After maybe getting carried away with the heady blossoming of a bromance for the ages, Donald Trump appears to be rowing back on his promise to give billionaire Elon Musk a role in his administration if he wins in November.
In an interview with Reuters last week, the Republican presidential nominee described the Tesla CEO as “a very smart guy,” adding, “I certainly would” in response to whether he’d consider awarding Musk a role in his administration.
Just hours later, Musk followed up with a post on X, featuring a somewhat flatteringly AI-generated image of himself standing in front of an American flag with the caption, “I am willing to serve.”
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That’s after Musk held a two-hour conversation with Trump on the platform last month, in which he told the presidential hopeful, “I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that looks at these things to make sure taxpayer money is spent in a good way.” he added, “I’d be happy to help out on such a commission.”
Since then, however, Trump has sought to temper expectations by clarifying that Musk would be unlikely to assume a high-powered, formal position in the event of a Republican victory in November.
“He wants to be involved. Now look, he’s running a big business and all that, so he can’t, really. I don’t think he could be in the cabinet,” said Trump, in an excerpt from an interview with former Navy Seal Shawn Ryan on Sunday, obtained by the New York Post.
“I’d put him in the cabinet, absolutely, but I don’t know how he could do that with all the things he’s got going,” Trump went on, adding that he’d nevertheless be keen to “consult” with Musk on pressing issues like the rise of AI.
In practice, Musk having a lot “going on” would likely have less to do with the Tesla CEO’s notoriously packed schedule and more to do with, as some analysts have pointed out, the fact that his wealth is largely tied up in shares of his wide-ranging business ventures. U.S. law prohibits working on government matters that might otherwise affect your personal financial interests.
