Last month, 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.”

A few weeks later, 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:

* In Corporate America, “efficiency” is often a euphemism for when Big Business
abuses workers, exploits natural resources, undermines regulations, and
corrupts politics to feed its insatiable greed. Pretty sure there is more
than enough of all that going on already.

* Musk’s companies have taken billions in government subsidies and have
maneuvered to get billions in government contracts. Giving Musk a powerful
role in government would be an unprecedented conflict of interest.

* Does Musk actually know if money is “spent in a good way”? He infamously
bought the social media company formerly known as Twitter, which wasn’t
making a profit, for $44 billion. The company, which Musk renamed X, is now
worth a fraction of that, and still not making a profit.

* Musk — and of course this gets to the core of his and Trump’s infatuation
with each other — seems to have gone off the deep end when it comes to
right-wing conspiracy theories and grievance politics. Just one example: Musk
recently promoted to his nearly 200 million followers on X an interview with
a notorious Holocaust denier and Nazi apologist.

* We could go on and on.

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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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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- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


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