In a live-streamed conversation on X with former President Donald J. Trump final month, Elon Musk raised the concept of a “authorities effectivity fee.” Such a council may be certain that taxpayers’ cash was “spent in a great way,” Mr. Musk mentioned throughout their more-than-two-hour discuss.
“I’d adore it,” Mr. Trump replied.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump adopted up on Mr. Musk’s suggestion. In a speech at the Economic Club of New York, Mr. Trump mentioned he deliberate to nominate Mr. Musk, who leads Tesla, SpaceX and X, as the top of a brand new authorities effectivity fee if he was elected president in November.
The fee would audit the “whole federal authorities” and “make suggestions for drastic reforms,” Mr. Trump mentioned.
The announcement capped weeks of discussions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, who’ve bonded over a mutual hobbyhorse of eliminating wasteful spending, three individuals near the lads mentioned. Mr. Trump has informed Mr. Musk that he needs the tech entrepreneur to slash the federal authorities’s prices, simply as he did at his social media firm X, one of many individuals mentioned.
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, has began to affect Mr. Trump because the Republican presidential nominee heads into November’s election. That the tech mogul has the ear of the candidate throws open what every can get out of an alliance — and creates a possible minefield. Their political friendship is especially tough as a result of Mr. Musk has a sprawling set of companies, which can current conflicts of curiosity if Mr. Trump is elected.
Notably, Mr. Musk’s rocket maker, SpaceX, and his electrical automaker, Tesla, have acquired billions of dollars in federal contracts and subsidies. Mr. Musk and a few of his corporations are additionally below scrutiny for numerous infractions from federal businesses together with the Division of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Change Fee.
“The conflict-of-interest subject is without doubt one of the extra apparent issues on this appointment, with SpaceX having authorities contracts and Tesla benefiting from federal tax credit,” mentioned Ann Skeet, a senior director on the Markkula Heart for Utilized Ethics at Santa Clara College. “That’s simply what occurs if Musk is able of energy in a authorities company.”
Mr. Musk, 53, has wooed right-wing world leaders earlier than to profit himself and his corporations. In Brazil, he grew to become shut with then-President Jair Bolsonaro as he sought benefits for SpaceX. Mr. Musk additionally ardently helps President Javier Milei of Argentina, a rustic with ample deposits of lithium, a mineral that’s utilized in Tesla’s automotive batteries. Mr. Milei has promised to chop authorities spending and encourage mining operations.
Mr. Musk, who endorsed Mr. Trump for the presidency in July, didn’t reply to a request for remark. Earlier than Mr. Trump’s speech on Thursday, Mr. Musk posted on X: “I sit up for serving America if the chance arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is required.”
Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump marketing campaign, mentioned in an announcement, “Elon Musk has devoted himself to America’s future by providing to serve with President Trump to make sure our authorities works extra effectively and makes use of America’s taxpayer {dollars} successfully.” He added that Mr. Trump, 78, was “dedicated to having Mr. Musk lead this fee to investigate the performance of our authorities.”
Mr. Musk has lengthy used his account on X, the place he has practically 197 million followers, to push his political opinions. In latest weeks, he has posted messages excoriating the Biden administration’s insurance policies on authorities spending and criticizing the marketing campaign guarantees of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
A few of his posts have grow to be extra erratic. On Sunday, Mr. Musk endorsed a submit that instructed that ladies didn’t have the flexibility for important thought and shouldn’t take part in authorities or democracy. On Monday, he shared a man-made intelligence-generated picture of Ms. Harris dressed as a communist.
Mr. Musk has additionally posted about spending cuts. He has expressed issues over what he views as wasteful prices at his companies, together with at X, the place he slashed greater than 75 percent of the work force in 2022 and 2023. X’s market valuation has dropped greater than 55 p.c since Mr. Musk purchased the corporate in 2022, as advertisers have shied from the platform.
“Authorities spending is driving America to chapter,” Mr. Musk posted on X on Thursday.
Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump weren’t at all times followers of one another. Mr. Musk beforehand mentioned the previous president ought to “sail into the sundown” and as an alternative supported Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. Mr. Trump as soon as used an expletive to explain Mr. Musk as a phony.
However their political relationship was kindled with a meeting in March in Palm Seaside, Fla., as Mr. Trump sought money infusions for his marketing campaign. Round then, Mr. Musk additionally informed a good friend that he wished to maintain his assist for Mr. Trump quiet whereas backing him financially, the friend recalled.
Mr. Musk has since deserted that warning. Over the spring, he seeded a pro-Trump tremendous PAC and planned to put as much as $180 million into the group. He additionally recruited a few of his associates, such because the tech investor Joe Lonsdale, to entrance a number of the early cash for the PAC, which deliberate to do subject organizing for Mr. Trump.
However the foray has not been clean. Mr. Musk employed a crew for the PAC that he met by means of Texas politics, however fired them after about two months, replacing them with national political operatives who had labored for Mr. DeSantis. 1000’s of subject organizers had been affected by the swap.
In June, at Tesla’s annual shareholder assembly, Mr. Musk mentioned he and Mr. Trump had been talking. “I’ve had some conversations with him, and he does name me out of the blue for no purpose,” Mr. Musk mentioned.
After an assassination try in opposition to Mr. Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa., in July, Mr. Musk determined to publicly communicate up about his assist for the Republican candidate.
“I absolutely endorse President Trump and hope for his fast restoration,” Mr. Musk wrote on X. He later posted {a photograph} of Mr. Trump moments after the assassination try and added: “Final time America had a candidate this powerful was Theodore Roosevelt.”
Throughout their dialog on X final month, Mr. Trump known as Mr. Musk “the best cutter” and praised him for firing staff who wished to strike. In a podcast appearance a number of weeks later, Mr. Trump known as Mr. Musk a “sensible man” who might be a advisor to his administration “concerned in slicing a number of the fats.”
On Thursday, Mr. Trump supplied few particulars of what an effectivity fee would do, however mentioned “fraud and improper funds” had price taxpayers “a whole lot of billions of {dollars}.” He didn’t say if Mr. Musk deliberate to divest from or take day without work from his corporations for the position, ought to it come to move.
“As the primary order of enterprise, this fee will develop an motion plan to completely remove fraud and improper funds inside six months, saving trillions of {dollars},” Mr. Trump mentioned, with out offering any proof.
Michael Gold contributed reporting.
