(AFP) – Republican White House candidate Donald Trump unveiled a plan Thursday to install billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk at the head of a government efficiency commission to eliminate “trillions” of dollars in wasteful spending. Trump told business executives at a speech in New York that Musk, who came up with the idea, would oversee a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government” in a second Trump administration.
The former president is in a knife-edge battle for a second term against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who is spending the coming days in Pennsylvania to prepare for the rivals’ high-stakes televised presidential debate on Tuesday. “As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months,” Trump told the Economic Club of New York. “This will save trillions of dollars.” Staking out a distinct economic blueprint from Harris’s ahead of the November 5 election, Trump has pledged sweeping tax cuts, with Bloomberg estimating the cost at more than $10 trillion over a decade.
Trump, 78, reiterated his plan for lower taxes and raising tariffs on imports and said he planned to eliminate 10 government regulations for every new one introduced. He also pledged to make the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world, and said he would repeal President Joe Biden’s signature climate and tax legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act. Trump has floated the idea of a commission to cut waste before, but this is the first time he has confirmed he would adopt the idea and tap Musk to lead it.
“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed,” Musk posted on his social media platform, X. Details on how the efficiency commission would operate are yet to be revealed. As Trump gave his remarks, Harris arrived in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, where she will spend five days preparing for next week’s presidential debate. She does not have campaign events publicly scheduled and will divide her time between strategizing with advisors, honing her attack lines, and taking part in informal meetings with voters.
Harris’s entry into the race six weeks ago turbocharged enthusiasm among Democrats who were despondent about Biden’s chances against Trump — but both parties are bracing for a close election on November 5. Pennsylvania, Georgia, and a handful of other swing states are expected to be decisive, and polls show most of those races within the margin of error. “This race is going to be tight until the very end,” Harris told a rally crowd Wednesday in New Hampshire, where she unveiled economic proposals including a lower capital-gains tax rate than Biden’s plan, a bid to attract moderate voters. “We are running as the underdog,” she added.
The debate will be the first-ever meeting between Harris and Trump, as the former president refused to attend Biden’s inauguration after falsely claiming he was cheated in the 2020 election. Harris’s Pennsylvania huddle mirrors Biden’s week-long preparation at Camp David in Maryland for his calamitous June 27 debate with Trump, which effectively ended his presidential campaign. She has enlisted consultant Karen Dunn, who led debate prep for Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, as well as top policy advisor Rohini Kosoglu. Dunn also consulted on the hit Netflix political thriller “House of Cards.”
Trump, 78, has said he is preparing, as he did against Biden, through speaking engagements on the campaign trail and policy discussions with a tight circle of aides. During a Fox News town hall Wednesday in Pennsylvania, the Republican baselessly accused debate host ABC of bias, called the network and one of its star anchors “nasty,” and made claims that Harris would be shown the debate questions in advance. ABC News released its debate rules Wednesday, and like in the Biden-Trump showdown, a candidate’s microphones will be muted when the time belongs to the other candidate. There will be no audience in the room, and “no topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates,” ABC said in a statement.
Later Thursday, Trump will speak remotely to a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. His legal woes returned to the fore Thursday, with a court in Washington convening prosecutors and defense lawyers for a hearing in a case where he is charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
– John Biers with Frankie Taggart in Washington
© 2024 AFP
