My Viral Moment With Ron Paul

Picture this: a newly elected President Donald Trump has invited the press to witness the launch of his much-anticipated brand-new task force, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, headed by Elon Musk. Next to Elon at the table is none other than the Champion of Liberty, Texas’s former Rep. Ron Paul, ready to finish what he started: a lifelong crusade to rein in lawless government.

That’s the image conjured when I interviewed Ron Paul Thursday to get his take on the election. 

When asked if he would be an adviser to Elon Musk’s stated effort to identify and cut “at least $2 trillion” in waste, Paul said he would. He emphasized that he would not want an official position because of his interest in staying out of politics at this time, but simply having him in the room going over the Leviathan’s bloat, agency by agency, would be a tremendous victory for opponents of big government. 

The budding potential alliance between Paul and Elon Musk started on my podcast, which went viral after Musk responded to the news with a post saying, “Would be great to have Ron Paul as part of the Department of Government Efficiency!” With memes flying and young voters roaring with excitement all over X, Paul replied, “I’d be happy to talk with you about it, Elon,” and later invited him to discuss it Monday on his own show, the Liberty Report.

Elon later posted an instantly iconic meme of himself and Paul as the consultants from the ’90s cult classic film Office Space, ready to cut the fat in DC:

MAGA heavy hitters like Donald Trump Jr., Georgia’s Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Florida’s Rep. Anna Paulina Luna quickly came out with enthusiastic support. So did The American Conservative’s contributing editor Col. Douglas Macgregor and prominent libertarians and pandemic heroes like Stanford’s Jay Bhattacharya and Robert Malone.

A surprise return to D.C. for Paul via a second term for Trump would complete a fascinating political arc and crossover between the two men. Paul’s two Republican presidential campaigns and the Tea Party movement he inspired were forerunners for many of the policies that have become ascendant in Trump’s MAGA movement.

In the 2024 presidential campaign, some of Trump’s most popular policies, including “no tax on tips” and “abolish the income tax,” were pioneered by Paul’s presidential endeavors. Trump released a new video Thursday pledging to provide a tax credit of up to $10,000 per child for homeschooling families. Paul introduced the Family Education Freedom Act in 1998, and championed the same homeschool tax credits in his 2008 and 2012 presidential runs. 

When Musk recently estimated at least $2 trillion in cuts he would like to propose, it echoed Paul’s 2012 promise to cut $1 trillion in spending in his first year as president. The Trump campaign’s vocal support for Bitcoin and opposition to central bank digital currencies also aligns with Paul’s early antipathy towards the Federal Reserve. Of course, Trump’s resistance to the war machine, globalism, WHO, NATO, and the Deep State are all positions for which Paul was once a lone crusader in presidential politics. 

Much of Trump’s dream-team coalition of mavericks are Paul’s fans and friends: RFK Jr. shares his longtime distrust of the CDC, FDA, and Big Pharma’s capture of our medicine; Tulsi Gabbard evokes his antiwar veteran perspective; Vivek Ramaswamy championed many similar policies in the 2024 primary. Musk talks about government spending as a tax on the people in a way we have not heard in a presidential campaign since Paul. Even J.D. Vance recently said he has “come around” to Paul’s ideas on the Federal Reserve. 

My podcast captured a lightning in a bottle moment when I asked Paul to consider an Elon alliance that could launch a historic opportunity to tame D.C. Paul is too humble and idea-focused to promote himself. It took a third party with a hunger to see this alliance happen to get the ball rolling and most importantly, providential timing. Musk has touted X’s incredible power shift towards citizen journalism; here is the proof. Truly David vs. Goliath stuff.

What is more, the growing public interest surrounding a Musk-Paul team could lead to the greatest last-minute addition to an American Dream Team that could save the country—Don, Elon, Ron has a certain ring. With Pennsylvania at the center of Tuesday’s election, Pittsburgh’s native son Ron Paul’s lifelong fight against the empire could meet its climactic final act.

The post My Viral Moment With Ron Paul appeared first on The American Conservative.