Donald Trump told a Reuters reporter on Monday that he’d consider ending the $7,500 tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases. He also said he’d consider appointing Tesla CEO and EV tax credit enjoyer, Elon Musk, to his cabinet or some other advisory position.
Trump was campaigning in York, Pennsylvania when Reuters asked him about having Musk become a part of the administration.
“I would, he’s very smart. I had a great talk with him the other day, as you know, it went on for 2-and-a-half-hours almost, perhaps you listened, but he’s a very smart guy. I certainly would, if he would do it. I certainly would. He’s a brilliant guy,” Trump said, delivering the kind of rambling non-answer that’s not playing as well in 2024 as it did in 2016.
Musk ran with it on X. “I am willing to serve,” he said in a joking post that featured a manipulated image of himself standing before a podium that reads “Department of Government Efficiency.”
The name comes from an offhand comment Musk made during his long conversation with Trump on X last week. “I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that the taxpayer money, their hard-earned money, is spent in a good way. And I’d be happy to help out on such a commission. I’d love it if it were formed,” Musk said during the interview.
I am willing to serve pic.twitter.com/BJhGbcA2e0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2024
Trump was also non-specific on the issue of electric vehicle tax credits. The U.S. government currently offers a $7,500 tax discount to anyone buying an electric vehicle. It’s meant to incentivize people to buy electric instead of carbon-spewing gas-powered cars which are a significant contributing factor in global warming.
When asked if he’d end the credit, Trump waffled. “We’re looking at that. That’s a big thing. But you know tax credits and tax incentives are not generally a very good thing,” he said.
The Trump-era tax cuts were full of tax incentives and credits. Famously, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the child tax credit.
“I am not making any final decisions on it,” Trump said on the EV tax credit. “I’m a big fan of electric cars but I’m a fan of gasoline-propelled cars and also hybrids. And whatever else happens to come along. And you can’t mandate that you can only buy an electric car.”
Musk’s posts on X focused on the imaginary cabinet position and not the tax credits, a consumer incentive Tesla desperately needs. The company has posted two straight quarters of losses. Tesla’s brand, thanks in part to Musk’s antics, is poisoned. Parking lots full of Teslas sit unsold. Musk’s empire is one built on tax incentives and government subsidies.
Yet Musk continues to play ideological footsie with the American right, a group of people who obviously do not have the same long-term interests as he does. During their interview on X, Musk pushed Trump on sustainability and the environment.
Trump pushed the conversation, instead, toward nuclear war. “The one thing I don’t understand is that people talk about global warming, or they talk about climate change, but they never talk about nuclear warming,” Trump said, ignoring Musk’s very real concerns about our warming planet.
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