Bernie Sanders suggested that if Donald Trump wins the presidency, he might end up working for tech mogul Elon Musk, not vice versa.
The Independent Vermont senator expressed concern about Musk’s potential influence on government policy as the billionaire supports Trump’s presidential campaign.
Sanders referenced a Wall Street Journal bombshell that highlighted Musk’s frequent conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the past two years. Their discussions reportedly covered a range of subjects, including personal matters and global tensions.
Sanders commented on NBC News about the report’s revelations, stating, “I don’t think this is appropriate.”
“Look, Musk is a very smart, aggressive guy,” he added. “He is the wealthiest person in the world, and what really interests me is – if, God forbid, Trump would win – whether it would be Elon Musk running the government and Trump working for him, or the other way around.”
Musk, owner of social media platform X, and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has emerged as a major financial supporter of Trump, actively participating in campaign events for the Republican candidate.
Through his America PAC, Musk has contributed $118 million to Trump’s campaign and pledged to distribute $1 million daily to registered voters signing an online petition until the election.
Trump is planning to create a new position for Musk within in his administration, as the “secretary of cost cutting.”
“He’s a great business guy and he’s a great cost cutter. You’ve seen that,” Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “And he said ‘I could cut costs without affecting anybody.”
“He doesn’t want to be in the cabinet, he just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting,” the former president said of Musk. “We’ll have a new position. Secretary of Cost Cutting. OK? Elon wants to do that.”
Addressing the tech billionaire’s involvement with Trump’s campaign, Sanders remarked, “The idea that you have somebody like Musk, who has massive amounts of federal contracts, campaigning hard, putting huge amounts of money into Trump’s campaign… Man, if there’s ever been a conflict of interest, that’s it.”
Sanders is not alone in voicing these concerns; John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s Democratic senator, told The New York Times he worries that Musk’s endorsement could sway the pivotal state.
Fetterman observed, “And now Musk is joining him. I mean, to a lot of people, that’s Tony Stark. That’s the world’s richest guy,” he noted. “And he’s obviously, and undeniably, a brilliant guy, and he’s saying, Hey, that’s my guy for president. That’s going to really matter.”
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