Congratulations, Donald Trump. You found the one person more repulsive than J.D. Vance to give a key role in your hoped-for second administration: Elon Musk. And other than yourself or Bernie Madoff, who would be less trusted to head a commission designed to pay for billionaires’ tax cuts by cutting services for the rest of us than the right-wing liar and erratic extremist from apartheid South Africa?
The commission’s job is ostensibly to audit federal spending and regulations. But you don’t need to be a budget expert to understand its real mission:
From The Washington Post, with my emphpases:
Trump said the new commission would save “trillions of dollars — trillions. It’s massive. For the same service we have right now.” Budget experts have said it is possible a commission could identify tens of billions or possibly hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending cuts, but that it is not credible to imagine the commission cutting trillions of dollars without severely affecting federal services.
…
Despite potential conflicts of interest with his sprawling business empire, Musk would either chair or help lead an independent commission that would comb through thousands of federal programs and formally recommend which ones to cut, according to the plan long discussed by Trump and many of his top advisers. Cuts to government spending would likely need congressional approval, but cuts to government regulations could often be at least attempted by Trump unilaterally, should he win the 2024 election.
Of course, Trump probably can’t name a single federal regulation, much less explain why it’s efficient or inefficient. But, as another Washington Post article pointed out, his interest in the commission “is partly a response to a political and substantive problem facing his campaign,” i.e. the fact that tax cuts for his rich cronies are not offset by any proposals for near that amount in new revenue. “A commission that involves Musk to identify spending cuts could help distract from Trump’s plans to increase the deficit — but also seal their political alliance,” The Post noted.
To be clear, “political alliance” means “money in Trump’s pocket.” Musk helped create a pro-Trump SuperPAC that has so far raised at least $8.7 million for the felonious fraudster and sexual assaulter, The Post also reported.
As for Musk, such a commission could be of great help to him in getting rid of the numerous government investigations into his business practices as well as help procure new federal contracts. God knows, he may need some very lucrative new contracts. Under Musk, Xitter’s valuation has “cratered,” leaving it worth as little as half of what he paid,” The Post previously reported. Investor Ross Gerber told the paper that he now considers his Xitter investment of less than $1 million “worthless.”
What could possibly go wrong putting Musk in charge of evaluating federal programs? Everything.
