Elon Musk savages 'idiot' Bono over 'lies' about DOGE on Joe Rogan

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Elon Musk unleashed a storm of fury against U2 frontman Bono, branding the rock legend a 'liar' and an 'idiot' after the singer claimed Musk's proposed DOGE cuts to USAID have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience on Friday, Bono, 65, whose real name is Paul David Hewson, criticized proposed funding reductions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a federal body led by Musk that aims to streamline US agencies.
The longtime humanitarian claimed the cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have already resulted in more than 300,000 deaths worldwide, including over 200,000 children suffering from malnutrition, malaria and pneumonia.
'It's not proven, but there is surveillance enough to suggest that 300,000 people have already died from just this cut off, this hard cut, of USAID,' Bono said.
He alleged that mass layoffs have left tons of food, water and medical aid undelivered.
'There's food rotting in boats and warehouses,' Bono continued. 'There is 50,000 tons of food that are stored in Djibouti, South Africa, Dubai... that is rotting rather than going to Gaza or Sudan. Because the people who knew the codes for the warehouses [where the food is stored] were fired ... gone. What is that? That's not America, is it?'
Musk, clearly incensed, took to X, formerly Twitter, to scorch the U2 frontman.
'He's such a liar/idiot. Zero people have died!' the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO wrote in a now-viral post.
But, he didn't stop there - Musk followed up with: 'Got a big one here @lfindRetards.'
Later, he posted a clip from South Park titled 'Is Bono the Biggest Piece of Crap in the World?' with the caption 'Bono.'
Bono cited a study by Boston University professor Brooke Nichols to support his claims, he also acknowledged concerns about downsizing government but warned that steep cuts to the aid agency are already having dire consequences.
'To destroy, to vandalize, it felt like with glee, that these life support systems were being pulled out of the walls,' Bono said before referencing a story published in Christianity Today.
'[One worker said], "We don't have the funds, we have to choose which child to pull off the IVs." It just seems to me, I don't know if "evil" is too strong a word, but what we know about pure evil is that it rejoices in the deaths, in the squandering of human life - particularly children. It actually rejoices in it. And whether it's incompetence, whether it's unintended consequences, it's not too late for people.'
Bono added that he raised the issue with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who he said is 'convinced people aren't dying yet.'
Rogan, 57, then challenged Bono's position, describing USAID as a 'money-laundering operation' that has lost even a 'trillion' dollars with 'no oversight, no receipts.'
While the organization has faced credible accusations of waste and fraud, such cases are believed to represent only a small portion of its $40 billion budget.
Still, the Trump administration placed most USAID workers on leave in February after Musk declared it a 'criminal organization' and said it was 'time to die.'
That said, Rogan acknowledged the humanitarian necessity of USAID's work.
'We help the world, and when you're talking about making wells for people in the Congo to get fresh water, when you're talking about food and medicine to places that don't have access - no way that should have been cut out. And that should have been clear before they make these radical cuts. There's got to be a way to keep aid and not have fraud.'
Rogan also noted, 'The ironic thing is, even though Elon Musk has proposed all these things and the DOGE committee has proposed all these things, they've made no cuts in terms of the budget. They've cut nothing.'
Musk and Rubio's insistence that 'zero people have died' may refer to the fact that the 300,000 figure is a projection, not a confirmed death toll.
In the Christianity Today article Bono referenced, aid workers acknowledged recent cuts and warned that child deaths could soon follow.
'I do think we can expect to see increased mortality rates, increased infection, and increased despair if things aren't corrected,' one worker reportedly said.
However, Nichols, the infectious disease expert who authored the projection, told The Times UK that tens of thousands likely have already died.
'Because I've been doing HIV [research] for so long, I just assumed that would be where the biggest impact would occur,' she said. 'But I was really shocked by the child deaths from diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition. Tens of thousands of children have died because we've pulled out our funding from diarrhea, pneumonia and food programs.'
While there is debate about how many have already died, experts widely agree that the proposed 80 percent reduction in USAID's budget will be catastrophic if fully implemented or left unaddressed.
Previously, Bill Gates also criticized Musk for the proposed cuts, telling The Financial Times, 'The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one.'
The controversy comes amid Musk stepping down from his official White House role and a New York Times report alleging that he took large quantities of ketamine and other drugs while overseeing DOGE.
Musk has denied the claims, calling the report 'bs' and saying his packed schedule would make such behavior impossible.
Also during the Friday podcast, Bono warned against the Trump administration's broader isolationist stance.
'I just want to remind Americans of the size of their country, and I'm not talking about the geography,' he said.
'The size of the idea, it's just an extraordinary thing. It's an idea big enough to fit the whole world, and when it becomes an island rather than a continent … when it shrinks, America seems to stop being America.'