President Donald Trump used his joint address to Congress to double down on his mission to Mars.
During his speech on Tuesday night, Trump declared that his administration will “plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond,” a nod to billionaire Elon Musk.
“We are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars, and even far beyond,” said Trump, echoing a sentiment he hit on during his inaugural address.
SpaceX, Musk’s business, makes rocket ships. He has long talked about building ships that can get to Mars, but the U.S. has been focusing on getting back to the moon for the most part.
Musk also received a standing ovation from Republicans in the crowd before Trump rattled off examples of wasteful spending by the government.
“The brand new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you’ve heard of it,” Trump said during his speech. “Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight? Thank you Elon.”
After applause from Republicans, Trump took a jab at Democrats saying, “He’s working very hard. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody here, even this side, appreciates that I believe. They just don’t want to admit it.”
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“Just listen to some of the appalling waste,” Trump said. “We have already identified $22 Billion. From HHS to provide free housing and cars for illegal aliens, $45 million for diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in Burma. $40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is.”
Trump continued, “$8 million to Promote LGBTQI plus in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. $60 million for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America. $60 million. $8 million for making mice transgender. This is real. $32 million for a left wing propaganda operation in Moldova. $10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique. $20 million for the Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East.”
After listing off more examples, Trump said, “And there are far worse. But I didn’t think it was appropriate to talk about them. They’re so bad. Many more have been found out and exposed and swiftly terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people headed up by Elon, and we appreciate it.”
Trump is stepping things up a notch just one month into his presidency. Already, he is accelerating his actions to provoke progressives in Washington.
In a post on social media on Saturday, Trump praised the work of billionaire Elon Musk in exposing wasteful government spending. Musk is already the number one enemy of Democrats.
After that, he told Musk to do even more.
“ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, with typical all-caps emphasis. “REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!”
That was bad for liberals, but Musk’s answer had to be even worse.
“Will do, Mr. President!” he wrote on the social media platform X (formally known as Twitter).
Trump is going after the progressive agenda in every area, from energy and foreign policy to illegal immigration. Musk has been Trump’s main tool for investigating and getting rid of waste in the government.
Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk and his team have been given access to vital financial information for a slew of additional federal agencies following a court win on Tuesday, as a member of the DOGE squad also prepares to receive data on Internal Revenue Service operations.
