Actor and comedian Jon Lovitz believes it’s “a good thing” that billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency are looking to cut “tremendous” government waste.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the standup comic and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member defended the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail federal spending that he described as “astronomical.”
“Here’s the money coming in and here’s the money going out. And the money going out is astronomical and way above what’s coming in – like crazy. And if everyone would look at this – if you haven’t seen it, you’d be shocked.”
DEMOCRATS LOVED IDEA OF DOGE BEFORE TRUMP, WHITE HOUSE QUIPS
“There’s tremendous waste and they’re finding it,” Lovitz said about DOGE and President Trump. “And I think that’s a good thing.”
Lovitz, who was a lifelong Democratic Party voter until the party’s criticisms of Israel caused him to rethink his affiliation, has once against divorced himself from popular liberal opinion with his pro-spending cuts stance.
Democratic lawmakers have been opposing Musk’s DOGE since the agency was established by President Donald Trump via executive order last month to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
Many of them have engaged in widely mocked public protests on Capitol Hill in recent weeks, asserting that Musk is operating in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Since its formation, DOGE has targeted the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the United States Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Treasury, the IRS, and other government agencies.
DOGE revealed that $1.9 billion in HUD money had been recovered as of Friday, saying the funds were misplaced during the Biden administration and were “earmarked for the administration of financial services, but were no longer needed.”
Prompted by DOGE’s complaints about the Department of Education’s spending, fiscal watchdog group OpenTheBooks recently revealed that the department’s spending has grown by 749 percent since 2000, despite staff levels decreasing in that same time frame.
MEET THE YOUNG TEAM OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS SLASHING GOVERNMENT WASTE AT DOGE: REPORT
During a recent interview alongside Trump with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Musk slammed Democratic Party protesters.
“They wouldn’t be complaining so much if we weren’t doing something useful… What we’re really trying to do here is restore the will of the people through the president. And what we’re finding is that there’s an unelected bureaucracy – speaking of unelected, there’s a vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably opposed to the president and the cabinet.”
During his conversation with Fox, Lovitz said the Democratic Party has a spending problem, while Republicans seem more fiscally responsible.
Republicans “seem to be a lot better at business than the Democrats,” he said, adding that Democratic Party members “just spend, spend, spend.”
“You wanna pay for it. But how are you going to pay for it?” he asked. Still, the comedian admitted the problem is government-wide, noting that both parties contribute to the massive national debt.
JON LOVITZ SAYS TRUMP WILL KEEP ISRAEL SAFE, ‘GOING TO BE HELL TO PAY’ IF HOSTAGES AREN’T RETURNED
“But the government’s way out of control because all I have to do is – forgetting whatever party you’re in, Democrat or Republican or nothing – your taxes go to the government, and then you look up how are they being spent.”
He continued, “Anyone can look it up. It says, ‘US National Debt Clock.’ [It] shows you in black and white: here’s the money coming in and here’s the money going out.”
The current U.S. national debt is approximately $36.5 trillion.
During the “Hannity” interview, Musk expressed the urgency of getting this debt down.
“If we don’t solve the deficit, there won’t be money for medical care, there won’t be money for Social Security. We either solve the deficit or all we’ll be doing is paying debt.”
“It’s not optional. America will go bankrupt if it’s not done,” Musk declared.
READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS
Read the full article here
