Fitness legend Jillian Michaels weighed in on the Department of Government Efficiency’s waste-cutting efforts, saying she’s “horrified” by the list of apparent waste.
DOGE under Elon Musk has claimed it’s uncovering billions of dollars in government “waste, fraud and abuse,” and is seeking to continue federal audits and firings.
“If I were to play devil’s advocate, the argument would be, ‘Hey, slow down. You know, make sure you don’t break something. Be very precise with this,'” Michaels said Wednesday on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” explaining how she has tried to listen to the counterargument and “maintain neutrality” for Musk’s strategy.
The fitness star reiterated that despite her efforts, she has been “horrified” by the excessive government waste DOGE has been discovering.
“I can only imagine that the average American who lives paycheck to paycheck — that when they see their tax dollars funding stuff like this, of course they’re outraged,” Michaels said, adding that it is no wonder Americans “want to drain the swamp.”
Elon Musk speaks during an event in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 11. (AP Images)
Michaels said she believes a lot is going on in the government that the average person, including herself, cannot understand.
“What I can tell you is that it’s clear some of this funding is like a CIA slush fund,” she said.
The fitness legend likened the removal of government bloat to a “brain tumor,” and how removing it would require precision and a “methodical” process.
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“Be methodical, be careful — but at the end of the day, this is just insane,” Michaels said.
The Office of Personnel Management recently emailed federal employees asking them to write five accomplishments they met at work the prior week. While the emails stirred up controversy, Musk described them not as a performance review, but a “pulse check.”
Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP)
“I think that email was perhaps interpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review. Do you have a pulse?” Musk said during a Cabinet meeting.
Michaels said the criticism Musk’s emails drew was “absurd” and that no business would be able to run effectively without accountability.
“The fact that we can’t ask people to take 30 seconds to answer an email without appearing Draconian is absurd,” she said.
Since taking office, President Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE agenda have faced mounting scrutiny from several Democrats and media outlets. The latest wave of criticism facing the Tesla founder concerned his South African heritage.
Michaels noted how she initially felt bad for employees who were cut, saying they’re “innocent people.”
“You know, they probably have kids and they have bills to pay. You can’t just rip the rug out from under that,” she said before doing some digging on the severance packages government workers were receiving.
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“I thought, well, wait a minute, that sounds like kind of a good deal,” she said. “You’ve got eight months with benefits to find another gig, and we know that there are, like, 7 million job openings in the country right now.”
