In picking billionaire Elon Musk to be “our cost cutter” for the U.S. government, President-elect Donald Trump won't be the first American president to empower a business tycoon to look for ways to dramatically cut federal regulations.

The head of Tesla, SpaceX and the X social media site once known as Twitter has strengthened his ties to the Silver State over the years.

Musk has spent days bounding in and out of meetings, sitting in on phone calls, weighing resumes and traveling to Washington as Trump’s unofficial co-president.