Elon Musk: Government support for me, but not for thee

As Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s DOGE team gains access to US government agencies’ computer systems to root out suspected waste and fraud, Musk and his supporters appear to be SHOCKED to find that the government pays money to businesses for things like subscriptions to news publications.

President Trump posted on Truth Social today that finding $8 million worth of government subscriptions to the widely read Politico Pro newsletter could be “THE BIGGEST SCANDAL OF THEM ALL.”

Musk has been updating his followers on X with examples of government spending he finds outrageous, including government support of National Public Radio.

The nature of the government financial support that NPR receives is a little complicated, as federal law mandates the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to distribute funds to local public TV and radio stations, which in turn choose to pay NPR to license programming like “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”

NPR’s website says that “on average, less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments.”

Basically, a federal law passed by Congress in 1976 created public funding infrastructure to serve the public good, and a portion of those funds flow to NPR, which is largely supported by corporate sponsorships, programming fees, and listener donations.

Musk.gov

But much of Musk’s vast business empire might not exist were it not for significant taxpayer support in the form of loans and subsidies.

Tesla

• In 2010, the Obama administration agreed to loan pre-IPO Tesla $465 million through the US Department of Energy to expand its business and support a domestic EV industry. Tesla paid the loan back in 2013, a year early (resulting in a penalty).

• Tesla received $64 million in state and local tax incentives for its Texas Gigafactory.

• Tesla has received over $41.9 million in federal contracts since 2008.

• Tesla has benefited from state government incentives related to its factories, such as Nevada’s $1.3 billion incentives for its sprawling Nevada Gigafactory — including another $330 million to expand the facility.

Yet Musk is calling for an end to the $7,500 EV tax credit that his company benefits from, tweeting, “Take away the subsidies. It will only help Tesla.”

SpaceX

Musk’s SpaceX counts the US government as a key customer for launching satellites and sending astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.

• SpaceX has received over $18.5 billion in revenue from the Department of Defense and NASA.

• SpaceX’s Starlink has government contracts for supplying space-based internet to Ukrainian troops through the DOD.

• Starlink also had contracts with USAID, the current target of Musk’s cost-cutting campaign.

Musk’s business entanglements with government agencies are now under increased scrutiny as lawmakers scramble to understand what exactly Musk’s team of teenage staffers are doing with newly granted access to several government agencies.

Yesterday, in his capacity as ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Senator Richard Blumenthal sent letters to six of Musk’s companies (Tesla, SpaceX, X, xAI, The Boring Company, and Neuralink) demanding information surrounding possible conflicts of interests arising from Musk’s DOGE activities.

Blumenthal wrote:

“Mr. Musk’s dual roles — running a for-profit corporation while serving in public office — not only create glaring conflicts of interest that pose grave risks for America’s most sacred institutions, but may also violate federal law… PSI is conducting a preliminary inquiry into DOGE and the ramifications of its conduct. ”