Elon Musk flipped out at a journalist who dared to question the billionaire’s success as President Donald Trump’s federal spending hatchet man.

The tech billionaire told Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain, a respected former BBC broadcaster, that “it’s like talking to a computer” when she suggested his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) risked falling short of its $2 trillion savings target.

On Tuesday, Musk was interviewed by Husain via video at an economic forum in Qatar, and was asked about DOGE not meeting the goal.

She reminded Musk of his pledge — at a high-profile rally for Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on October — that he’d cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal government budget.

Experts had dismissed the $2 trillion aim as extremely unrealistic since it would equate to almost all discretionary funding, including programs for transportation, education and housing, so well beyond the fraud and waste Musk has said repeatedly would make up the bulk of the cuts.

DOGE has itself said it has only slashed $160 billion to date.

“You’ve talked about $4 billion a day being saved,” Husain said. “And I think everyone can agree that combating waste and inefficiency in government is a very good thing, but if you add that up, it’s not gonna get to $2 trillion over the lifetime of DOGE.”

Musk appeared not to understand or hear the question, so Husain repeated herself.

“I mean, I feel you’re somewhat trapped in the NPC dialogue tree of a traditional journalist,” Musk snapped. The term NPC derives from video games and refers to a “non-playable character.”

“So it’s difficult when I’m conversing with someone who’s trapped in the dialogue tree of a conventional journalist because it’s like talking to a computer.”

In a defense of DOGE’s work, Musk went on to stress the organisation “is an advisory group” and “we’re doing the best we can.”

He conceded the three branches of government “are to some degree opposed to that level of cost savings.”

The defensive response is the latest sign that the world’s richest man’s dream of transforming Washington, DC, has turned into a nightmare.

Almost ever-present at the president’s side in the early days of the second Trump administration, the Tesla CEO has since scaled back his day-to-day involvement with DOGE following political and consumer backlash that was threatening his business interests.

Trump signalled their relationship was changing when he effectively said farewell to the tech billionaire at a Cabinet meeting last month.

“He wants to get back home to his cars,” the president said.

In the same interview with Husain, Musk revealed he plans to significantly cut his political spending, saying he has “done enough.”

The GOP donor spent at least $250 million to get Trump elected last year.