Musk says Trump's victory would create “difficulty” for some Americans

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, said if Donald Trump wins and gives him a role in government, Americans will suffer “hardship” from efforts to tackle the national debt. He made the comments in a virtual town hall on his website X on Friday.

When asked about “fighting the national debt,” he mentioned changing the tax code and then added that some Americans would face financial hardship: “Most importantly, we need to reduce spending to live within our means He said, adding that these efforts “will cause some temporary difficulties but will ensure long-term prosperity.”

Musk later said he would “balance the budget immediately,” adding, “Obviously a lot of people who are taking advantage of the government are going to be upset about this.” I'll probably need a lot of security, but it has to be done. And if it doesn’t happen, we’ll just go bankrupt.”

Trump said Musk would lead a “Government Efficiency Commission” to organize a “full financial and performance audit of the entire federal government” and make “recommendations for drastic reforms.”

JD Vance, Trump's vice presidential running mate, has suggested that Musk could target Social Security for potential savings. Speaking last month about the billionaire's potential role, Vance said: “How do we fix all the broken inefficiencies?” He continued: “And the complicated thing is that it's going to look very different in the Department of Defense, for example, than in Social Security .”

Musk endorsed Trump in mid-July. Since early July, he has donated nearly $119 million to his pro-Trump super PAC America PAC before publicly endorsing the former president. The group has spent $123 million to boost Trump in the presidential campaign, including $102 million since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the Democratic nomination, according to federal election filings.

To save money, Trump's campaign effectively outsourced its campaign programming to Musk's America PAC. As Rolling Stone As reported, some Republicans close to Trump have warned the former president that they are concerned about the effectiveness of the group's efforts.

Republicans have long stoked fears about the national debt during the Democratic presidency — and seemed less worried about it during the Republican administration. “People who claim to be very worried about debt are all too often hypocrites – the extent of their hypocrisy often reaches surreal proportions,” he wrote New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman.

The tax law signed by Trump in 2017, which lowered tax rates for corporations and the wealthy, contributed significantly to the federal deficit. Trump personally bragged about cutting taxes on the country's “highest earners,” promising to maintain those tax cuts while also proposing another cut in the corporate tax rate.

Musk is a major government contractor and beneficiary of federal spending. His company, SpaceX, has several federal contracts, including a $1.8 billion contract with an intelligence agency to build a global satellite surveillance network. The company also works with NASA to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Speaking about the national debt on Friday, the Tesla CEO and And the same applies to a country. So that’s what I’d like to do.”

Musk, of course, borrowed $13 billion to buy Twitter in 2022 before renaming the social media platform X. The wall Street Journal called this “the worst bank purchase since the financial crisis.”

At an America PAC town hall on Saturday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Musk talked more about possible spending. “Sometimes people ask themselves: Where would you start with government efficiency? And it's like being in a room where the entire room is a target and you can shoot in any direction without missing,” he said.

He added: “It can’t be the case that we cut a little bit here and there. That won't work there. There have to be very radical cost reductions.”

At another point during the town hall, Musk again “joked” that someone had killed Harris, the vice president.

Musk called Harris a “puppet” and said, “I made a joke that was kind of misinterpreted, which was, 'Nobody even bothers to kill Kamala.' This is pointless. Why? They just get another doll. Nobody minds at all. Nobody ever tried to kill (Joe) Biden.”

It was at least the fourth time Musk publicly questioned why no one was trying to kill the president or vice president of the United States.