In a livestreamed conversation on his social platform X with former President Donald Trump last month, Musk floated the idea of a “government efficiency commission.” Such a commission could ensure that taxpayer dollars are “spent wisely,” Musk said during their more than two-hour interview.
“I would be delighted,” Mr. Trump retorted.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump followed through on Mr. Musk’s suggestion. In a speech at the Economic Club of New York, Mr. Trump said he intended to nominate Mr. Musk, who heads Tesla, SpaceX and X, to head a new commission on government efficiency if he is elected president in November.
The commission would be tasked with auditing the “entire federal government” and “making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump said.
The announcement is the culmination of weeks of talks between Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, who have bonded over a shared passion for eliminating wasteful spending, according to three people familiar with both men. Mr. Trump told Mr. Musk that he wanted the tech entrepreneur to cut federal government costs, as he did at X, one of the people said.
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, has begun to influence Mr. Trump as the Republican presidential nominee heads into the November election. The fact that the tech mogul has the candidate’s ear opens the door to what each can gain from an alliance — and creates a potential minefield.
Their political friendship is all the more delicate because Musk owns a sprawling collection of businesses, which could lead to conflicts of interest if Trump is elected.
In particular, Musk’s space company, SpaceX, and the electric carmaker he runs, Tesla, have received billions of dollars in federal contracts and grants. Mr. Musk and some of his companies have also faced scrutiny for various violations by federal agencies, including the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The conflict of interest issue is one of the most obvious concerns with this nomination, with SpaceX having government contracts and Tesla receiving federal tax credits,” said Ann Skeet, senior director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. “That’s what happens when Musk is in a position of power in a government agency.”
Elon Musk, 53, has previously courted hard-right world leaders to benefit himself and his companies. In Brazil, he cozyed up to then-President Jair Bolsonaro as he sought incentives for SpaceX. Mr. Musk is also a vocal supporter of Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, a country with abundant deposits of lithium, a mineral used in Tesla car batteries. Mr. Milei has promised to cut government spending and encourage mining.
“Serving with President Trump”
Mr. Musk, who endorsed Mr. Trump for president in July, did not respond to a request for comment. Before Mr. Trump’s speech on Thursday, Mr. Musk had written on X: “I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. I don’t need a paycheck, a title, or recognition.”
Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement: “Elon Musk has dedicated himself to the future of America by offering to serve with President Trump to ensure our government works more effectively and uses American taxpayer dollars more efficiently.” He added that Donald Trump, 78, was “committed to Mr. Musk leading this commission to analyze the functionality of our government.”
PHOTO DOUG MILLS, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Donald Trump during his speech before the Economic Club of New York, last Thursday
Musk has long used his X account, where he has nearly 197 million followers, to promote his political views. In recent weeks, he has posted messages criticizing the Biden administration’s spending policies and the campaign promises of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Some of his posts have become more erratic. Last Sunday, Mr. Musk endorsed a post suggesting that women were unfit to think critically and should not meddle in government or democracy. On Monday, he shared an image of Mr.me Harris dressed as an AI-generated communist.
Mr. Musk has also posted about cutting expenses. He has expressed concerns about what he sees as unnecessary costs at his companies, including X, where he cut more than 75% of its workforce in 2022 and 2023. X’s stock valuation has fallen more than 55% since Musk bought the company in 2022 as advertisers have turned away from the platform.
“Government spending is bankrupting America,” Musk posted on X on Thursday.
A marriage of convenience
Elon Musk and Donald Trump haven’t always been fans of each other. Mr. Musk has said that Mr. Trump should “sail off into the sunset,” like the lone cowboy at the end of a Western, and has favored endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump, for his part, has used an expletive to call Musk a fraud.
But their political relationship began during a meeting last March in Palm Beach, Fla., as Mr. Trump was seeking campaign funding. At that time, Mr. Musk also told a friend that he wanted to keep quiet about his support for Mr. Trump while still supporting him financially, the friend recalled.
Mr. Musk has since abandoned that caution. In the spring, he created a pro-Trump political action super committee (PAC) and planned to invest up to $180 million in it. He also recruited some of his friends, such as the tech investor Joe Lonsdale, to put up some of the initial funding for the PAC, which planned to do on-the-ground organizing for Trump.
But the move hasn’t been without its challenges. Musk hired a team of people he’d met through Texas politics for the PAC, but he fired them after about two months, replacing them with national political operatives who had worked for DeSantis. Thousands of grassroots organizers have been affected by the move.
Mr Musk has since hired a top Republican political operative, Chris Young, to personally advise him on how to increase the sophistication of his political work.
Following the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, Musk decided to show his support for the Republican candidate.
He then posted a photo of Trump moments after the assassination attempt and added: “The last time America had a candidate this tough, it was Theodore Roosevelt.”
This article was originally published in the New York Times.
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Trump campaigns in Wisconsin
In front of a crowd of supporters gathered Saturday in Mosinee, in the heart of the disputed state of Wisconsin, Donald Trump delivered his usual dark, sometimes apocalyptic speech about an America run by a left-wing dictatorship in his eyes. The former President of the United States also took the opportunity to renew his virulent attacks on his presidential rival, Kamala Harris, three days before their big televised duel. For her part, the Democratic candidate sought to deliver a message of unity in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, another key state, saying that “people are exhausted by division and attempts to divide Americans.” Neck and neck in the polls, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will face off Tuesday night on ABC, a highly anticipated moment after Joe Biden’s disastrous performance on June 27, which led him to throw in the towel and hand over the reins to his vice president.
Agence France-Presse