Tech billionaire Elon Musk and members of his Department of Government Efficiency recently sat for an illuminating interview with Fox News host Bret Baier to discuss their work in uncovering and cutting egregious examples of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending.

In a one-on-one discussion at the end of the interview, Musk was asked what he was most concerned about, but he revealed that his biggest worries had very little to do with the DOGE mission, according to Fox News.

What keeps Musk up at night are instead things like low birth rates worldwide, the long-term strength of America and Western civilization -- though he is optimistic about the future -- and the negative impact his involvement in politics and government has had on the success of his companies.

Worried broadly about Western society

Near the end of "Special Report" host Baier's one-on-one interview with Musk, the tech billionaire was asked, "What's the biggest thing, for you, that keeps you up at night?"

"Well, there's a lot of things that I suppose that I worry about. And some of these things will seem esoteric to people," Musk replied. "The birth rate is very low in almost every country, and unless that changes, civilization will disappear."

He pointed to the declining birth rates of the U.S. and South Korea as examples of such and warned that "nothing seems to be turning that around. Humanity is dying."

In addition to birth rates falling below normal replacement levels, Musk told Baier, "I worry generally about the strength of America. America is the central column that holds up all of Western civilization."

"If that column fails, it's all over. You can't run off to New Zealand or some other place. It's over," he added. "So either we strengthen that column and make sure America is strong, and we'll be strong for a long time, or that roof's coming down."

Musk's work with DOGE has been "disadvantageous" to his "struggling" companies

Moving on, Baier asked Musk about his juggling of his work with DOGE and his own businesses -- like Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and X -- and what he was doing to avoid potential conflicts of interest in terms of some of his companies holding federal contracts, amid allegations from critics that he is seeking to enrich himself at taxpayers' expense.

"Everything I do is under extreme scrutiny," Musk replied. "So there's not an action I can take that doesn't get scrutiny six ways to Sunday."

He noted that everything the DOGE team has done has been transparent and made public, and asserted, "So it would be imposs -- even if I wanted to, I couldn't get away with it."

"In fact, it's actually disadvantageous for me to be in the government, not advantageous," Musk said. Were he not working from within the Trump administration, he could be lobbying for changes that would benefit his companies, which he revealed are currently "suffering" because of the opposition to his work with DOGE and Trump, particularly Tesla, which has been targeted with organized boycotts, protests, and vandalism.

Still optimistic about the future

Finally, after noting the rapid advancement of technology over the past few decades, Baier asked Musk what he believed the future holds over the next five to ten years, to which Musk responded, "I do think there is the potential for a great future, so long as America remains the land of freedom and opportunity."

"Those fundamental principles also ensure a great future," he added. "That's what President Trump is committed to doing, that's what the DOGE team is committed to doing, and if we succeed, I think we will have a wonderful future."