ROLLING STONE
When Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked former president Donald Trump about how he would trim “fat in government,” Trump said that he would defer to Musk.
“What agencies would you want to shut down?” Bartiromo inquired.
“Let me have you ask another person that,” Trump said. “Because I’m going to have Elon Musk — he is dying to do this. You know, he’s a great business guy, actually. You think of him for science and rockets. And every time I think he’s telling me about a new screw that was developed, he’s developed a new screw — screws are difficult — and 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.’”
Bartiromo then asked if Musk would be in Trump’s cabinet.
“Not in the cabinet,” Trump responded. “He doesn’t want to be in the cabinet. He just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting. We’ll have a new position: secretary of cost-cutting, OK? Elon wants to do that, and we have incredible people. He’s running a big business. You know, he can’t just say, ‘Oh, I think I’ll go into the cabinet.’ You know, other people can. He can’t. But Elon’s a little bit different in that sense.”
“Besides that,” Trump added, “I want him to send the 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.”