Musk Says Trump Win Would Result in ‘Hardship’ for Some Americans

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The world’s richest man promises big spending cuts if Trump gives him a job, says people “taking advantage of government are going to be upset”

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

When asked about “tackling the nation’s debt,” he mentioned changing the tax code, and then went on to say there would be some financial difficulty imposed on some Americans: “Most importantly, we have to reduce spending to live within our means,” he said, adding that these efforts will “involve some some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long term prosperity.”

Later on, Musk said that he would “balance the budget immediately,” adding: “Obviously, a lot of people who are taking advantage of government are going to be upset about that. I’ll probably need a lot of security, but it’s got to be done. And if it’s not done, we’ll just go bankrupt.”

Trump has said that Musk would head a “government efficiency commission” to organize a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government” and make “recommendations for drastic reforms.”

J.D. Vance, Trump’s 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 are we going to fix all of the broken inefficiencies?” He continued: “And the thing that’s complicated about this, man, is it’s going to look much different in, say, the Department of Defense versus Social Security.”

Musk endorsed Trump in mid-July. He has given nearly $119 million to his pro-Trump Super PAC, America PAC, since the start of July, before he publicly endorsed the former president. The group has spent $123 million boosting Trump in the presidential race, including $102 million since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the Democratic ticket, according to federal election records.

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To save cash, Trump’s campaign has effectively outsourced its get-out-the-vote program to Musk’s America PAC. As Rolling Stone has 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 fear-mongered about the national debt during Democratic presidencies — and appeared less concerned about it during GOP administrations. “People who claim to be deeply concerned about debt are, all too often, hypocrites — the level of their hypocrisy often reaches the surreal,” wrote New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.

The tax law that Trump signed in 2017, which slashed tax rates for corporations and the wealthy, has greatly contributed to the national deficit. Trump has personally bragged about cutting taxes for the nation’s “highest” earners, pledging to maintain those tax cuts and while proposing a further cut to 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 make a global surveillance network with satellites. The company also works with NASA to get astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Speaking about the national debt on Friday, the Tesla CEO and X owner said, “If you’re an individual, and you’re racking up crazy debt, well, obviously… you gotta reduce your spending, and you gotta start paying down that debt. And the same is true of a country. So that’s what I’d like to do.”

Musk, of course, borrowed $13 billion to purchase Twitter in 2022, before rebranding the social media platform as X. The Wall Street Journal called this “the worst buyout for banks since the financial crisis.”

At an America PAC town hall on Saturday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Musk spoke more about potential spending. “People sometimes ask, like, where would you start with government efficiency? And it’s kind of like being in a room where the entire room is targets, and so you can shoot in any direction and not miss,” he said.

He added: “It can’t be like, you know, we’ll, we’ll trim a little bit here and there. That’s not going to work there. There have to be quite radical reductions in cost.”

At another point during the town hall, Musk once again “joked” about someone killing Harris, the vice president.