On a recent episode of The View, co-host Sunny Hostin launched a stunning accusation against Elon Musk, claiming his budget cuts as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led to the deaths of 300,000 people—most of them children. The remark has drawn widespread backlash, with critics blasting it as politically charged fearmongering.
Hostin tied the death toll to Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting measures under the Trump administration, which included eliminating 250,000 federal jobs, canceling over 10,000 federal grants, and ending 8,500 government contracts. She argued these cuts gutted international aid programs, particularly those supporting HIV/AIDS relief, malaria prevention, child nutrition, and access to clean water.
Her claims appeared to echo a projection by a Boston University public health expert, who suggested that DOGE’s reductions to USAID initiatives could theoretically be linked to a global increase in mortality—especially in impoverished regions. But no direct evidence of such a death toll has been produced.
ABC New co-host Sunny Hostin claim Elon Musk has killed 300,000 children, without evidence. pic.twitter.com/fGgylEtotw
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) June 4, 2025
Elon Musk, never one to hold back, responded forcefully. He dismissed the claims as absurd and labeled critics “liars” and “idiots.” According to Musk, “zero people have died” because of the aid cuts and the entire narrative is a politically motivated attack on the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate waste, fraud, and inefficiency in government.
“The DOGE cuts removed layers of useless bureaucracy and waste,” a senior administration official said. “Elon saved American taxpayers billions and helped re-center government around core priorities—not endless foreign handouts.”
Supporters argue the elimination of these programs was long overdue and part of a broader mission to streamline federal government operations. Under Musk’s leadership, DOGE was credited with exposing corruption in multiple agencies, cutting red tape, and returning billions of dollars to the Treasury.
The segment from The View is being widely circulated by left-wing commentators, but many see it as the latest smear in a long line of coordinated attacks against President Trump’s reformers.
“If you want to talk about negligence,” one Trump ally noted, “look no further than the bureaucrats and NGOs who burned through trillions with nothing to show for it. Musk ended that racket—and now the swamp is mad.”