Donald Trump has thanked “super genius” Elon Musk for his support in his election campaign, after declaring he has won a “magnificent victory for the American people”.
Trump looks on track to return to the White House as 47th President of the United States.
The former president went on an extended riff about Musk, the billionaire who sank millions of dollars into helping his campaign win Pennsylvania.
“He’s a character. He’s a special guy, he’s a super genius,” Trump said of Musk. “We have to protect our geniuses. We don’t have that many of them. We have to protect our super geniuses.”
Trump also told his supporters that “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate”, after he was projected to win a number of crucial swing states ahead of Democrat candidate Kamala Harris.
Addressing a campaign party in Florida in the early hours of Wednesday, Trump pledged to “fight” for “every citizen” and promised the “golden age of America”.
Musk has been a major supporter of Trump and gave away $1m to voters every day throughout the final month of the Republican candidate’s campaign.
The X and Tesla owner also appeared at Trump’s rally in New York last month, where he said that under his presidency, America will reach heights it has “never seen before.”
“We’re gonna get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook. The future is going to be amazing,” he said.
Musk continued: “I think this election is the most important election of our lifetime. This is no ordinary election.”
“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. This is a must-win situation.”
The pair participated in a two-hour town hall event live-streamed on X in September. During the event, they discussed a range of issues, including Musk’s hopes that the US would get an “Iron Dome” missile defence system like the one operated by Israel.
Musk also expressed his hopes for improved government efficiency, claiming that the US needs to “reduce spending to live within our means.”
“And, you know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity,” he added.
He suggested that Trump create a commission to reduce government spending. Just days later, this commission was announced as a campaign policy.
Trump said in a speech that, at Musk’s suggestion, he would create “a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.”
“As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months. This will save trillions of dollars,” he continued.
Musk has stated that he hopes to cut $2trn from the federal budget under the new Department of Government Efficiency – which many expect him to lead.
“There is so much government waste that it’s kind of like being in a room full of targets, like you can’t miss – you fire in any direction you’re going to hit a target,” Musk said.
He added, “as a country, obviously, we need to live within our means,” and said he envisioned going through all government expenditures “one item at a time, no exceptions, no special cases.”
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