Michael Smerconish: ‘I Know that Many of You Are Thrilled that Elon Musk Is Gone; I‘m Not’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
>> Well, for Elon Musk, it‘s time.
>> To get out of doge.
>> A Michael Smerconish today in New York City.
>> He had to leave.
>> As a special government employee. Musk reached his limit of 130 days of service. Musk‘s exit led to a joint Trump Musk presser yesterday. Trump thanked Musk for his service to America. Musk noted he still expects to achieve the trillion dollars in cuts that he promised, and both think he‘ll be back.
>> I expect to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like advice.
>> I hope so.
>> Some speculated the farewell was not so fond, especially after Musk several days ago threw some shade on the latest economic bill supported by the White House because of his concerns that it would add to the deficit and debt. Back in November, I had a poll [email protected]. I asked when thice would end. Here was the result. Nearly half thought that it wouldn‘t last 100 days, but it did. But where he worked in the White House longer than the first 100 days, but not until the midterms. I guess 27% came the closest. I know that many of you are thrilled that Elon Musk is gone. I‘m not. Don‘t get me wrong, I don‘t like the way that doge went about its job. Mostly anonymous, totally rogue. Outside the lines. Yes. Erratic. Seemingly unplanned as far as I can tell. Inconsistent as to the edicts. You‘re fired if you don‘t summarize your week. Oh, no, you‘re not. Still, according to doge, they saved the government around $170 billion. Many challenged that number. But even if it‘s half that or less is better than nothing. On top of which, I‘m willing to give Musk and President Trump some credit for sparking a conversation about waste, fraud, and abuse. The first that I can recall since simpson-bowles was debated on President Obama‘s watch back in 2010. I just wish it hadn‘t been so misguided. I re writing for Politico, observed the following. Musk was a creature of Silicon Valley, a scion of the paypal mafia whose leadership and willingness to take big risks propelled him to unparalleled wealth and influence. Washington, he would soon discover, was an entirely different beast, and in the end, it proved too unwieldy for Musk to truly leave his mark. He was a man used to breaking things in order to put them back together in his own image. But the fiefdoms of Trump‘s Washington proved shatter resistant. Sending the world‘s richest man scrambling back to his other ventures. I find that to be so depressing. Count me among the many who has lamented the absence of critical thinking, disruptive influencers within the bureaucracy. If only a Steve jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos would apply their savvy to Washington. I‘ve often said, sometimes on radio, I go so far as to joke that if Steve jobs had lived and applied himself to a problem one that one that bedevils all of us, he‘d have come up with a permanent solution to the bane of our existence potholes. And such is my reverence for jobs that I actually mean it. Well, Musk at least stepped into the arena. He was willing to take his lumps. He made a great effort at personal sacrifice. I think he really did want to streamline government and reduce our 37 trillion in debt. That‘s over 100 g‘s per person. By the way, President Trump, I‘m not so sure. He never spoke of our debt during the campaign. I‘ve always worried that his objective was to remake government in his image. And if we reduce the debt along the way, well, that would be an added benefit. And I think any savings that Trump could demonstrate might be used as a justification for a tax cut in the so-called big beautiful bill, over which, as noted above, Musk has parted company with the president.
>> I was like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill. Frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it and undermines the work that the doge team is doing.
>> Here‘s something else from that Politico piece that I quoted. It says behind the scenes, though, Musk was clashing with some of the cabinet secretaries whose agencies he was hell bent on hollowing reports of these and sometimes profane interactions between Musk and other top administration officials, including secretary of state Marco Rubio and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, began to surface in news reports. And Musk and Peter Navarro, Trump‘s trade guru, publicly sparred over Musk‘s disagreement with Trump‘s sprawling tariff regime. Again, not in defense of a haphazard approach that generated many debunked claims. But I doubt I‘m alone in appreciating that somebody was willing to stand up and demand accountability, even from cabinet secretaries. That too long overdue. I read two things this week with relevance to our deficit and debt. The first was from Peter Orszag. He was President Obama‘s director of omb. He wrote an essay for The New York Times, and he warned the following. The wolf is now lurking much closer to our door. Annual federal budget deficits are running at 6% of GDP or higher, compared with well under 3% a decade ago. Interest rates on 10 year treasuries have more than doubled, around 4.5%. now, versus over just 2% then. And in the current fiscal year, the government is projected to spend more on interest payments than on defense, Medicaid or Medicare. That‘s right. Our borrowing now costs us more each year than each of these big budget items. And with regard to the big beautiful bill, orszag said this in its current form, the budget legislation moving through Congress would only exacerbate the challenges we face by further expanding the deficit. But the first step toward fiscal health is not any specific bill or policy proposal. It‘s to recognize that our fiscal risks are alarmingly elevated, that we won‘t make much progress on the trade deficit unless we reduce its twin, the budget deficit. The second reading of significance was actually in a work of fiction. On Tuesday, former president Bill Clinton and bestselling author James Patterson will release a new thriller. It‘s called the first gentleman. I‘ve already read it. It‘s about a husband of the nation‘s female president. He‘s a former NFL player, and he‘s charged in the murder of a cheerleader. It will be a great beach read. But here‘s the thing a subplot in this novel involves the president‘s desire to get a grand bargain through Congress. And what‘s the grand bargain? It‘s a serious effort to address our long-term fiscal instability. I figured this was one of President Clinton‘s contributions to the novel. Given that the last time the nation had a budget surplus surplus, it was on his watch. In the book, there‘s actually a detailed plan put forth to solve the nation‘s debt. I‘m not going to give away the murderer or the plot, but when I spoke to President Clinton this week, we did discuss the book‘s fiscal plan. It involves a 15% global corporate tax rate that gets around tax shelters, as well as repealing the carried interest tax rate that many see as a loophole for hedge fund managers. There‘s much more to it than that. And that‘s just one potential plan. The point is this we must take our debt seriously. President Clinton notes that the problem has gotten worse in the last five years. Our debt is growing at an unsustainable rate, and Trump‘s new budget, with a renewal of a huge tax cut, will probably make that much worse. So I share President Clinton‘s concerns for our fiscal well-being. Look, given the public perception of doge, much of it merited, I just worry that this effort poisoned the well. For the next time somebody is willing to try. Say what you will, but at least Elon Musk tried. So I‘m sorry. Washington one that the establishment held that the