Politics / Christopher Lord
Donald Trump and Elon Musk might seem like a powerful alliance. But is there room at the top for two giant egos?
Today will be Donald Trump’s day, which is his favourite kind. But how much will his incoming administration ultimately be about him? In 2016 the ever-conspicuous commander-in-chief stole the show, conducting the media circus like a top-hatted ringmaster. Now, however, he’s bringing some big personalities along for the ride, including wrestler wranglers, TV anchors and a fair few oddballs.
The one who is most likely to attempt to dominate the narrative is Elon Musk. The owner of X (the nightmare formerly known as Twitter) and aerospace company SpaceX will lead a government advisory group tasked with streamlining operations and cutting unnecessary spending. In Trump’s words, the new US Department of Government Efficiency will dismantle “bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”. Musk has suggested a major skimming of the civil service.
But I smell trouble. Let me offer a parallel from the other side of the pond. In 2019, Boris Johnson roared into 10 Downing Street with a thumping majority. To get there, he sought the help of Dominic Cummings, a technology-savvy advisor, who crafted a compelling election campaign through online messaging. The pair entered office with plans to reform the civil service, which Cummings believed was gumming up the system and preventing the best policies from coming to the fore. Then, of course, the coronavirus pandemic began. Suddenly, a robust civil service was needed to respond to an international crisis. Government departments hired more staff because they needed people to pull the levers and make things happen.
A similar fate, I think, awaits the Department of Government Efficiency. As anyone who has tried to reach the IRS of late knows (I spent innumerable hours on hold when I lived stateside), US agencies are already creaking. Modernisation is essential but separating fat from muscle is a delicate task. Is Musk best placed to lead that kind of surgery? More pressingly, I doubt that the Musk-Trump relationship would survive if federal processes flounder as these agencies come under pressure. To return to the UK example, the parting of Johnson and Cummings was a result of two big personalities butting heads. Some reports claim that Johnson ultimately booted his advisor out – which was, I suppose, an efficient way to end things.
Christopher Lord is Monocle’s executive editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight,
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