In late February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio quietly met with Elon Musk to discuss the future of the State Department and what was left of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The previously unreported meeting was cordial, some even say lighthearted. But the two men had some clear differences. Musk, the world’s richest man now serving as a top adviser to President Donald Trump, wanted major cuts — and fast — at the State Department. Rubio said he was fine with big cuts, but he wasn’t inclined to rush them through. He was already dealing with the fallout of Musk acolytes’ rapid dismantling of USAID, not to mention an array of global crises. He believed the changes at State should be more thought-out and methodical.