Trump says he’d tap Elon Musk to run ‘government efficiency commission’ for ‘drastic’ spending cuts

After Elon Musk said he “can’t wait” to work with Donald Trump in his potential return to the White House, the former president announced he plans to appoint the billionaire to a task force that will recommend “drastic” cuts to government spending.

In remarks to the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Trump — “at the suggestion of Elon Musk” — proposed a “government efficiency commission” that would perform “a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.”

The commission will be “conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms,” if he is elected president, Trump said.

“We can’t keep going the way we are now,” Trump added.

“And Elon, because he’s not very busy, has agreed to head that task force,” he said. “If he has the time … He’d be a good one to do it.”

Trump — who has routinely praised Musk at campaign events while his fundraising arm has repeatedly mentioned how much Trump “loves” him — has now appeared to take on Musk’s idea for the task force after receiving his endorsement.

“I can’t wait. There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go,” Musk wrote on X earlier this week in response to speculation that Trump would tap his support for his potential administration.

“This would unlock tremendous prosperity for America,” Musk wrote on Thursday.

Since buying influential social media platform Twitter, which Musk renamed X, for a whopping $44 billion in 2022, the company’s value has plummeted.

Musk’s takeover — supported by bank loans and a long list of investors — included mass layoffs and sweeping changes to content moderation, including the return of previously banned