Trump brings Musk to first cabinet meeting to reinforce his power: "Whoever is not in favor, let them say so"

WashingtonElon Musk has participated as a member of Donald Trump's administration in the first cabinet meeting that was held. After the joint appearance from the Oval Office, the inclusion of Musk The meeting with cabinet members is once again a message about the billionaire's power within the Republican government. Trump wants to reestablish the authority of his right-hand man, which was damaged after some government secretaries rejected his ultimatum to federal workers, and he also wants to paper over the first cracks in the government bloc.

Last weekend, DOGE sent an email to all federal workers asking them to explain what tasks they had done the previous week under threat of firing them if they did not respond. Heads of some agencies and departments, such as the new FBI director, Kash Patel (a faithful Trump supporter), ordered their employees to ignore the email. In the case of workers at the FBI, the CIA, Justice or the State Department, there was a risk of compromising critical information if they did so. Musk's aggressiveness at the head of DOGE seems to be irritating some members of the presidential cabinet.

Musk did not have a seat at the table, but was instead seated in one of the chairs in the room, next to the door. Trump has defended before the cabinet members the ultimatum that Musk sent to federal workers. "I think everyone at this table is very much in favor of it, and if they're not, I'd like them to say so, but they're very much in favor of it. Letters were sent to people just to find out if they exist. Do they work? Who do they work for? Where are they? Where have they been working? If they've been working for other companies or other entities, paid by the government," said the president.

From his corner of the room, Musk explained the work of DOGE. As usual, he appeared in his black cap and T-shirt, contradicting the traditional White House dress code. "I'm just technical support here," the billionaire began by saying, who again defended the goal of achieving "a deficit reduction of one trillion dollars in the fiscal year 2026" and that implies "saving 4 billion dollars a day, every day, from now until the end of September." Musk has also thanked the support of the federal departments and agencies in his work, ignoring the opposition of recent days.

Before the meeting, the president had already published a post on Truth Social, where he said: "All the cabinet members are extremely happy with Elon. The media will see that at the meeting this morning!" Once inside the meeting room, Trump insisted that he "respects" Musk's work, although he acknowledged that "some disagree a little, but overall I think everyone is really happy." Coinciding with the president's desire to project an image of unity and good harmony, there was no shortage of canned laughter from members of the government and praise for Musk during the meeting. "President Trump has assembled the best cabinet," said the billionaire to praise the other department heads who were present.

Regarding the ultimatum he sent by mail to federal workers over the weekend - and which he had to backtrack by granting a "second chance" to employees - Musk assured that he was only following orders from the president. "The president encouraged me via Truth Social and he followed it up with a call to be more aggressive. And he was like, 'Of course, Mr. President.' The president is the commander in chief and I do what the president asks. So we sent an email out to everybody. Just to say it again: The president said that Yeah and I did." Musk has already announced that they will send a second email and that they may respond by saying that the work is classified without giving further details.

When asked by reporters how many workers he had proposed to fire, Muesco replied generally: "Vol r the theory invented by Musk - and which is not supported by any evidence - that there were federal workers who "don't even exist" but were paid for the idea of the ultimatum. The president has been buying Musk's theory for days and has not stopped repeating it.

Trump also gave more details on the program of the gold cards Trump announced Tuesday from the Oval Office. The president defended the visas, which will be sold for $5 million, as a way to attract talent to the country while also addressing the country's debt.

"We may not sell a lot, but I think we will sell a lot, because I truly believe that no other country could do this. People don't want to go to other countries, they want to come here, everyone wants to come here, especially since November 5th," Trump said.