On Thursday, Elon Musk boldly argued that President Donald Trump should “delete entire agencies” from the U.S. government.

During a video call at the World Government Summit in Dubai, UAE, Musk criticized the federal government’s operations before Trump took office.

“We really have here rule of the bureaucracy as opposed to rule of the people – democracy,” Musk said.

“I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave a lot of them behind,” he continued. “If we don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back.”

On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order to provide the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with increased oversight of the federal government workforce.

Under Trump’s order, the heads of federal agencies are directed to “coordinate and consult” with DOGE in the hiring process and to “limit hiring to essential positions.”

The order aims to “significantly reduce the size of government,” a goal the Trump administration has already started by slashing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and targeting the elimination of the Department of Education, a promise Trump made during his campaign.

On Wednesday, President Trump called for the elimination of the Department of Education, which was established by the Carter administration in 1980. Prior to that, the federal government had the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, but the Carter administration separated it into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately. Look at the Department of Education; it’s a big con job,” Trump declared. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

This week, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on X that the Department of Education had canceled over $100 million in grants intended for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training.

The DOGE post stated, “Today, the Department of Education terminated 29 DEI training grants totaling $101mm. One sought to train teachers to ‘help students understand/interrogate the complex histories involved in oppression, and help students recognize areas of privilege and power on an individual and collective basis.’”