5 takeaways from Elon Musk's 100-minute town hall about DOGE and America: 'It's costing me a lot to be in this job'

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• Elon Musk held a town hall in Wisconsin on Sunday, where he talked about DOGE and America's future.
• He was there ahead of a state election that he said would affect the "entire destiny of humanity."
• Meanwhile, he floated the idea of cuts to the Fed, US Postal Service, and school administrators.

Million-dollar checks, questions about sending federal savings to taxpayers, and the future of the US government — all in a day's conversation for America's richest man.

On Sunday night, Elon Musk spoke for roughly 100 minutes at a town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as he endorsed conservative judge Brad Schimel in the state's upcoming Supreme Court election.

The session evolved into a freewheeling discussion on Musk's thoughts about the future of the US and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, as he fielded questions from supporters and bashed Democratic leaders.

Musk said little about concrete plans for DOGE, but gave Americans a further glimpse at what he thinks should be cut.

Here are the top five takeaways from Musk's town hall.

Musk gave two attendees $1 million for their support

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Musk, who started the event wearing a cheesehead hat, kicked off the talk by handing giant $1 million checks to two supporters.

These checks have been controversial. Musk had originally offered Wisconsin voters $100 each to sign a petition opposing "activist judges." That would also give them entry to a lottery for $1 million.

But this was likely to violate state laws, and Musk later said the payment would instead be compensation for the winners to be spokespersons for the event.

Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul, tried to block the $1 million giveaway, but the state's Supreme Court declined on Sunday to hear his case.

The high-profile payouts underscore the attention being heaped on the judicial election, which is set for April 1.

Wisconsin's Supreme Court has a 4-3 liberal majority, and one of its left-leaning judges, Ann Walsh Bradley, is set to retire — paving the way for a recontest of the state's ideological future. The vote is also being hyped as a litmus test for sentiment on the Trump administration's actions in the last few months.

At his Sunday event, Musk said the election would determine issues like Wisconsin's voter ID requirements in the 2026 House elections. He said this would, in turn, help determine who gains control of Congress and "steer the course of Western civilization."

"I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it's going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will," he said of the April 1 vote.

The Fed vs a Magic 8 Ball

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Musk began answering questions from supporters, during which he dropped hints about his areas of concern for DOGE.

"I think there's like 20,000 people working at the Fed? It seems pretty high," he said. The Federal Reserve said it budgeted payroll for 24,553 employees in 2024.

Musk questioned the roles of those employees.

"What do they do? And, you know, sometimes I wonder which one would win for federal interest rates. The Board of the Federal Reserve, or a magic eight-ball?" he said.

"I think the Magic 8 ball might win, you know, so then I'm like, Magic 8 ball is a lot cheaper," he added. That comparison was the subject of a poll he posted on X in November, in which X users voted overwhelmingly for the magic eight-ball.

The billionaire also took aim at schooling, saying the US had too few teachers while having too many administrators. Federal data shows more than 302,000 people were employed as school administrators for kindergarten to high school in May 2023, along with 3.8 million teachers.

Antonio Gracias, a private equity executive involved with DOGE, went onstage and led a presentation criticizing the way social services and Medicaid were disbursed to migrants entering the US illegally.

One supporter, who said he worked for the US Postal Service, asked Musk if DOGE would look into his employer.

The billionaire didn't appear to have much of a plan to share — he asked the postal worker for ideas — but raised concerns about pricing for industries that rely on large-volume local shipping.

"Some companies are not being charged the right amount for package delivery, and there's probably more administrative overhead than there should be, would be some safe guesses, I'd bet," Musk said.

He likes the government structure of 1776

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Musk said his ideal version of the federal government would be cut down to just the president, attorney general, secretary of state, secretary of defense or war, and the secretary of the treasury — like George Washington's cabinet in 1776.

"If it were entirely up to me, I'd be like: 'Let's make it like that again,'" Musk said to applause from the audience.

The hit to Tesla: 'It's costing me a lot to be in this job'

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Musk acknowledged the slump in his net worth, much of which has come from Tesla's stock price slipping from highs of nearly $480 in December to about $263 now.

Musk has lost about $103 billion since the start of 2025, Bloomberg's Billionaire Index shows. He is still $116 billion ahead of Jeff Bezos, who is listed as the world's second-richest man.

Musk said he's aware that his time spent with DOGE could be to blame.

"In fact, it's costing a lot for me to be in this job," he said.

"You know, my Tesla stock and the stock of everyone who holds Tesla stock went roughly in half," he said, adding that his role in DOGE was a "very expensive job."

Musk said he's not qualified to return DOGE's savings to taxpayers

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One young supporter asked Musk if he would consider sending checks to taxpayers out of the savings that DOGE finds, and when he might distribute those checks.

His answer: It's up to Congress or President Donald Trump.

"Well, I guess we would need to be successful at scale," he said. "We've made a lot of progress, but there's still a tremendous amount of work we need to do."

Musk said his work at DOGE would benefit American taxpayers in other ways, like reducing inflation or boosting the economy.

"One way or another, you will effectively be better off," he said.