Trump Plans to Appoint Musk as ‘Secretary of Cost-Cutting’

Elon Musk, the unhinged billionaire who many believe ruined Twitter, has a place in a potential future Trump Administration: secretary of cost-cutting.

When Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked former president Donald Trump about how he would trim “fat in government,” Trump said that he would defer to Musk.

“What agencies would you want to shut down?” Bartiromo inquired.

“Let me have you ask another person that,” Trump said. “Because I’m going to have Elon Musk — he is dying to do this. You know, he’s a great business guy, actually. You think of him for science and rockets. And every time I think he’s telling me about a new screw that was developed, he’s developed a new screw — screws are difficult — and it’s made out of titanium, and it’s so exciting. But you know what? He’s a great business guy, and he’s a great cost-cutter. You’ve seen that. And he said ‘I could cut costs without affecting anybody.’”

Bartiromo then asked if Musk would be in Trump’s cabinet.

“Not in the cabinet,” Trump responded. “He doesn’t want to be in the cabinet. He just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting. We’ll have a new position: secretary of cost-cutting, OK? Elon wants to do that, and we have incredible people. He’s running a big business. You know, he can’t just say, ‘Oh, I think I’ll go into the cabinet.’ You know, other people can. He can’t. But Elon’s a little bit different in that sense.”

“Besides that,” Trump added, “I want him to send the rocket up to Mars. He’s made me a promise he’ll get to Mars before the end of my administration. Which will be long before, hopefully, China or Russia.”

Trump has floated the idea of Musk holding a top administration role before. In August, Trump called the SpaceX and Tesla CEO “a very smart guy.”

“I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would,” Trump told Reuters when asked if he would consider Musk playing a role in his administration as an advisor or cabinet member.
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Trump and Bartiromo also discussed Musk’s endorsement and appearance at a rally last weekend. Taking the stage, the richest man in the world — clad in a black Make America Great Again hat — jumped for joy, launching many mocking memes.

“We have the endorsement of Elon, as you know,” Trump told Bartiromo. “He’s a great guy. He had such a good time. He put the black hat on… He calls it Dark MAGA. How cool is that? He’s a great guy. He’s given us a really powerful endorsement. He’s out campaigning in Pennsylvania today. He’s actually campaigning because he says if we don’t win, we’re not going to have a country.”

Even though, according to Trump, Musk says he can cut costs “without affecting anybody,” that seems highly unlikely. Especially when you consider his track record.

One place Musk has tried to cut significant costs is X, formerly Twitter, which he purchased in 2022. Since Musk’s takeover, he claims to have laid off 80 percent of the company’s staff. Meanwhile, the platform has been plagued by hate speech and disinformation. Some of the misinformation comes from Musk himself. At the end of last month, X was worth 25 percent less than the $44 billion Musk paid for it.

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The eccentric billionaire is far from unproblematic. Many people have sued Musk and his companies for alleged sexual harassment; racial discrimination, age discrimination, and violations of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act; illegal firings; insider trading; defamation; cyberbullying; illicit drug use; “self-driving” car accidents; a canceled talk show and unpaid severance, among other claims of wrongdoing.

Sounds like he’d fit right into a Trump administration.