Elon Musk says he "got carried away" when working with the White House, and now thinks he shouldn't have continued running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for so long.

President Donald Trump established DOGE within days of his inauguration last January, tasking vocal supporter Musk to lead it in reducing alleged government overspending. DOGE soon sent federal organisations into turmoil by taking sweeping measures such as laying off over 280,000 government workers and shutting down the U.S.' international aid agency .

Speaking on The Builders podcast on Tuesday, Musk agreed with host Walter Isaacson's suggestion that he appeared "intoxicated" by his proximity to power while working with the White House. Isaacson specifically referenced an incident last February in which the billionaire waved around a chainsaw while on stage at a conservative conference, calling it "the chainsaw for bureaucracy."

"Yeah, I think that's true," said Musk, indicating that he regretted being so public-facing.…