--- title: "There’s Actually an Incredibly Easy Way for Elon Musk to Trim $2 Trillion of Government Spending: Cut Funding for Nuclear Weapons" description: "Easy As Pie Can we all agree that nuclear warfare is bad? Yes? Well, do we have an easy way that Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency can do their jobs Instead of gutting education and health agencies, the First Buddy and his DOGE lackeys could spare us all the noise and drawn-out drama and simply cut off the US's exorbitant, multi-trillion dollar nuclear weapons program.  As The Scientific American opines, this would almost single-handedly achieve Musk's promise that he'd shave $2 trillion off in federal spending. Because in years since President Obama earmarked $1 trillion towards […]" date: "2025-02-06" modified: "2025-02-06" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-budget-nuclear-weapons" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "doge" - "elon musk" - "nuclear weapons" - "the digest" --- # There’s Actually an Incredibly Easy Way for Elon Musk to Trim $2 Trillion of Government Spending: Cut Funding for Nuclear Weapons ![If Elon Musk and DOGE cut off the US's exorbitant nuclear weapons program, it would save trillions of dollars in spending.]() *\Image: Patrick Tehan / MediaNews / Mercury News via Getty / Futurism\* ## Easy as Pie Can we all agree that nuclear warfare is bad? Well, then we have an easy way that Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency can absolutely excel at his promise to cut trillions in government spending. Instead of [gutting education]() and [health agencies](), the [First Buddy]() and his [DOGE lackeys]() could spare us all the noise and drawn-out drama by simply cutting off the US's exorbitant, multi-trillion dollar nuclear weapons program. As [*The Scientific American* opines](), this would almost single-handedly achieve Musk's promise that he'd shave [$2 trillion off in federal spending](). Because in years since President Obama earmarked a mere $1 trillion towards modernizing the US's nuclear arsenal, the effort's [projected funding]() has ballooned to nearly double its initial number. Granted, that's not all money being spent in one year. But you'd still be immediately knocking off around [$50 billion](). Sounds like some efficiency-loving patriots should be looking into that, right? ## Alt-F4 Musk has signaled interest in reining in out-of-control military spending before. Last November, he tore into Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet, whose notoriously janky development [has cost taxpayers $2 trillion]() — huh, that same number again! — and counting. "Let us stop the worst military value for money in history that is the F-35 program!" Musk [wrote in a tweet](). That also sounds like a great idea. One of these overpriced jets crashed during a training exercise [just the other month](), after it malfunctioned mid-flight. Surely Musk and DOGE, who've been willing to [bulldoze through]() [legal precedents]() to achieve their aims, will do whatever it takes to stamp out this blatant example of government waste. Strangely, though, Musk hasn't said a peep about the beleaguered aircraft since — which says a lot about where his real priorities lie. ## Wake Up All told, it's all the places that Musk hasn't called to be put on the chopping block that tells the story. Does the US — or for that matter, the world — really need more nuclear weapons? Two trillion dollars**'** worth of them? Is the [current stockpile]() of over 3,700 atomic weapons not a foreboding enough of a deterrent? Who's to say. Apparently, it's stuff like DEI initiatives that are the real menace, which is what DOGE is [deciding to focus on](). Maybe someone should tell Musk that nuclear weapons are woke. **More on DOGE:** *[Elon Musk Says DOGE Will Now Shut Down Government Payments He Doesn't Like]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()