Elon Musk is supporting former President Donald Trump in his campaign, Musk is also making ambitious commitments. Now the question arises: can he actually follow through on his promises?

The public is already well aware of the government roles that have been disclosed by both Trump and Musk, generating significant discussion and speculation about whether Tesla and SpaceX will only operate under a Trump presidency.

Recently, Trump mentioned on Fox News that Musk might serve as the “Secretary of Cost-Cutting,” a position that currently does not exist. We can clearly say that they are appraising each other.

In an August interview with Trump, Musk has promised on the campaign trail that he would recommend steep cuts to reduce wasteful spending that doesn’t benefit Americans, with the help of AI to identify where cuts should be made. On the other hand Musk has promised a compassionate approach, offering a gentle package to laid-off government workers, while simultaneously proposing a system which can assist to  threaten layoffs for those deemed wasteful employees.

One thing should be noticed, all of these are tactics of Musk. However, his track record is mixed. Musk has not provided any comments on the matter.

Drastic reductions

In August, the interview with Musk about his potential government role, with that Trump also praised Musk for his ruthlessness with layoffs. Following this, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union filed labor charges against them in August after Trump referred to Musk as a “cutter” and suggested he would fire striking autoworkers.

“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.”

On Sunday, discussing the government policy, Musk in a Pittsburgh town hall mentioned that drastic reductions of government spending is necessary. We can start with scratch, in starting our main goal is to spend less.

According to research data, cuts haven’t worked well with Musk strategies. 

Musk in his own company X, has done many significant layoffs, reducing roughly 80% of the company’s workforce. This has resulted in a somewhat unstable product, highlighted by major technical failures during his interviews with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 and with Trump a few months ago.

Musk also dismantled X’s trust and safety teams, which has led to a rise in hate speech and unchecked misinformation—and prompted an exodus of advertisers from the platform.

According to Fidelity, X is now worth 80% less than what Musk paid for it in October 2022.

Scaled Regulations

Regulations and Musk can’t be friends, they have been frustrating  Musk for years, as he frequently criticizes what he considers unnecessary.

This is what makes Musk apart in his approaches by bending the rules, which sometimes led to disastrous approaches. It’s a common complaint among business leaders.

At Tesla, Musk has aggressively pushed forward with the deployment of “full self-driving” technology, despite multiple accidents, government warnings, and ongoing investigations. Taking a deploy-first, fix-later approach. Tesla has issued several recalls for the technology, though the company continues to assert that its automated driver software ultimately saves lives.

Recently, America’s top safety regulator announced yet another investigation into Tesla, regarding a high damage accident involving a pedestrian struck by a Tesla’s fully automated self-driving vehicle. We also have reports from last year, in which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that this technology poses “an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety” due to insufficient adherence to traffic safety laws. The agency also warned that FSD could violate traffic laws at certain intersections.

SpaceX has been testing its massive rockets in Texas, but California government regulators have led to widespread discontent and lawsuits in the Texas town where these tests occur. Local residents have reported issues such as trespassing, broken windows, and large amounts of debris scattered across their fields. Musk relocated much of SpaceX’s operations from California to Texas, citing excessive regulation. Just last week, the company filed a lawsuit against a California regulator.

Taking Charge of Laid-Off Employees

Musk has proposed two years’ severance for government employees who may be laid off, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported on several of Musk’s rallies for Trump. On Friday, Musk said that the point is not to be cruel or to have people unable to pay their mortgage.

However, at X, Musk faced multiple lawsuits for not following through on promised severance packages for laid-off employees. This includes the former CEO  and other top executives, reports says they denied hundreds of millions of dollars in their exit agreements.

Before Musk purchased Twitter, now known as X, in 2022  the company’s severance plan promised that employees who stayed on after the acquisition and were later let go would receive up to six months of pay, plus an additional week’s pay for each year they had worked at the company. However, lawsuits against Musk and X allege that the company refused to honor these severance terms.