Elon Musk ‘Willing to Serve’ in Trump Cabinet

Elon Musk has jokingly accepted a position in a future Trump cabinet, after the former president said he would “certainly” welcome the billionaire into his administration.

On Monday evening, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO took to X to write: “I am willing to serve.” The statement indicates that Musk would be open to joining the Republican candidate should he win in November, a plausible occurrence given the CEO-heavy makeup of Trump’s previous administration.

The post, viewed over 20 million times, included an AI-generated image of Musk standing before a lectern, furnished with the words “Department of Government Efficiency.”

The fictional government agency – a backronym for D.O.G.E – is a clear reference to the Shiba Inu dog meme, which has become a personal favorite of Musk in recent years.

The meme was the basis of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which sparked a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit against Musk, related to the frequent posts the CEO made about the currency which were accused of artificially inflating its value.

The post follows an informal offer made to Musk by Trump after a campaign event in York, Pennsylvania.

Speaking to Reuters, the former president said he would be willing to offer the billionaire a cabinet position or an advisory role should he defeat Kamala Harris in November.

“He’s a very smart guy. I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would. He’s a brilliant guy,” Trump said.

Newsweek has contacted the Trump-Vance campaign to inquire what role Musk could take in the White House.

During the event, however, Trump flirted with ending the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles, brought in by the Biden administration as part of its 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and touted by Tesla as an incentive for purchasing one of Musk’s vehicles.

“I’m not making any final decisions on it,” Trump said. “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.”

Despite the joking format, many in the comments took Musk’s post in earnest, with conservative activist and co-founder of Students for Trump Ryan Fournier, writing: “Elon willing to serve confirmed.”

Previous actions from both the Tesla CEO and Trump himself also indicate that Musk joining a future Trump White House is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Trump’s previous cabinet included a host of business leaders, including ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, appointed Secretary of State in December 2016, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, former CEO of OneWest Bank.

Others, such as Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and fellow eccentric billionaire Peter Thiel took up advisory roles during Trump’s tenure, the former serving in Trump’s American Manufacturing Council and the latter serving in Trump’s White House Transition team and facilitating meetings between the president and other tech CEOs.

Musk has also made his support for Trump in the upcoming election clear, and the pair have displayed an increasingly close relationship over the past few months.

On July 13, just hours after his attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania, Musk shared a video of Trump being escorted offstage by secret service agents, raising his fist in the air, captioning the post with: “I fully endorse President Trump and wish him a swift recovery.”

During their discussion last Monday, hosted on the X Spaces platform, Musk and Trump exchanged compliments and adulations.

Toward the end of the two-hour talk, Musk said: “I think we’re at a fork in the road of destiny of civilization. I think we need to take the right path. And I think you’re the right path.”

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