The world's richest man will oversee a non-governmental agency with a joke name aimed at cutting the federal budget and eliminating regulations, and some swing voters are already wary of his influence over the incoming president.
Donald Trump has tapped billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk to co-chair the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, whose acronym nods toward the decade-old DOGE meme, and is tasked with identifying programs and services he deems wasteful, but voters told Axios this isn't quite what they envisioned for the former president's second term.
"He's very good obviously at business, but I didn't elect — I didn't vote for him," said Pierre D., of Las Vegas. "I don't know what his ultimate agenda would be for having that type of access."
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The Tesla founder's America PAC spent around $200 million on Trump's election, and he has spent the week since his victory advising Trump on his Cabinet nominees, joining in calls to foreign leaders and taking part in a meeting with House Republicans.
"There's nothing, in my opinion, in Elon Musk's history that shows that he's got the best interest of the country or its citizens in mind," said Blair P., of Oxford, Mich.
A dozen of the 14 focus group participants said they were familiar with Musk's influence on Trump, and five of them said that was a bad thing, while seven didn't know what to say about his advisory role.
"I think it'll favor his Tesla company, and he'll get the majority of the breaks, and just by throwing a couple hundred million on his (Trump's) campaign, they're going to look the other way," predicted George L., of Phoenix.
Eight of 14 respondents were familiar with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s relationship with Trump, who just tapped him as health secretary, and only one of them think his influence over the president-elect while others expressed concerns about his mental fitness and views on science.
"A lot of his policies are rooted in gut feelings and anecdote, and not science," said Shawnn E., of Spring Grove, Pa.
Most participants hoped Trump would focus on the economy and inflation, but eight of the 14 believed he would seek retribution against his enemies, six believed he was exaggerating – and 11 believed he would not be justified in targeting them.
"It just all sounds like we're just going to throw our political enemies, because they lose an election, into jail," said Jake H., of Lambertville, Mich. "I mean, it's completely nonsense. I don't know if there's any other way to explain. It doesn't follow any of our principles we're supposed to have."
