トランプ氏とマスク氏、互いを称賛 合同インタビュー

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドナルド・トランプ米大統領と実業家のイーロン・マスク氏の合同インタビューが１８日、米ＦＯＸニュースで放送された。インタビューでは、２人が長時間にわたり互いを称賛し合い、トランプ氏が職権を乱用しているとの懸念を一蹴する場面もあった。（写真は、米首都ワシントンのホワイトハウスの大統領執務室で話をするイーロン・マスク氏〈左〉とドナルド・トランプ大統領）
　トランプ氏は、大統領復帰後わずか３週間で多数の大統領令に署名しており、一部には憲法違反の可能性があるとして差し止めを求める訴訟も相次いでいる。
　番組が放送される数時間前にも、トランプ氏は連邦政府の規制機関に対するホワイトハウスの直接的な管理を拡大・強化する大統領令に署名したばかりだった。
　トランプ陣営に対し２０２４年大統領選で最大の寄付を行ったマスク氏は、政府効率化省（ＤＯＧＥ）のトップに起用されている。
　マスク氏は、トランプ氏の政策を実行する自身の役割について「技術者」だとユーモアを交えて説明。インタビューでは「テクニカルサポート」と書かれたＴシャツを着用し、「ＤＯＧＥチームの最大の任務の一つは、大統領令が確実に実行されることを確認することだ」と語った。
　一方、トランプ氏は自身の政策が即時に実施されるべきだと強調し、その実現を支えているマスク氏を称賛した。
　「大統領令に署名すれば終わりと思われがちだが、それだけでは終わらない。実際に実施されるとは限らない」と述べた。
　さらに、連邦政府の官僚制度の中で政策の実行を妨げられることがないよう、マスク氏とＤＯＧＥチームが重要な役割を果たしていると指摘した。
　■「マスク大統領」の声も
　マスク氏はまた、まるで米国大統領のように振る舞っているとする自身への批判を一蹴。トランプ政権の閣僚は皆、選挙で選ばれたわけではないとした上で、自分の役割はトランプ氏の政策実現を円滑に進めることにあるとの考えを示した。
　「大統領は国民に選ばれた代表であり、民意を反映している」とし、「もし官僚制度が民意に逆らい、大統領が国民の望む政策を実行するのを妨げているのであれば、それは官僚主義であり、もはや民主主義ではない」と述べた。
　トランプ政権においてマスク氏が目立つ役割を果たしていることから、「ホワイトハウスを実際に仕切っているのはマスク氏ではないか」との見方も浮上している。
　しかし、トランプ氏は２人の間に対立があるとの憶測を即座に否定。
　また、メディアが２人の間にあつれきを生じさせようとしていることに国民は惑わされないと確信していると述べ、「国民は賢い」「理解している」と強調した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/02/19-18:27）

US President Donald Trump painted Elon Musk as his enforcer-in-chief Tuesday, hailing the tech billionaire's zeal in implementing the blizzard of executive orders the president has issued since returning to office.
In a joint interview broadcast on Fox News, the two men spent substantial time singing the other's praises and dismissing concerns that Trump is overstepping his executive powers.
Trump has signed scores of executive directives in the past three weeks, many of which have been challenged in the courts as potentially unconstitutional.
Billionaire Musk, who was Trump's top donor during his 2024 presidential campaign, was tasked with leading the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with the declared goal of rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending.
One of the biggest functions of the DOGE team is just making sure that the presidential executive orders are actually carried out, Musk told Fox News.
In the interview, Trump insisted his policies -- including a wholesale onslaught on federal institutions -- should be implemented without delay and said Musk was instrumental in pushing them forward.
You write an executive order and you think it's done, you send it out, it doesn't get done. It doesn't get implemented, Trump said.
He added that Musk and the DOGE team have now become an enforcement mechanism within the federal bureaucracy to enact his administration's agenda without anyone standing in their way -- or else risk losing their jobs.
And some guy that maybe didn't want to do it, all of a sudden, he's signing it, Trump said.
- 'The will of the people' -
The Fox interview was broadcast just hours after Trump signed a sweeping executive order that sought to extend and consolidate direct White House control over federal regulatory agencies.
The order, which is likely to face legal challenges, would force agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to submit regulatory proposals to the White House for review.
For the Federal Government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people's elected President, the executive order states.
Musk found humor in his role as Trump's executor, describing himself as a technologist and donning a T-shirt that read Tech Support for the interview.
Musk waved off criticism that he was acting as if he were the US president, saying none of Trump's cabinet members were elected and that he views his role as facilitating Trump's agenda.
The president is the elected representative of the people, so it's representing the will of the people, Musk explained.
And if the bureaucracy is fighting the will of the people and preventing the president from implementing what the people want, then what we live in is a bureaucracy and not a democracy.
- President Elon? -
Musk's prominent role in the Trump administration has led to public questioning of who is really in charge at the White House, though the Republican leader was quick to dismiss rumors of bad blood between the two.
Actually, Elon called me, Trump said. He said, 'You know, they're trying to drive us apart.' I said, 'Absolutely.'
But Trump expressed confidence that Americans will not be fooled by alleged efforts to strain ties between him and Musk.
I used to think they were good at it, Trump said, referring to the media. They're actually bad at it, because if they were good at it, I'd never be president.
The people are smart, he went on. They get it.