Trump to put Musk in charge of trimming bureaucratic fat: ‘Secretary of cost cutting’

Former President Donald Trump said he would informally make tech mogul Elon Musk his “Secretary of Cost Cutting.”

Speaking with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures, Bartiromo asked Trump about the looming national debt in the context of Trump’s various tax proposals , which he said would be addressed with “growth.”

She then asked him which federal agencies would be on the chopping block in a second Trump turn, to which Trump said Musk would be better suited to answer the question.

“You’ve also said that there’s a lot of fat in government that you would want to part of,” Bartiromo said. “So, what agencies would you want to shut down?”

“Let me have you ask another person that, because I’m going to have Elon Musk. He is dying to do this. You know, he's a great business guy. You think of him for science and rockets,” Trump said, before touching on Musk's latest developments, adding: “He's developed a new screw. Screws are difficult. It's made out of titanium, and it's so exciting.”

“But you know what? He's a great business guy, and he's a great cost-cutter. You've seen that. And he said, ‘I could cut costs without affecting anybody,’” Trump said.

“So he will be in the Cabinet?” Bartiromo asked.

“Not in the Cabinet. He doesn’t want to be in the Cabinet; he just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting,” Trump said. “We’ll have a new position: Secretary of Cost Cutting. OK? Elon wants to do that.”

Some of Trump’s campaign talking points include trimming bureaucratic agencies, notably doing away with the Department of Education .

“We have incredible people. [Musk is] running a big business, you know, you can't just say, ‘Oh, I think I'm going to the Cabinet.’ You know, other people can, he can’t,” Trump said, likely alluding to divestments Musk would need to make business-wise.

“And besides that, I want him to send a rocket up to Mars. He’s made me a promise, he'll get to Mars before the end of my administration. Which will be long before, hopefully, China or Russia,” Trump continued.

Earlier in the interview, Trump, unprompted, brought up Musk’s endorsement. He talked about Musk at his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally two weeks ago.

“We have the endorsement of Elon, as you know,” Trump said. “Elon Musk, who’s great. He’s a great guy. He had such a good time. He put the black hat on.”

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“Dark MAGA,” Bartiromo replied.

“He calls it Dark MAGA,” Trump said. “How cool is that? He’s a great guy. He’s given us a really powerful endorsement. He’s out campaigning in Pennsylvania today. He’s actually campaigning because he says if we don’t win, we’re not going to have a country.”