Elon Musk began and ended his town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Sunday by urging attendees to back conservative Brad Schimel in the state's high-stakes Supreme Court election Tuesday.
But the bulk of Musk's nearly two-hour event was ultimately focused not on the off-year election that he has poured millions of dollars into — which he said could "affect the entire destiny of humanity" — but rather the work of his Department of Government Efficiency, as he outlined its purpose and defended its work against naysayers who've questioned the constitutionality of the sweeping cuts to the federal government overseen by the group.
"The very simple, straightforward goal of the DOGE team is to get rid of waste and fraud. It's mostly waste. It's or, depending on how, you know, I'd say it's probably 80% waste, 20% fraud, something like that," he said.
There has been broad backlash to how DOGE has enacted its sweeping cuts to the federal government’s workforce and spending, with an NBC News poll this month finding a majority of voters have negative views of both Musk and the entity he helped create.
In an apparent effort to change the perception of DOGE, Musk said its work could ultimately curb inflation.
“People see the prices rising at the grocery store or for goods and services or for houses, and they tend to, like, blame the store, but it’s not the store, it’s the government. The government has reduced the value of money, and as a result, prices rise. So by changing — by reducing waste and fraud, we'll essentially make the economy more efficient," he said.
Musk answered questions about the formation and naming of DOGE, dismissed the idea that the federal government would use Dogecoin, deflected when he was asked when "DOGE checks" would be sent to Americans and responded directly to critics who assert his work to significantly curb government spending is unconstitutional.
"When I get these sort of attacks of like, oh, it's unconstitutional, I mean, like, well, which expenditure is unconstitutional that we have stopped?" Musk said. "They don't know, actually, because they don't — they haven't actually looked at anything."
The attacks Musk has faced working in lockstep with the White House to implement President Donald Trump's agenda were another focus of the event, with one attendee using his question to have his father pray for Musk's protection.
The attacks, Musk said, included vandalism to Tesla vehicles and the drop in value of the company's stock from its once record highs.
Musk has poured significant resources into the state's Supreme Court race, which he argued could affect Trump's ability to enact his agenda. In addition to the two $1 million checks he awarded to voters Sunday night despite a lawsuit from the state's attorney general, his PAC has invested roughly $12 million in the effort, largely focused on canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts.
The checks, which Musk offered to any Wisconsin voter willing to sign a petition against "activist judges," faced a legal challenge by Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul, who argued the giveaways were illegal. The state Supreme Court ultimately declined to intervene.
