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Donald Trump has made it known that, if elected again, he will create a “government efficiency” commission to audit the federal government—an idea that was notably spawned by his pal (more recently, funder and unofficial campaign administrator), billionaire jackass Elon Musk. Lord help us.
Trump made the remarks Thursday during a campaign stop at the New York Economic Club. “At the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement…I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” Trump said. “Elon has agreed to head the task force,” Trump added while noting that the task force would be responsible for “making recommendations for drastic reforms” to the government.
The commission, which Elon originally mentioned during a podcast appearance last month, would conduct “a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” which would then form the basis for said “drastic” reforms, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Musk made it known that he would jump at the opportunity to take such a job. “I’d be happy to help out on such a commission,” and on Thursday said on X. “I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.” Later, Musk tweeted: “This would unlock tremendous prosperity for America.”
The Journal was quick to note that such a position could represent a conflict of interest. Given the fact that multiple Musk-owned companies are currently under investigation by federal agencies, what’s to stop Musk from using his “efficiency” commission to argue that, say, the SEC (which is currently probing Musk’s takeover of Twitter) is “inefficient” and needs gutting? Indeed, putting Musk in such a position gives the billionaire a perfect bureaucratic vantage point to target his enemies in government. In the past, Musk has also raged against America’s National Labor Relations Board, the agency tasked with protecting America’s workers from people like Musk. Given the chance to “audit” said agency for “efficiency,” what’s the likelihood that Musk would play nice? The chances seem slim.
In general, Musk’s commission sounds in line with the rest of Trump’s plans for a second presidency, the likes of which would likely be a windfall for America’s plutocrats and a complete disaster for everybody else.
Like their rightwing backers, Trump and his cronies have made a lot of noise about the need for “government efficiency” and federal spendthrift. However, voters would do well to remember that, during his first administration, Trump was hardly the picture of “efficiency.” Indeed, he caused one of the single biggest increases in the national debt in our nation’s history (the only apparent exceptions being George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln). Trump added to the debt substantially when he pointlessly gave huge tax breaks to America’s richest people, like Musk. Notably, some estimates say Trump ran the national debt up twice as much as Biden. Furthermore, analysis of Trump’s new economic plan shows it would add as much as $4 trillion to the national deficit over the course of the next decade—substantially more than Kamala Harris’ plan.
Perhaps to distract from the fact that their economic designs are basically just an Oprah-style giveaway to America’s plutocratic elite, Donald Trump and his allies (including Musk) have resorted to a rather pathetic attempt to cast Kamala Harris—a wealthy former prosecutor who is married to a corporate lawyer—as a “Communist.” Trump has spewed a near-constant stream of vitriol at Harris, repeatedly referring to her as “Comrade Kamala” and suggesting that the rather tame economic suggestions that her campaign has made in recent weeks would put America on the path to Bolshevism. The implication here seems clear: any attempt to use the government to lessen the impact of corporate predation on everyday people is “communism,” while the path to bureaucratic virtue is paved with privatization and tax giveaways to the rich.
