In August, Elon Musk — the richest person on Earth — told Donald Trump about his idea for a “government efficiency commission” to see if taxpayer money was being “spent in a good way.”

Last Thursday, Trump announced that if he becomes president again, he will create exactly such a commission and put Musk in charge of it.

Trump says this new commission would audit the “entire federal government” and “make recommendations for drastic reforms.”

We know from Project 2025 — the 922-page manifesto for turning the United States into a right-wing dystopia that is, in essence, the Republican Party platform — that Trump’s idea of “reform” includes things like abolishing the Department of Education and the National Weather Service.

Um ... a few initial comments:
Look, there *is* waste and fraud in government spending.

Of course, almost all of it benefits — and is the result of intentional scheming by — major corporations and their political puppets. The worst offender by far is the military-industrial complex. The Pentagon has never — never — passed an audit. But we’re guessing that’s not where Musk would be looking.

Let’s be real.

Donald Trump has no interest in rooting out corruption. If he did, he would have to start by rooting out himself.

And Elon Musk is just about the least qualified person you could pick to look for ways the government could be doing better to help everyday Americans.


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