‘Greatest cutter’: What role could Elon Musk play in Donald Trump administration?
Donald Trump has secured the US presidency once more, aided by the endorsement and support of the world’s wealthiest individual, whom Trump once praised as “the greatest cutter” for his decisive approach to cost-cutting, handling strikes, and workforce reductions.
Elon Musk, with a net worth of $290 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, contributed at least $119 million to Trump’s campaign and expressed his support on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), as reported by Bloomberg.
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The key point is that Musk could potentially hold a new role in the administration. He made a bold claim during the Trump rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden where he said he could cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget.
Afterwards, Trump revealed new plans for a unique position for Musk. He announced he would create a government efficiency commission with Musk heading it as “Secretary of Cost-Cutting.” This was however an idea pushed by Musk himself.
The efficiency commission will be “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” Trump said.
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“Fraud and improper payments alone cost taxpayers an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said. The commission, he added, will recommend “drastic reforms” to eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months, to save “trillions of dollars.”
However, it may not be easy for Musk to be a part of this, the report read, citing his various business interests, contracts of his companies with the government, and more importantly, his quarrels with regulators. Apart from this, the Congress should also approve the post.
However, a part-time advisory or commission role may be more of a possibility and also welcomed by investors of his companies who think he may be able to influence regulation and policies in their favour.
This is because Musk has been engaged in at least 19 separate legal battles with the Biden administration as well as federal agencies, according to an NBC News report which said 10 of those are still ongoing.
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