Elon Musk Signals Interest in Auditing US Government Agencies for Donald Trump
Elon Musk has famously had a love-hate relationship with presidential candidate Donald Trump. | Apu Gomes / Getty Images.
Key Takeaways
- Elon Musk has once again signaled interest in an advisory role in the White House.
- Donald Trump recently backtracked on his claims of putting Musk on his cabinet.
- Musk and Trump have had a rocky relationship over the years.
Elon Musk has signaled his interest in taking up an advisory role in the government amid reports that Donald Trump is considering bringing the Tesla and SpaceX CEO into the White House.
Responding to an X post sharing a media report about Trump’s intentions, Musk wrote : “I can’t wait. There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go.”
Trump’s Back and Forth With Musk
On August 20, Trump told Reuters that he would be open to putting Musk on his cabinet.
“He’s a very smart guy. I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would. He’s a brilliant guy,“ Trump said.
The comments followed an interview between Musk and Trump streamed on X, where the Tesla CEO suggested that the government creates an “efficiency commission“.
Musk said he would “be happy to help out on such a commission.”
However, just one week after the former US President promised a route for Musk into the White House, he backpedaled.
“He wants to be involved. Now look, he’s running big businesses and all that, so he can’t, really, I don’t think he could be cabinet,“ Trump said in the Reuters interview last week.
Trump instead suggested that Musk “can sort of, as the expression goes, consult with the country and give you some very good ideas.”
Musk Keen to Take on Government Role?
Musk has shown interest on a number of occasions in being part of a “government efficiency commission“ that would help cut unneeded spending.
In August, Musk posted an AI-generated image of himself behind a government lectern sporting “Department of Government Efficiency,“ the acronym cheekily reading DOGE, the meme-based cryptocurrency which Musk has shown interest in.
At the end of May, Musk disputed media reports that he had spoken about crypto with Trump.
The Tesla CEO asserted that he had never “discussed crypto with Trump.”
However, he spoke in favor of crypto as a whole, claiming he was “generally in favor of things that shift power from government to the people, which crypto can do.”
Musk and Trump’s Rocky Relationship
In 2022, things were very different between Musk and Trump.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset,” Musk tweeted in July 2022.
The tweet came after Trump labeled the Tesla CEO a “bullshit artist“ after accusing him of lying about his political leaning and his intent to buy Twitter.
In May 2022, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform : “There is no way Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter at such a ridiculous price, especially since realizing it is a company largely based on BOTS of Spam Accounts. Fake anyone?”
When the deal with Twitter looked like it might fall through, Trump quickly doubled down on his claims and said he had predicted it wouldn’t happen.
However, recently, Musk has been increasingly using his social media platform to share his support for Trump and denounce Vice President Kamala Harris.
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