A Note to Elon Musk

Donald Trump gained more than 2.8 million votes, many in places where he needed them in this 2024 election over his tallies in 2020.  Vice President Kamala Harris totals shed closer to 7,000,000 Biden votes, particularly in the states where she had little breathing room.  Hard to know how many of those were Democrats and independents sitting out this race, versus taking a walk on the other side of the street.  The total 2020 contest tally was also 4.2 million votes higher. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/27/politics/election-voters-harris-what-matters-dg/index.html

And now the Musk Task Force will be moving on to a bigger challenge, which may be even too much for one of the world's richest men as well as an arguable genius.  Actually, Mr. Musk has at least three challenges worth noting.  Along with Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk is promising to reduce federal government spending by $2-trillion,  for comparative purposes, the ENTIRE Federal Government spending up through Ronald Reagan's first budget was $1-trillion.  The DOGE spending target dodge is twice the entire budget of 1981. 

Nearly two-thirds of most federal spending is fixed, recurring obligations, such as transfer payments (Social Security), and entitlements like TANF, SNAP and Medicare/Medicaid, which though down from pandemic peaks continue to steadily increase.  Though the federal deficit is now in excess of $33-trillion, Musk is tasked with a much needed objective, slowing the growth of federal spending as well as eliminating waste,  but largely within the confines of only roughly 26% of the budget that is deemed discretionary. 

Having done some earlier private sector work for the Trump organization, with light exposure to the man himself, as well as digesting several unauthorized biographies, I have gleaned a few helpful pointers.

1.  Dim your spotlight - Despite your many successes, and justifiably large ego, Trump's is larger.  As you are vastly wealthier, and he cannot 'top' you there, you will need to allow him to still be the smartest guy in the room at least when you are sharing a space.  Ask around, folks who divert from this plan seldom stay long in that orbit.

2.  Pick your battles - As witnessed by how quickly the President-elect walked away from your preference for Attorney General, former Congressman Matt Goetz, Trump highly values loyalty, but not when that loyalty begins to cost him.  When you are going to try and push him somewhere he doesn't want to go, make the ask after a series of unrelated wins, and if possible help him view the potential shift as his idea.

3.  Brown nosing...yes - constant sycophant...no - As former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo learned and demonstrated, Trump can be briefed, even coached, if preceded by a healthy dose of unearned compliments and flattery. 

4.  Pick and make an easy win – Start with an agency like the U.S. Postal Service, clearly in need of a reorganization, or even Amtrak, although Hi-Speed Rail remains a pipedream.   Make the win big, for those two quasi-public agencies, also demonstrating that major improvements and ending deficiencies are both doable.

5. SHARE credit - Just as there is no "I" in team, you already use a bit of CEO speak when discussing the successes of Tesla or your SpaceX ventures.  Make sure when you are accepting praise, potential later honors, or even prospective calls to run for President...always use "WE," acknowledge Trump's leadership, and perhaps watch the last few months of almost any appearance by Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance.

And even a witty billionaire like yourself can always use an extra quick, quippy comeback.  As most everyone will ask you, considering that you were an Andrew Yang Democratic supporter four years ago for the White House, and his rocket flamed out early...when asked WHY are you doing this?  Wink, smile, dip your chin a bit and look back up, and say, "This is the quickest way I could figure out a way to get to Mars."

No charge, it's the least I can do for the world's richest and short-listed smartest guy.