Musk and Trump's relationship isn't a concern for this one weird reason, according to Liz Truss | indy100

Related video: Liz Truss says she would have done better than Rishi Sunak in general election

The Telegraph

The amount of influence Elon Musk has on Donald Trump and the US government has long sparked concern, but Liz Truss – of all people – has told us not to worry about just how accountable the Twitter/X owner is because of one very weird reason.

“No one voted for Elon Musk” has been a popular message pushed by Democrats and Trump critics following the Republican’s inauguration, with the Tesla boss appointed to head up the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and tackle ‘wasteful’ federal spending.

The role has left many concerned about the billionaire’s close proximity to the US president, to the extent that Trump has been left rattled by people branding the SpaceX founder “President Musk” and Time magazine coming up with a cover showing Musk sat behind the Resolute Desk.

But the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister, Liz Truss, who has pivoted to commenting on US politics since losing her Norfolk seat in last year’s general election, believes Musk is accountable – because Trump can fire him.

Speaking on Standpoint with Gabe Groisman, the ex-politician said: “What’s extraordinary is they accuse Elon Musk of being unelected, but all the people they want to make the decisions, are unelected.

“They’ve been unelected but they’re not just unelected, they’re unaccountable. Musk is accountable. Trump has hired him and Trump can fire him and Trump was elected.

“But what the left want is unaccountable bureaucrats who can’t be removed.”

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Once again, she went on to take shots at the Bank of England – part of the “deep state” and list of quangos (quasi non-governmental organisations) she blames for the end of her premiership.

Truss also attacked the “British establishment” for holding up a trade deal with Donald Trump’s administration back when he was last in power and she was international trade secretary in Boris Johnson’s government.

“We made a lot of progress in the negotiations. The problem was, too many people in the bureaucracy in the Conservative Party, didn’t want to do a deal with America.

“There were all these myths perpetrated about chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef and how terrible that would be.

“I mean, the British establishment, they hated Brexit, they want to be close to Europe, they think there’s something a bit vulgar about America. I’m the opposite,” she said.

Oh, and Truss also believes that Britain has now been “taken over by a communist government”.

“We are living under socialism, there are attacks on free speech, people have been jailed for Facebook posts, we’ve got a huge economic problem, we’re headed for a big economic crisis, potentially ending up at the IMF [International Monetary Fund] if the country runs out of money,” she said, before referring to the recent news regarding inquiries into child sexual exploitation.

The UK economy actually experienced a surprise boost in the final three months of 2024, and as for the claim that “people have been jailed for Facebook posts”, that pertains to individuals imprisoned for social media content shared amid the riots last year, sparked by the murder of three girls in Southport.

To give some examples, taxi driver Andrew McIntyre set up a Telegram channel called “Southport Wake Up” and was charged with encouraging violent disorder and criminal damage and possession of a knife.

Daffron Williams, a former soldier, made Facebook posts referring to a “civil war”.

Christopher Taggart and Rhys McDonald, from Cheshire, were both charged with publishing written material to stir up racial hatred as they called for protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

And Jordan Parlour, 28, was the first person to be jailed for stirring up racial hatred when he posted about attacking a hotel.

Claiming people have been jailed for simply posting on social media might sound outrageous at first glance, but arguably less so when considering the above context and the fact that every single one of them pled guilty.

Truss continued: “We look over the Atlantic and we see what Trump is doing, what Musk is doing, and that is the type of thing we need in Britain.”

The remarks echo comments the Conservative made in November when she said Musk’s Doge is “what is needed in Britain”.

Yes, really.

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