Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, said that if Donald Trump wins and gives him a role in government, Americans will suffer “hardship,” as a result of efforts to address the national debt. He made the comments in a virtual town hall on his website, X, on Friday.

When asked about “tackling the nation’s debt,” he mentioned changing the tax code, and then went on to say there would be some financial difficulty imposed on some Americans: “Most importantly, we have to reduce spending to live within our means,” he said, adding that these efforts will “involve some some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long term prosperity.”

Later on, Musk said that he would “balance the budget immediately,” adding: “Obviously, a lot of people who are taking advantage of government are going to be upset about that. I’ll probably need a lot of security, but it’s got to be done. And if it’s not done, we’ll just go bankrupt.”

Trump has said that Musk would head a “government efficiency commission” to organize a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government” and make “recommendations for drastic reforms.”

J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, has suggested that Musk could target Social Security for potential savings. Speaking last month about the billionaire’s potential role, Vance said, “How are we going to fix all of the broken inefficiencies?” He continued: “And the thing that’s complicated about this, man, is it’s going to look much different in, say, the Department of Defense versus Social Security.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/musk-trump-win-hardship-americans-super-pac-2024-election-1235144449/