WASHINGTON: Republican White House candidate Donald Trump unveiled a plan Thursday to install tech billionaire Elon Musk at the head of a government efficiency commission to eliminate “trillions” of dollars in wasteful spending.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has emerged as a major voice in US politics but is accused of turning the social media platform Twitter, now known as X, into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories since acquiring it in 2022.
Trump told business executives at a speech in New York that Musk — the world’s richest man, according to Forbes — would oversee a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government” in a second Trump administration. “As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months. This will save trillions of dollars,” he said.
The former president is in a knife-edge election race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been setting out her own economic vision ahead of a high-stakes televised presidential debate between the pair on Tuesday.
Trump — whose administration oversaw an $8.2 trillion rise in the national debt, almost twice as much as President Joe Biden’s — has not publicly identified any of the savings and experts are skeptical about the size of the savings.
“By definition, this would mean Trump supports cutting Social Security, Medicare, or veterans benefits,” Bharat Ramamurti, a former economic official in Joe Biden’s White House, posted.
“At the same time, Trump is proposing trillions in tax cuts for the rich. That´’s his fundamental goal: more money for his rich buddies, less for everyone else.”
Trump promised sweeping tax cuts, pledged to make the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world and said he would repeal Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which lowers costs for clean energy and medication while cracking down on tax cheats. Musk, who endorsed Trump in July, is one of the Biden-Harris administration’s fiercest critics and frequently spreads far-right misinformation about undocumented immigrants and voter fraud.
He resigned from two White House business councils in 2017 — during Trump’s presidency – after the Republican withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
The efficiency commission was initially Musk’s idea, but this is the first time Trump has confirmed he would adopt the plan and tap Musk to lead it. –Agencies
