Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has said he supports Elon Musk’s plan to cut $2 trillion from federal spending.
The investor, who has a net worth of around $400 million, said he would “pay to see the movie where Elon Musk is unleashed on the federal government” during a fox business interview earlier this month.
If former President Donald Trump wins a second term in November, he has pledged to name Musk as head of the new so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.”
The billionaire Tesla owner first outlined his plan to aggressively cut federal spending during a campaign rally in New York earlier this month.
He promised to identify “at least $2 trillion in cuts” if Trump wins the election, in a bid to address the spiraling $34 trillion national debt.
When asked about this promise, O’Leary said, “It’s a great idea.” I support it 100 percent. It would do a fantastic job for every taxpayer. Release the dogs. Come on!’
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has said he supports Elon Musk’s plan to cut $2 trillion from federal spending.
O’Leary made the comments on October 14, after being asked whether an outsider in government, like Musk, is capable of making cuts like Trump claims he can.
“Let’s go through the checklist in a bipartisan way because this idea should work for the reds and the blues,” O’Leary said.
‘Is there fat in the federal government? “Check the box ‘yes’ because there has always been grease and no one has taken the knife off it yet,” he continued.
Second on his checklist was whether Musk has the execution skills to pull it off. For O’Leary, the answer is also “yes.”
He said every idea Musk brings to market, including startups like Tesla and SpaceX, he executes.
“I would pay to see the movie where Elon Musk is unleashed on the federal government in search of efficiencies,” the investor added.
O’Leary later doubled down on his comments in a separate Fox Business interview earlier this week.
“I love the concept of bringing someone from the outside in, but the president needs to stand behind this individual,” he said. “This is a specific mandate to identify savings, otherwise no agency will take it seriously.”
He added: “Let him in and then come back with a shopping list of ideas and let’s discuss.”
If former President Donald Trump wins a second term in November, he has pledged to name Elon Musk as head of the new “Department of Government Efficiency.”
O’Leary, who has a net worth of around $400 million, said he would “pay to see the movie where they unleash Elon Musk on the federal government” during an interview with Fox Business earlier this month.
He added that Musk should go even further and seek more cost cuts in federal spending.
‘We have to find 2 billion dollars. We have to find 5 billion dollars. “We have to find a way to solve this problem,” he added.
But some experts have warned that $2 trillion in cuts, representing about a third of federal spending, would be difficult to achieve and could have dramatic effects.
Cutting the budget so sharply would require decimating a host of government services, including food, health care and housing assistance. Washington Post reported.
It could also erode funding for programs that lawmakers in both parties say they want to protect, from defense to Social Security.
Even Musk himself acknowledged in a mail on X, the social media site he owns, on October 29, that the proposed cuts could lead to a period of economic upheaval.
CNN anchor Abby Phillip and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary got into a heated debate over the topic of Kamala Harris’ nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary shocked CNN hosts by claiming that Kamala Harris was not democratically nominated to be a presidential candidate.
O’Leary’s latest comments come after he sparked a heated reaction from CNN anchors after claiming that Kamala Harris was not democratically nominated.
During a passionate roundtable earlier this month, the investor drew a parallel between stock picking and the Democratic presidential candidate selection process.
In stock picking, fund managers are paid millions to pick stocks they believe will be successful. But despite their lofty reputation, they mostly earn lower returns than those who simply put money into a fund that tracks the stock market.
By his analogy, O’Leary compared these money managers to the small group of top Democratic leaders who anointed Harris.
At the same time, the broader stock market symbolized the millions of ordinary Democrats across the country who would normally select the candidate through primaries.
“In stock picking, 88 percent of managers can’t beat the S&P 500 year over year,” O’Leary said. ‘So you give them $1,000 and the S&P beats them. They cannot choose actions.
“This is the second time the Democratic Party has circumvented democracy and elected (a presidential candidate),” he said.
