Trump vows to establish an 'efficiency commission' with Elon Musk at the helm

Former President Trump on Thursday pledged that, if elected, he will set up a new task force aimed at cutting federal programs and eliminating “trillions” in improper payments.

The announcement came during an hour-long speech before the Economic Club of New York that veered frequently into lies. The proposed Government Efficiency Commission would be led by billionaire Elon Musk, who recently endorsed the Republican candidate and suggested the idea to Trump in an interview last month.

“At the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement—isn’t that nice? Smart guy, he knows what he’s doing—I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump said. “And Elon, because he’s not very busy, has agreed to head that task force.”

Trump boasted that with the commission, his administration would eradicate improper government payments and save taxpayers “trillions,” all in a matter of months.

“In 2022, fraud and improper payments alone cost Americans an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars, but with our action plan, we will fully eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months,” he said. “This will save trillions of dollars. It’s massive. For the same service you have right now.”

Trump also vowed to rescind all unspent funds that were allocated as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, falsely claiming that Democrats “agreed” after the measure’s passage that the law amounted to “giveaways” rather than an effort to tackle inflation and the federal deficit.

Trump’s choice of Musk to lead the planned task force is sure to raise eyebrows. Since purchasing Twitter in 2022, he has become increasingly controversial, frequently posting misinformation regarding LGBTQ+ individuals and minorities—including engaging in race science. And he is a prominent federal contractor, receiving billions of dollars each year in connection with SpaceX and its subsidiary Starlink, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

Additionally, Musk is renowned for his anti-union views and union-busting tactics as CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, including allegedly illegally surveilling and firing union organizers, and he is a defendant in multiple complaints currently before the National Labor Relations Board.

Trump’s announcement attracted a swift rebuke from Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing workers at federal agencies.

“Billionaires like Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the folks behind Project 2025 want to get rid of the apolitical civil service, fire hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants and replace them with a corrupt spoils system where government workers are hired and fired based on their loyalty to Donald Trump, not on their ability to do the job or fulfill their oath to uphold the law and the constitution,” Kelley said in a statement. “There’s nothing efficient about that. In fact, it will lead to levels of waste, fraud and abuse in government not seen since the 1800s . . . Elon Musk and Donald Trump care about one thing: lining their own pockets. Not government efficiency, and certainly not making things better for everyday Americans.”