At an economics conference on Thursday, former president Donald Trump unveiled plans to bring Elon Musk in for a job in his administration, giving billionaires another voice via the Tesla CEO, who is a vocal critic of corporate regulation and a warrior against labor protections.
Trump, who previously mulled bringing Musk on, reportedly received a $45 million-per-month campaign lifeline through his America PAC, which was also accused of misleading swing state voters last month.
“I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government — making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump said in remarks at the Economic Club of New York, echoing earlier comments that he’d hope Musk could lead such a department.
Trump added that the post came “at the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement.”
Musk, who has leveraged his various companies to advantage the former president, suppressing anti-Trump and pro-Kamala Harris content on his X platform, is also largely reliant on good relations with the federal government to keep his businesses afloat.
Per Quartz, the rocket contractor had scooped up at least $15.3 billion in government contracts by April of last year, a figure that’s only grown.
During the conference, Trump also laid out an economic agenda for his potential next term a week ahead of a debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, and hours after a damning report from Goldman Sachs indicated he’d be worse for the economy than Harris.
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