Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that billionaire Elon Musk will play a significant role in his administration if the Republican wins a second term.
Asked by Fox News host Maria Bartiromo whether Musk would serve in the cabinet, Trump responded he would not.
“He doesn’t want to be in the Cabinet,” the 45th president said. “He just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting,” adding, “He’s dying to do this.”
“We’ll have a new position: Secretary of Cost-Cutting. Elon wants to do that, and we have incredible people. He’s running a big business. He can’t just say, ‘I think I’ll go into the Cabinet.’ Other people can. He can’t, but Elon’s a little bit different in that sense,” Trump stated.
“Elon Musk will be the secretary of cost cutting.”
一 Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/kakwfS3JG4
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) October 13, 2024
“He’s a great business guy, and he’s a great cost-cutter,” the former president noted. “And he [Musk] said, ‘I could cut costs without affecting anybody.’”
Musk floated the idea of having a government efficiency commission during his interview with Trump on the social media platform X, saying it’s a key to getting inflation under control.
Would Elon Musk make a good Secretary of Cost-Cutting?
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“So if the government spends far more than it brings in, that increases the money supply, and if the money supply increases faster than the rate of goods and services, that’s inflation,” he explained. The federal deficit for fiscal year 2024 was $1.8 trillion, up from $1.7 trillion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2022.
“So really, we need to reduce our government spending. And I think we need a government efficiency commission to say, ‘Where are we spending money that’s sensible, and where is it not sensible?’” Musk argued.
Elon Musk tells Trump that he would like to work on a Government Efficiency Commission to cut out wasteful government spending that is driving inflation.
Trump responds by saying, “I’d love it” and calls Musk “the greatest cutter” of inefficiencies inside organizations. pic.twitter.com/wiGMy4PfFM
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 13, 2024
Trump liked the idea saying, “The waste is incredible, and nobody negotiates prices.”
“I think it would be great just to have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and ensures that the taxpayers’ money, the taxpayer’s hard-earned money, is spent in a good way, and I’d be happy to help out on such a commission,” Musk offered.
“I’d love it. You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump replied. “You would be very good. You would love it.”
The former president told the Economic Club of New York last month that Musk will chair the government efficiency commission, which will be “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms. We need to do it. Can’t go on the way we are now.”
TRUMP: “At the suggestion of Elon Musk — I will create a Government efficiency Commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms. Elon.. has agreed to head that task force” pic.twitter.com/a48F9RUC1f
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) September 5, 2024
There is actually precedent for such a commission.
President Ronald Reagan established what became known as the Grace Commission in 1982 made up of “experts from the private sector” to find ways to cut wasteful government spending. It was led by businessman J. Peter Grace.
“During [Reagan’s] Administration, growth in government spending plummeted from 10 percent in 1982, to just over 1 percent in 1987. With inflation factored in, Federal spending actually went down in 1987 — the first time that had happened in well over a decade,” according to the Reagan Foundation.
Hopefully, Trump will win a second term and Musk and others from the business community will be able to take an ax to the bloated federal bureaucracy.
It certainly would not happen during a Kamala Harris administration. Harris only wants to increase the size and scope of the federal government over Americans’ lives.
A Trump/Musk partnership in the case of bringing the government back within its means would be a great step toward Making America Great Again.
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