Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, spent more than $100 million to get Trump reelected.
Topline
President-Elect Donald Trump has named billionaires Elon Musk, one of his biggest campaign supporters, and Vivek Ramaswamy, his one-time primary opponent, to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency“—giving Musk a role in his administration after Trump and the world’s richest person spoke on the campaign trail about working together.Key Facts
The announcement comes months after Musk and Trump first started publicly floating the idea of a government efficiency position for the billionaire and more than a week after Trump won the election, kicking off intense speculation on what role exactly Musk would play in the new administration.
Musk is also expected to join Trump Wednesday at a House GOP conference meeting in Washington DC.
Trump and Musk grew closer over the course of the election as Musk poured more than $100 million into his campaign and started an online crusade to have him reelected, and they’ve spoken several times about a position for Musk in the Trump administration.
Musk was reportedly on the line last week when Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke over the phone in an unusual arrangement that signaled Musk may be intimately involved in the upcoming administration.
In declaring his presidential victory last we Donald Trump was quick to praise billionaire Elon Musk as a „super genius“ after the Tesla founder and X owner donated more than $100 million of his personal money to Trump’s campaign: “Let me tell you we have a new star…a star is born, Elon.”
The praise from Trump came after months of heavy campaign spending and vocal support from Musk, who Trump has said will have a government position under his new administration.
Trump in September said if he wins reelection he will “create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” a plan first proposed by Musk, and said the world’s richest person has has agreed to head the task force under a Trump administration.
