were “the best Cabinet ever.”

Musk, a close aide to Trump, with the official title of “special government employee,” was seated at the far left of the room, not at the large table where the president, vice president and the rest of the Cabinet sat. And he was quiet for the rest of the hourlong meeting, essentially a wide-ranging news conference with reporters, several hand-selected by the White House, the day after the press secretary announced the administration would break with over a century of precedent and choose its own daily press pool.

Still, Musk’s presence in the room and plum speaking spot — taken with his recent Oval Office remarks and Fox News interview with Trump, and his ubiquity online as a surrogate for the president — showcase an unprecedented level of power afforded to Musk, the world’s richest person whose companies have billions of dollars in government contracts.

Musk’s presence there appeared aimed at showing unity among the Cabinet following a controversial email Musk sent Saturday to the entire bureaucracy asking employees to write “five things” they did the week before — and threatening that if they didn’t, he would take it as a resignation.

That email sparked panic across the government as agency leaders issued conflicting guidance, with some departments telling employees not to respond, explicitly breaking with Musk’s directive. That email, and other aggressive actions to slash spending and payroll, have sparked some backlash among GOP lawmakers, some of whom faced anger at town hall meetings.

But Musk made clear Wednesday the command had been approved by Trump — and another email would be going out soon.

“The president is the commander-in-chief. I do what the president asks,” Musk said, adding that he had called Trump to float the email idea after Trump told him to “get more aggressive.”

He argued that the email was not a performance review, but rather to see “if you have a pulse and two neurons and you can reply to an email.” Musk and Trump said they were convinced some of the federal employees had not replied because they were dead, but still being paid.

“It’s not a high bar you guys. Come on,” Musk said.

Before Musk sat, Trump, of course, got the final word.

“I’ll take Elon off the spot,” the president said. “I think that he’s impressed — he’s said it very well, better than I can say it — that he’s impressed with the people in this room, very impressed, and I am too.”

“Everybody’s on board,” Trump added.