Musk and Rubio make up after USAID funding clash

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Elon Musk settled their week-long feud this morning — through their shared love of eliminating government waste. How cute!

The spat began during last week’s cabinet meeting when Musk and Rubio clashed over their different approaches to cutting the US Agency for International Development. The New York Times reported that Musk called out Rubio for firing “nobody,” arguing that he was unwilling to dismiss large groups of employees. Rubio responded by saying that more than 1,500 State Department officials had retired early or accepted redundancy offers under his leadership, the Times reported.

President Donald Trump, who led the meeting, took a hands-off approach as the two men debated before eventually intervening, saying Rubio was doing a “great job.” After the meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social that the cabinet meeting was “a very positive one.” He shared that DoGE and Musk would be working with department secretaries to help cut spending while retaining “the best and most productive people.”

Trump likened this approach to using a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet” — a far cry from the silver chainsaw Musk received from Argentine President Javier Milei.

Over the weekend, Trump attempted to make peace between Musk and Rubio over dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday evening. He also reassured the public that “ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP” in an all-caps post on Truth Social. The cold-open sketch that began Saturday Night Live featured a parody of the dispute, with Mike Myers playing Elon Musk.

But the private tensions were publicly reconciled this morning as Rubio announced on X that, after a six-week review, 83 percent of USAID programs would be canceled, as they did not serve “the core national interests of the United States.” He added that the State Department would take over the remaining 17 percent of programs. He thanked DoGE in his post, to which Musk responded, “Tough, but necessary. Good working with you.”