Trump tightens alliance with Musk, advocating broad role in U.S. policymaking

NEW YORK — Former president Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed a government commission that could give Elon Musk broad responsibilities for auditing federal spending and regulations, tightening their pre-election alliance during a wide-ranging speech in which he also made some misleading or baseless claims on economic policy. Trump’s advisers have discussed the commission for months, and Musk has publicly expressed interest in it on X, the social media platform he owns. “This commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months,” Trump said, adding that the new commission would save “trillions of dollars.” Budget experts have said it is possible a commission could identify tens of billions or possibly hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending cuts but that it is not credible to imagine the commission cutting trillions of dollars without severely affecting federal services. Musk, who is also a Tesla and Space X executive, endorsed the former president after he was slightly wounded in an attempted assassination in Butler, Pa., in July and has used his social media platform to try to help Trump in ways that have prompted concern from some critics. Musk recently attacked Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, and posted a fake image depicting her as a communist, echoing Trump’s disparaging nickname for her: “Comrade Kamala.” He falsely claimed in a message accompanying the fabricated image, “Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. ?” Advertisement The image appeared to violate X’s own policies on manipulated content, which state that any “media that is significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated” must either be labeled or removed. Days after sharing the image, however, Musk’s original post was still circulating, with nearly 83 million views Thursday. Musk’s allies have poured millions into America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC that Musk helped create. Advertisement The growing role of Musk in Trump’s orbit reflects his broader move to the right, a tack that has sometimes involved promoting fringe conspiracy theories. Musk’s support of Trump marks a major departure from past years, when Musk told CNBC days before the 2016 election that he felt Trump was “not the right guy” because he “doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States.” In 2020, he favored Biden. Now, the growing ties between Musk and Trump are set to be cemented through a governing body that would probably put Musk at the center of U.S. policymaking, if Trump wins a second term. Despite potential conflicts of interest with his sprawling business empire, Musk would either chair or help lead an independent commission that would comb through thousands of federal programs and formally recommend which ones to cut, according to the plan long discussed by Trump and many of his top advisers. Cuts to government spending would probably need congressional approval, but cuts to government regulations could often be at least attempted by Trump unilaterally, should he win the 2024 election. Advertisement Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said Musk is a natural fit for an efficiency commission given the extreme cuts he has made at his companies over the past few years. Musk’s brash and sometimes impulsive leadership style is similar to Trump’s, he said, which suggests the two would probably “get along” and have “a lot of fun working together.” Others were more skeptical. Darrell West, a senior fellow in the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution, said appointing Musk to such a role is a “terrible idea.” West highlighted Musk’s leadership at X, where the valuation has cratered since he bought the platform in October 2022, and is worth as little as around half of what he paid. Advertisement “The government certainly needs to become more efficient,” West said. He just cut, cut, cut, and compromised the mission of the company.” Trump made several other promises during his speech at the Economic Club of New York. He vowed that he would issue a “national emergency declaration to achieve a massive increase in domestic energy supply,” even as U.S. oil production reached a record this year. Trump also promised to use new tariff revenue to start a sovereign wealth fund managed by the U.S. government, which would then invest in businesses and earn an annual return for taxpayers. Advertisement When asked about how he’d make child care more affordable, Trump suggested that he would help pay for it by placing taxes on foreign governments. “We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kinds of numbers we’re going to be taking in,” he said. Trump falsely claimed that “100 percent of the jobs created under this administration has gone to illegal migrants that came into our country.” In a post on X on Thursday, Musk said he looks forward to “serving America if the opportunity arises.” Advertisement “No pay, no title, no recognition is needed,” he said in a message to his roughly 196 million followers, referencing the commission. But Musk’s companies have received billions of dollars in federal contracts and other subsidies, and he has been critical of the regulatory push from federal agencies under President Joe Biden. Musk has also been critical of Biden’s electric vehicle subsidies, which he has said benefit his competitors more than Tesla. Steve Moore, who also pitched the former president on the idea, said Musk would be “absolutely perfect” to run the commission. Among the other names that could be considered for the commission are Fred Smith, the former CEO of FedEx, and Robert Nardelli, the former CEO of Home Depot, said two people familiar with the idea who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions. Advertisement During a meandering conversation on X between Trump and Musk that went on for more than two hours last month and was initially marred by technical errors, both made no secret of what they stand to gain from their relationship. Musk called for a reduction in government rules and regulations, and told the former president that he would be “happy to help out” on a government commission if Trump is elected again. Trump, meanwhile, said Musk’s endorsement meant more to him than most. Musk reinstated Trump on X in 2022, after the former president was banned following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/05/donald-trump-elon-musk-election/