One of the ideas I liked the most from Donald Trump on the campaign trail was his proposal to harness the expertise and gift for innovation of billionaire businessman Elon Musk if he were to get elected.
It looks like Trump will follow through on his promise to have Musk, who leads Tesla and SpaceX and owns X (formerly Twitter), find ways to make government more efficient. (I know – “government” and “efficient” aren’t usually in the same sentence together.)
In a decisive victory, the American people have given Trump a mandate to get inflation under control. And one of the best ways he could do that is to reduce excessive government spending and out-of-control budget deficits – something the Biden-Harris administration refused to do.
The federal government has grown to enormous proportions, with ever burgeoning numbers of agencies and regulations that stifle innovation and cost taxpayers absurd amounts of money.
Trump has acknowledged the country’s $36 trillion debt, which was about $27 trillion when he left office in 2021. The interest alone on the national debt now costs more than what the country spends on defense and Medicare.
Trump also added $8 trillion to the debt, but much of that was due to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stages.
Musk is eager to help, and he understands the urgency.
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‘Department of Government Efficiency’? Sounds good to me.
Musk, who appeared at several of Trump’s campaign rallies, has somewhat jokingly suggested the “Department of Government Efficiency” to describe his role with the incoming administration. Trump has thrown out the title “Secretary of Cost-Cutting.”
Either way, the aim is an important one. Regardless of the title Musk ends up getting, his role largely will be one of adviser. Any sweeping changes would need to go through the powerful Office of Management and Budget as well as Congress.
So in reality, Musk will be the public face of a broader effort to decrease the size of government, Chris Edwards, an expert on the federal budget at the Cato Institute, told me.
Musk has angered a lot of Democrats in recent years for his takeover of Twitter, as well as his more recent support of Republicans, including Trump.
It’s worth keeping in mind that he first voted for a Republican in 2022. Musk was driven to the right in part because of the suppression of free speech by progressives – also a big reason why he bought Twitter.
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No matter what your politics may be, however, it’s hard to argue with Musk’s impressive number of accomplishments. He’s a visionary of our time, and it takes someone like him to imagine what’s possible – whether in space travel or the electric car market.
It’s plausible he could bring that same flair for innovation to the federal government.
“I just think we’ve got far too many government agencies,” Musk said last week on Joe Rogan’s podcast, ahead of the election. “The federal bureaucracy has gotten out of hand, and we just need to pare it down to a sensible level.”
Trump needs to think bold in Year 1
Cato’s Edwards says Trump and Musk shouldn’t waste any time in deciding what needs to go, in part because the president will hold the most influence in his first year.
And Edwards thinks any effort that hopes to make a measurable difference in getting costs under control needs to be bold.
If Trump plans to implement new tax cuts, he’ll need to offset those with spending cuts elsewhere. Trump should start by hiring experienced people to head his White House budget office.
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“I don’t think he’s got time for some big commission to spend months dilly-dallying around,” Edwards says. “They know where the most wasteful programs are. They know that, and so I think that Trump and his advisers just have to prioritize and then push hard for the cuts they want.”
Edwards has several recommendations for areas where the Trump administration could identify savings.
Cutting federal aid to state programs, including K-12 education, housing and transit, could save more than $1 trillion a year. Edwards describes these programs as “inherently inefficient and undemocratic” because of the costly regulations they impose and the heavy-handed control of the federal government over the states that comes with the funding.
I don’t expect immediate miracles, but it’s a great sign that Trump is tasking Musk with this role. And I anticipate Musk will make the most of the opportunity.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.
