US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday, the 12th of November, appointed Elon Musk to a post aimed at creating a more efficient government, giving even more influence to the world’s richest man who donated millions of dollars to help Trump get elected, reports Reuters.
Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to eliminate government bureaucracy, cut redundant regulations, reduce wasteful spending and restructure federal agencies.”
Trump said the new department would realise long-standing Republican dreams and “provide advice and guidance outside government”, signalling that the positions of Musk and Ramaswamy would be informal, would not require Senate confirmation and would allow Musk to remain the CEO of electric car company Tesla, social media platform X and rocket company SpaceX.
The new department will work with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to “implement sweeping structural reforms and create an unprecedented entrepreneurial approach” to government, Trump said.
Adding a government position to Musk’s CV could have a positive impact on the market value of his companies and on business areas such as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.
Public Citizen, a progressive NGO, criticised Musk’s new role in government, calling it “corporate corruption”, and argued that Musk, whose companies have frequently violated regulations, lacks knowledge about government efficiency and regulation.
Trump compared the efficiency efforts to the Manhattan Project, the US project to build the atomic bomb that helped end World War II, while Musk promised transparency.
“All of the Government Efficiency Department’s activities will be published online to ensure maximum transparency,” Musk said on X, inviting public input and promising to create a list of the “dumbest” use of tax money, saying it would be both tragic and entertaining.
Among other appointments, Trump announced that Susie Wiles will be White House Chief of Staff, Tom Homan will oversee the nation’s borders, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik will be Ambassador to the UN and former Congressman Lee Zeldin will head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Senator Marco Rubio could become Secretary of State.
Trump has chosen Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defence, Representative Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe as CIA Director.