Ex-President Donald Trump has pledged to carve out a position in the US government for X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk if he wins the election.
The Republican nominee said he would create a government efficiency commission and appoint Musk, who has endorsed him, to head it.
Trump’s verbal promise comes a few weeks after Musk conducted a friendly interview with him on X.
‘At the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement, this nice, smart guy, he knows what he’s doing. He knows what he’s doing. It’s very, very much appreciated,’ said Trump said at the New York Economic Club on Thursday.
‘I will create a government efficiency commission.’
The commission will carry out financial and performance audits of all aspects of the federal government and recommend drastic reforms, Trump said.
‘We need to do it – can’t go on the way we are now. And Elon, because he’s not very busy, has agreed to head that task force,’ he continued.
‘It would be interesting. If he has the time, be a good one to do it. But he’s agreed to do it.’
Trump had reportedly been talking about a government efficiency commission with his team for weeks, but Thursday was the first time he publicly floated it.
Musk quickly suggested he would take on the role by sharing a video of Trump’s remarks on X and commenting: ‘This is badly needed.’
The Tesla owner asked Trump softball questions on his social media platform in mid-August, giving the Republican nominee an opportunity to appeal to the massive X userbase.
Trump has fully embraced Musk’s support and blasted it. A week ago, he took an image from an X user and shared it on his own Truth Social platform. The poorly edited image depicted the ex-president as Superman and Musk as Cybrog, alongside other allies as Justice League team members.
‘TRUMP 2024’ was written across Trump’s chest.
On Thursday, Trump again blamed the country’s ‘economic disaster’ on his political opponents.
‘Under the radical policies of my former opponent, Joe Biden and my new opponent, Kamala Harris, 1.3million workers have become unemployed in the past 12 months,’ Trump said.
‘Gasoline prices, grocery prices, electricity prices, mortgage rates and virtually everything else are up 30% to 100% since I left office.’
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