Trump would appoint Elon Musk to cut 'the fat' and put RFK Jr. in charge of Making America Healthy Again in second term

In an interview with Shawn Ryan Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Elon Musk may be too busy for a cabinet post but would be just right for “cutting the fat” out of the federal government. He also reiterated his promise that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently suspended his campaign to endorse and support Trump, would oversee “Making America Healthy Again.”

Trump restated his belief that the upcoming presidential election will be a seminal moment in American history. “Nov. 5 will be the most important day, in my opinion, in the history of our country, because, if our country goes the wrong way with this election, I think this country is doomed.”

Musk previously volunteered to serve as the head of a proposed “government efficiency committee” in an X Spaces with Donald Trump. During the interview with Ryan, Trump called Musk “great” and “smart” and said he had a “great relationship” with him.

“[Elon] is a totally unusual character. Do you know Elon? He's great, and he's smart, and we have to cherish our geniuses, you know, we don't have too many of them, right?” Trump asked rhetorically.

“But he is a brilliant guy, and what he really would like to do is get involved in cutting some of the fat, and he does know how to do it, and he loves the country. You know, it's just an amazing thing. We had a conversation the other day. You would know better than me, but I hear it had hundreds of millions of people. I heard it had the biggest audience that there's ever been,” Trump said referring to his recent interview with Musk on X.

“There's never been anything even close. I heard 750 million people. I mean, numbers that are crazy, and, yeah, he wants to be involved. Now, look, he's running big businesses and all that, so he can't really, I don't think he'd be in the cabinet. I'd put him in the cabinet, absolutely. But I don't know how he could do that with all the things he's got going,” Trump said.

But there are other roles for Musk in a Trump presidency, the Republican candidate said, because Musk can, “as the expression goes, consult with the country and give you some very good ideas, like on AI, there's nobody who knows more about it than Elon.”

The former president said artificial intelligence is “a big thing. And he said it's very important. I mean, it's very important for the country. If we don't do it, China is going to do it, or somebody else, but most likely, China.” the former president continued.

At a Trump rally in Arizona Friday, Kennedy asked a cheering crowd, "Don't you want a president who is going to protect America's freedoms and who is going to protect us against totalitarianism? Don't you want a safe environment for your children? Don't you want a president that's going to make America healthy again?" Kennedy told the audience.

Trump also pledged that, if elected, he would put Kennedy as the head of “a panel of top experts” investigating childhood health problems.