During President Donald Trump's first term in office, the national debt increased by $8 trillion—due, in large part, to huge spending hikes that Congress passed and Trump signed.
Can SpaceX CEO Elon Musk help Trump avoid a repeat performance? While campaigning alongside Trump in the final days of the presidential race, Musk pledged not merely to limit future spending increases but to cut the cost of government in a big way. When asked at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in October how much waste "we can rip out" of the $6.75 trillion annual federal budget, Musk estimated "at least $2 trillion."
That sentiment reflects the relentless pursuit of efficiency that has become a hallmark of Musk's companies, including Tesla and X, where Musk purged more than 6,000 jobs after buying the social media site (then known as Twitter) in 2022. It might also demonstrate his naiveté about government, where the incentives are stacked heavily against cost cutting.
