Former GOP presidential hopeful and President-elect Donald Trump loyalist Vivek Ramaswamy will work hand in hand with billionaire Elon Musk in the next administration.
But before their new partnership, Ramaswamy was a harsh critic of the world’s richest man and accused him of being a puppet of China.
CNN’s KFile dug into Ramaswamy’s long history of attacking Musk, calling him a “circus monkey,” saying his company Tesla is “beholden” to the communist state, and that “Tesla and SpaceX quite likely would not exist as successful businesses if it were not for the use of public funding.”
Trump put Musk and Ramaswamy in charge of the new department he’ll create under his administration called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a reference to an online meme featuring a surprised-looking dog from Japan.
It’s expected to work as an outside advisory committee that will work with people inside the government to reduce spending and regulations.
Musk and Ramaswamy said they would encourage Trump to make cuts by refusing to spend money allocated by Congress, a process known as impounding. The proposal goes against a 1974 law intended to prevent future presidents from following in the footsteps of Richard Nixon, who held back funding that he didn’t like.
But CNN reported how Ramaswamy was often critical of Musk.
“I think Tesla is increasingly beholden to China,” Ramaswamy said in May 2023 when discussing the carmaker’s decision to build a battery plant in Shanghai. “I have no reason to think Elon won’t jump like a circus monkey when Xi Jinping calls in the hour of need,” Ramaswamy added, referring to the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and president of China.
Tesla is deeply reliant on China, with deliveries from its Shanghai facility accounting for more than half its global sales in 2023. ...
“Both Tesla and SpaceX quite likely would not exist as successful businesses if it were not for the use of public funding, either through subsidies, through the electric car industry, or through actual government contracting in the case of SpaceX,” Ramaswamy said in 2022 on a Fox News podcast.
Musk’s SpaceX holds billions of dollars in NASA contracts and Tesla benefits from government tax incentives and is subject to auto safety rules. His social media platform X, artificial intelligence startup xAI, brain implant maker Neuralink and tunnel-building Boring company all intersect with the federal government in various ways.
Musk pumped an estimated $200 million through his political action committee to help elect Trump, made himself a fixture at Mar-a-Lago since the presidential election, and is on regular speaking terms with like-minded political world leaders, from Argentina’s President Javier Milei to Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stories by Matt Arco
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.