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Let me say first that I’m a big fan of Elon Musk; you might have read my book review of the biography written about Musk by Walter Isaacson. The man is brilliant, creative, rich, and demanding of those who work for him.
But I have to admit that I have reservations about Musk taking the position of auditing the government for a number of reasons. First, he is always accustomed to being in charge. Always. And if he comes on board, he will answer to Trump. I’m not sure that he fully understands that Trump will be his boss.
Second, and this depends on how much interface he will have with federal employees, I don’t think he has the temperament to work with these bureaucrats. And since many of them will probably be from the political Left, they will probably decide to hate Musk anyway. Assume that they will declare that he is creating a hostile work environment.
Third, I doubt that Musk will have the power to fire employees. In his companies, he would calmly fire people if he believed it was necessary. But the federal government’s rules are complicated by civil service regulations, and firing someone might take an act of Congress (literally) to make it happen.
Fourth, both Musk and Trump have outsized egos. Although they have sounded like they enjoy and appreciate each other over the past few months, working together will be a different experience.
Fifth, if Musk is asked to recommend eliminating entire departments, I don’t know if he’ll be able to convince Trump (although Trump has already supported eliminating the Department of Education and sending Education requirements and regulations to the states); what about recommendations to disband other departments? Will Trump be ready to face the hurricane of pushback that will be released?
Clearly, they will need to define Musk’s role before he begins. He will likely bring in people to handle the day-to-day audits and they will consult with him. And maybe it’s worth initiating this audit because of the enormous chaos—oops—positive effect it could have. Then again, you know what Trump can say if it doesn’t work out.
YOU’RE FIRED!!
Discussion (51)
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There is no perfect choice. An audit is one thing, a plan of action another. Is Musk the perfect person to determine how many people it might really take to achieve the current work output of governmental departments? He's definitely a top candidate.
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Maybe it is just me, but I would prefer that the person doing the needed audit was not someone who has been the beneficiary of so much government dough.
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Musk would be great. Vivek would too. Third choice would be me. Chainsaw, not a scalpel.
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Has there ever been a claim that Musk - or whoever might get that job - would be expected to directly fire people? Seems like they would make recommendations, and Trump would take actions if he decided to.
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I expect a committee that will write a report, which Congress will quietly disregard. There is too much money and power to protect the money and power involved in government.
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