Before introducing Melania Trump at the former president’s rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Musk said he could eliminate “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget — roughly one-third of existing spending. “Your money is being wasted,” he said. “We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocket book.” Musk is one of the most prolific spenders when it comes to elections, funneling at least $132 million into campaigns to get Trump and Republicans elected this year, according to federal campaign finance documents. The Tesla CEO and X owner was sued by Philadelphia’s district attorney for a potentially illegal scheme to randomly award $1 million every day to voters in swing states who signed his PAC’s petition. The Department of Justice issued a warning to his PAC last week. He’s not alone among Trump’s wealthy and influential allies promoting the idea of economic collapse as a necessary byproduct of Trump policy. Last week, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, a co-chair of Trump’s 2025 transition team, agreed that Trump’s proposed tariffs on imports would raise the price on consumer goods, despite Republicans arguing that President Joe Biden’s administration and Vice President Kamala Harris have failed to lower everyday costs for Americans. “Correct: If I raise the tariff on just this particular idiosyncratic product, yes, right, it will be more expensive,” he said on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Musk wants to run an ‘Office of Government Efficiency’ under Trump’s potential administration (AFP via Getty Images) Trump’s running mate JD Vance also suggested that those higher costs would be offset by higher wages, of which there is no guarantee. “Anything that you lose on the tariff from the perspective of the consumer, you gain in higher wages, so you’re ultimately much better off,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press this summer. Trump has proposed a 20 percent tariff on all imported goods, including 60 percent tariffs on goods imported from China, a 100 percent tariff on goods from countries that have shifted away from trading with the dollar, and a 2,000 percent tariff on vehicles built in Mexico. He has also floated an improbable idea to potentially eliminate all federal taxes and rely solely on tariffs to support the nation’s multi-trillion dollar annual budget. A group of Nobel Prize-winning economists have warned that Trump’s economic plan will “lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.” More about