US politics newsletter - Elon’s world

By Jeff Mason

Feb 13 (Reuters) - As Elon Musk held court with reporters in the Oval Office this week, he faced a challenge: his four-year-old son, who spent part of the session on his father’s shoulders, was, er, intervening. “He’s sticking his fingers in my ears,” Musk said. “So, it’s been hard to hear sometimes.” Government workers and Democratic critics may think Musk has fingers in his ears proverbially, too, as he presses forward with a broad overhaul of government, with Trump’s clear blessing. Washington is Elon’s world now.

When you’re a reporter going into the Oval Office these days, you have to be ready for an onslaught of news. This is Jeff Mason writing. I was walking in with other members of the press on Tuesday evening, my head buried in my phone to alert colleagues about what was coming, when I looked up to see Musk standing next to President Donald Trump, who was seated at the Resolute Desk. Surprise!

“Fancy meeting you here,” Musk quipped to the press. “You come here often?”

Thus began an extraordinary back-and-forth between reporters and the world’s richest man, whom the world’s most powerful man has put in charge of cutting waste and tackling what they both consider fraud in the U.S. government. Trump, who normally controls such Q&As, ceded the floor to Musk , who held forth at length about the federal bureaucracy, which he described as an unelected “unconstitutional” fourth branch of government. (Musk is also unelected.)

Eventually the leader of Tesla and SpaceX looked around and noted that the reporters were awfully quiet. Cue yours truly. What was his response to detractors’ charges that he is orchestrating a hostile takeover of government? “I have detractors?” Musk asked. “You do, sir,” I replied. “You couldn’t ask for a stronger mandate from ... the public,” he said.

And that is what Trump and Musk are counting on: support from the president’s broad swath of voters as they remake government in their image. Veteran Republican budget experts said Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency so far has been focused more on an ideological assault on agencies conservatives dislike rather than a good-faith effort to save taxpayers’ money. Mass firings at multiple U.S. government agencies have begun as Trump and Musk accelerate their purge of America's federal bureaucracy.

Trump had much more on his agenda this week, too. He took over control of the Kennedy Center , pressed the king of Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza, and unveiled a plan for reciprocal tariffs against U.S. allies and competitors. Oh, and he went to the Super Bowl , where he was both cheered and booed. In Trump and Musk’s world, that’s all in a day’s (or a week’s) work.

FACT CHECK OF THE WEEK

A fake X post impersonating Musk turned the billionaire’s “free speech” mantra against him with the message, “Anyone protesting the Trump Administration will be suspended from X. All anti-Trump drama can go to a liberal echo chamber like Threads, Reddit, BlueSky, Instagram, and Facebook.” The fabricated screenshot showed some signs of being inauthentic but went viral nonetheless. Read the fact check .  Find more fact checks from around the world here .

THE VIEW FROM …. THE MIDDLE EAST

Trump has said his plan for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip was getting a positive response. Middle Eastern leaders and the Palestinians he wants to displace beg to differ. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called it a threat to world peace, Gazans rejected his proposal and even the king of Jordan, who visited the president at the White House, said no, despite lobbying from Trump in the Oval Office. Trump is holding on to his hopes for a "Riviera of the Middle East," but the Middle East itself is not on board.

THE WHO, WHAT AND WHEN

• What is Trump doing - and not doing - to tackle the US debt?

• Where do the legal cases against Trump's executive orders stand?

• Elon Musk's US Department of Defense contracts