Last Wednesday, as US President-Elect Donald Trump appeared onstage at his Mar-a-Lago resort to deliver his victory address, supporters yelled Elon Musk’s name. “A star is born – Elon!” Trump said. Trump boasted about the tech mogul seated in the audience, “Only Elon can do this,” amid applause and shouts. “He is a unique individual. He is an absolute genius. Elon, that’s why I adore you”.
Elon Musk, the renowned tech tycoon and CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer, saw his wealth increase by almost $25 billion as Tesla’s shares surged by a staggering 15% that same day. The wealthiest person on the planet was busy sharing a humorous collage of himself in the White House with a sink and the words “Let that sink in,” which was a play on what he had done when he was almost done completing the deal to purchase Twitter, as Wall Street displayed its confidence. Last Wednesday, he became the richest man in the world, but more significantly, he became America’s most powerful civilian.
Standing beside Trump
Elon Musk has taken the next best step because, as an immigrant, he is unable to run for president in the United States. Elon Musk openly backed Donald Trump in July, bringing with him at least $130 million for his campaign and, more significantly, X, a social media site that swiftly became a hub for all uncensored Republican conservative discussions and turned out to be more significant and potent than Fox News in this election. He also contributed time and his standing as a prosperous businessman. He energized young males and gamified voting during his two weeks of aggressive campaigning in Pennsylvania, a swing state. America PAC, Musk’s pro-Trump political organization, gave Pennsylvania registered voters a $1 million voter sweepstake and $100 to sign petitions. His vigorous campaigning energized elderly, scandal-plagued former president and inspired unprecedented numbers of younger voters to cast ballots.
Elon Musk is a cult figure for ambitious people all over the world because of his bold, dangerous, and almost illegal, unlikely, or anti-regulatory methods of operation. Musk has revolutionized the financial and electric vehicle industries over the past few decades, launched rockets and satellites into orbit, and now wants to populate and settle Mars (during election campaigns, he frequently donned a t-shirt that read Occupy Mars). Despite his enterprises being sued by federal agencies for everything from consumer fraud and environmental infractions to automobile flaws and violations of labor, civil rights, workplace safety, and securities laws, he remains successful. Despite all the difficulties, he wades forward.
The support for the Trump-Musk combo by Americans, particularly men of all races, may have been influenced by this. In the ring, both guys fell and immediately got back up. Trump nearly went bankrupt, changed his career path to become a reality TV celebrity, ran for president, was convicted, lost an election, was shot at, and then got back up to prove to his supporters that he was resilient. While trying to turn around a faltering Tesla, Musk backed Trump, which was a dangerous choice at the time. He also faced criticism from the media for his aggressive acquisition of Twitter (now X) and was expelled from OpenAI. This marriage of two of the nation’s alpha white men, both astute businesspeople who enjoy taking chances, will make a difference. Americans may have voted for the pair because of that shift, believing they would boost their faltering economy and simplify their administration. On X, a fan exclaimed, “No one can match those who were born to win!”
Musk is listening, too. Elon Musk’s X profile states as we write this: “The people voted for major government reform.” In recent months, he has been quite forthright about his bold plans for DC government change if Trump wins the presidency. Musk will lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which Trump has previously established, with the goal of cutting federal expenditure by an ambitious $2 trillion, maybe by replicating his brutal actions at Twitter.
What Musk is set to gain
Tesla’s stock price is not the only thing that Musk stands to benefit from now that his pro-capitalist ally will hold the White House for the next four years.
SpaceX, Musk’s rocket business, is already a significant NASA contractor. SpaceX, which sells additional payloads on these rockets to private sector companies and puts its Starlink satellites into low earth orbit—a commercial potential that will require regulatory compliance—depends on NASA launching rockets into space. While in power, Trump may also oppose any inquiries Musk’s company may be the subject of. Regulators may begin closing the 19 known ongoing investigations against Tesla, SpaceX, and X because the executive branch controls federal regulatory agencies.
Another obstacle that should be simple to overcome at this point is xAI, which has a data center in Memphis that was the first in the world to link one million graphics processors and drew criticism from environmental officials for its gas-powered generators. Moreover, xAI might receive additional energy resources to build its generative AI models, which are quite power-hungry.
Then there’s Tesla, of course, which has been struggling all year as cheaper Chinese competitors have challenged it. These Tesla rivals will become unaffordable in the US if Trump imposes tariffs on auto imports. With a new administration that supports technology, Tesla may be able to overcome its difficulties getting its driver assistance technology approved by authorities.
Most importantly, Musk could influence the US government and the entire world. His spokesman, X, which was a faltering business a year ago and had a 20 percent decline in valuation to $44 billion in 2022, has emerged as a significant media outlet for conservative and Republican ideas in the US. Musk employed what Queensland University of Technology professor Timothy Graham referred to as “attention management” by keeping people occupied with “a constant supply of allegations, rumors, conspiracy theories, and unverifiable claims.”It has been interesting to note that neither Musk nor Trump attempted to conceal the connection between government, media, and business, and we all take it for granted. After Trump won the election, Musk told his supporters, “You are the media now.”
