Elon Musk helped Trump win. How much influence will he wield now?
In his election night victory speech at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump heaped praise on a supporter he called a 鈥渟uper genius鈥� and a 鈥渟pecial guy.鈥�
鈥淲e have a new star,鈥� Mr. Trump announced. 鈥淓lon.鈥�
Elon Musk, the largest shareholder of SpaceX and Tesla and the multibillionaire owner of the social media platform X and other tech companies, is no ordinary Trump backer. In the campaign鈥檚 closing weeks, Mr. Musk organized and bankrolled a get-out-the-vote operation for Mr. Trump and bombarded X users with . In swing states, he bestowed $1 million on one voter per day who signed a petition supporting free speech and the right to bear arms.
Why We Wrote This
The richest person in the world is taking aim at the federal bureaucracy, looking to cut waste and reduce regulations. Will Elon Musk bring real change or just a slew of conflicts of interest?
As Mr. Trump noted, Mr. Musk also brought his own brand of quirky star power, appearing on stage at rallies, providing a partial counterbalance to the flood of celebrity endorsements for Vice President Kamala Harris.
鈥淭o a lot of people, that鈥檚 Tony Stark,鈥� Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat, last month, referring to the Marvel superhero. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the world鈥檚 richest guy 鈥� and he鈥檚 saying, 鈥楬ey, that鈥檚 my guy for president.鈥欌�� (Mr. Musk, in fact, had a brief cameo in Iron Man 2.)
Now, Mr. Trump is tapping Mr. Musk to take a sledgehammer to the federal bureaucracy. On Tuesday evening, the president-elect announced that the entrepreneur, along with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, would lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, driving 鈥渓arge-scale structural reform鈥� from 鈥渙utside of Government.鈥� Mr. Trump called it 鈥淭he 鈥楳anhattan Project鈥� of our time.鈥�
It鈥檚 a role Mr. Musk seems eager to take on, saying that he wants to cut $2 trillion in spending and that it鈥檚 time for 鈥溾�� to reform the government. Mr. Musk has also vowed to keep funding pro-Trump candidates through his political action committee, which spent in 2024.
Beyond that new role, Mr. Musk appears to be influencing a wide range of issues. He has been seen at Mar-a-Lago nearly every day since Mr. Trump鈥檚 victory, weighing in on staffing decisions and other matters, . Last week, Mr. Musk between Mr. Trump and Ukraine鈥檚 president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose military depends on the Starlink internet service provided by Mr. Musk鈥檚 SpaceX satellites. By some reports, he has also proposed that Mr. Trump to the Department of Defense.
The overlap between Mr. Trump鈥檚 governing agenda and Mr. Musk鈥檚 business interests is raising concerns among some, given that SpaceX is a major contractor to NASA, the Department of Defense, and other security agencies. Before the Nov. 5 election, that 鈥淚 have never asked @realDonaldTrump for any favors, nor has he offered me any.鈥�
But Mr. Musk has repeatedly complained of 鈥渋rrational regulations鈥� that hold back innovation at his companies. Tesla is the subject of into the safety of its self-driving technology. More broadly, the close embrace by Mr. Trump, a master of transactional politics, of the world鈥檚 richest man marks a new chapter in a modern era of billionaire-funded candidates pushing ethical boundaries.
鈥淢usk and his businesses are going to reap extensive economic benefits from Trump鈥檚 presidency,鈥� says Bruce Schulman, a political historian at Boston University. 鈥淚 think Musk is going to receive favorable treatment from the federal government in regulatory matters.鈥�
Musk: An unconventional innovation driver
Mr. Musk鈥檚 risk-taking, no-limits approach to building successful companies 鈥� he camps out in his factories to ensure production hits targets 鈥� makes him stand out, even among the alpha males of Silicon Valley who jostle for visionary status. Critics also concede that his refusal to heed conventional wisdom makes him a potential disrupter to a federal government that has sprawled in scale and complexity under successive presidents.
Born in South Africa, he made his first fortune more than two decades ago at PayPal, whose co-founders included Peter Thiel, who first backed Trump in 2016. After PayPal, Mr. Musk directed his energies toward Tesla, whose electric cars would become popular, especially among liberals concerned about climate change. In 2010, the company received a $465 million loan from the Obama administration to build its first factory in California, a loan it repaid in three years with interest. It now has plants in Texas, Germany, and China and is valued at more than $1 trillion. After Mr. Trump鈥檚 victory, Tesla shares rose by 39%, boosting Mr. Musk鈥檚 net wealth to .
Analysts say Mr. Musk鈥檚 space rockets and satellites have succeeded as a result of innovation, private investment, and relentless experimentation, disrupting a defense industry that enjoyed cozy relations with federal agencies but has fallen behind its upstart competitor.
A decade ago, defense executives 鈥渓ooked at SpaceX and Elon Musk kind of mockingly,鈥� says Todd Harrison, an expert on defense budgeting at the American Enterprise Institute. 鈥淭oday, the same defense companies look at SpaceX with grudging respect.鈥� Mr. Musk鈥檚 company has 鈥渄one some pretty incredible things,鈥� he says, and 鈥渄efense executives would privately acknowledge that SpaceX is beating them, and beating them badly.鈥�
Today, NASA relies on SpaceX to transport astronauts and equipment to the International Space Station. Mr. Musk鈥檚 company also has contracts with the Department of Defense to launch satellites for military communications and intelligence collection, a business that has expanded under President Joe Biden, despite Mr. Musk鈥檚 often frosty relations with the current administration. (Mr. Musk has also drawn attention for his with Russian President Vladimir Putin, before and during the election campaign.)
These deepening ties speak to SpaceX鈥檚 competitive advantage in a time of increasing military competition in space, says David Burbach, an associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. But that same advantage 鈥� providing a service that other defense companies can鈥檛 match 鈥� makes SpaceX a larger-than-life partner for the Pentagon.
鈥淚 think even the Biden administration feels that SpaceX has been so important and is providing such leap-ahead technology that, I think, the administration has been willing to give Musk a pass where they might not in some other situations,鈥� he says.
Of course, defense companies have long lobbied lawmakers and executives to look favorably on their businesses and the federal contracts that sustain them. But their political donations and support are typically spread across the aisle and conducted quietly behind the scenes, says Professor Burbach, who noted that these are his personal views.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 see the CEO of Boeing literally jumping up and down with the candidate at a rally, whether it be a Democrat or a Republican,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou know, maybe in a sense, it鈥檚 a little more honest and open with Musk.鈥�
Conflict of interest, and the precedent of Andrew Mellon
Mr. Musk is unlikely to seek any Cabinet role requiring him to step back from running his companies and possibly divest his holdings. If he did that, the closest historical analog might be Andrew Mellon, the banking and steel tycoon who served as treasury secretary under three Republican presidents in the 1920s and 鈥�30s.
鈥淗e was one of the richest and most prominent businessmen in the country. And he really did define the nature of governance for that whole decade,鈥� says Professor Schulman.
President Warren Harding praised Mr. Mellon as the 鈥�,鈥� after he poured money into the president鈥檚 1920 campaign. Mr. Mellon鈥檚 promise to hand off his companies while serving in government proved empty. He controlled a monopoly on aluminum supplied to a growing aerospace sector, and he shaped tax policies that swelled his personal fortune. His reputation later cratered in the Great Depression after lawmakers in Congress exposed his self-dealing.
By tapping Mr. Musk to remake the federal bureaucracy, Mr. Trump is also, in some ways, following in the footsteps of leaders like President Bill Clinton, who in 1993 put Vice President Al Gore in charge of . The effort spanned Mr. Clinton鈥檚 two terms and led to a reduction in the federal workforce and of internal regulations.
But reformers usually speak about improving public administration, says William Howell, a politics professor at the University of Chicago who directs its Center for Effective Government. What鈥檚 different about the incoming administration is that 鈥渋t employs the language of laying waste to an administrative state that it finds corrupt and noxious.鈥�
Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk 鈥済esture towards efficiency,鈥� he says. But their real interest 鈥渋s dramatically curtailing the reach of the administrative state and cutting regulations.鈥�
Pushing innovation or routing regulations
Mr. Musk鈥檚 companies are the subject of multiple federal workplace and product safety investigations.
Last year, into deaths and injuries at SpaceX facilities that detailed a chaotic workplace where routine safety procedures were skipped to meet Mr. Musk鈥檚 deadlines for rocket launches. After Mr. Trump鈥檚 reelection, a former SpaceX official told Reuters that Mr. Musk 鈥渟ees the Trump administration as the vehicle for getting rid of as many regulations as he can, so he can do whatever he wants, as fast as he wants.鈥�
Jordan Barab, who served as deputy assistant secretary of labor under President Barack Obama, says Mr. Musk鈥檚 idea of making government more efficient will likely prove self-serving and hazardous, given his past defiance of health and safety standards, .
鈥淗e gives the impression that he thinks of himself as kind of a master of the universe, above all these pesky government regulators,鈥� Mr. Barab says. 鈥淗e puts the efficiency of his companies over the health and safety of his workers.鈥�
Mr. Musk has denied that his companies provide an unsafe work environment. But he also voices frustration with regulations that he sees as unnecessary or ill-suited to technological innovation, particularly in the development and launching of SpaceX rockets. He has framed this tension as existential in the context of his stated goal of colonizing Mars.
鈥淎merica is being smothered by ever larger mountains of irrational regulations from ever more new agencies that serve no purpose apart from the aggrandizement of bureaucrats,鈥欌�� he wrote on X. 鈥淗umanity, and life as we know it, . We need to become a multiplanet civilization and a spacefaring species!鈥�
How long Mr. Musk will stay focused on Mr. Trump鈥檚 efficiency agenda remains to be seen. Neither man seems prepared to dedicate themselves to making 鈥渢horoughgoing change in something as extensive and complicated as the federal bureaucracy,鈥� says Professor Schulman. A more likely scenario, he believes, is the creation of a commission that gets a lot of attention and then quietly fades from view.
Podcaster Joe Rogan posed a similar question during an interview with Mr. Musk last month. 鈥淗ow are you going to have the time to oversee all this [expletive]?鈥� Mr. Rogan asked. To which Mr. Musk replied: 鈥淚鈥檓 pretty good at improving efficiency.鈥�
From Twitter to X, from the left to the right
In April 2022, Mr. Musk decided on an impulse to purchase Twitter for $44 billion amid rising controversy over its content-moderation policies that conservatives decried as censorship. At the time, he was among the platform鈥檚 most prominent users.
He discussed his acquisition that month over dinner with four of his sons, according to Walter Isaacson鈥檚 biography, published last year. Mr. Musk told them he wanted Twitter to be more of an inclusive public square, adding, 鈥淗ow else are we going to get Trump elected in 2024?鈥�
鈥淚t was a joke,鈥� wrote Mr Isaacson. 鈥淏ut with Musk, it was sometimes hard to tell, even for his kids. Maybe even for himself.鈥�
Mr. Musk had previously described himself as socially liberal and said that he donated to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. As he told Mr. Rogan last month: 鈥淚 was on the left until three years ago.鈥�
His political journey to Mr. Trump鈥檚 side appears to have started during the COVID-19 pandemic when he chafed at public health closures of Tesla鈥檚 factory in California. He also became a critic of what he calls the 鈥渨oke mind virus鈥� in society, particularly around gender identity. He has a transgender daughter, Vivian, who transitioned in 2020 at age 16. The two are estranged; that he claims he was tricked into approving. In total, he has 11 children, born to three mothers.
Under his ownership, Twitter, which he renamed X, reinstated Mr. Trump鈥檚 account, which had been banned from the platform, as well as several right-wing firebrands. Critics say the platform has largely stopped policing misinformation.
Mr. Musk publicly declared his backing for Mr. Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. X leaned hard into the campaign, amplifying positive messages about Mr. Trump and other Republicans at the expense of Democrats, . Other research has found on X. Analysts say the increasingly right-wing tilt on X could also reflect the exodus of liberal users under Mr. Musk鈥檚 ownership.
Critics accuse Mr. Musk, who has over 200 million followers, of spreading false claims about election fraud and other Trump talking points. He repeatedly argued on X and elsewhere that Democrats were deliberately encouraging illegal immigration as part of a plot to boost their party鈥檚 prospects at the ballot box (only citizens can legally vote in federal elections). His claims that Democrats are 鈥渋mporting鈥� migrants into swing states to engineer future majorities also echo .
Mr. Trump owns his own digital platform, Truth Social, though his posts there were reposted on X during the campaign. That technically puts the two men in competition for social media clicks, while Mr. Musk has ambitions for X to become a digital-payments platform.
Critics have pointed to X鈥檚 loss in advertising revenue and vertiginous since Mr. Musk took it private as an example of his Midas touch deserting him. But his vast wealth means that he can afford to subsidize X to sustain its political reach, just as media tycoons prop up loss-making news outlets that have influence over public life.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns a space company that competes with SpaceX for rocket launches. He also owns The Washington Post, which made him a target for Mr. Trump during his first term. The newspaper鈥檚 editorial board reacted furiously when he axed its planned endorsement of Vice President Harris, arguing that The Post should remain politically neutral. After Mr. Trump won a second term, Mr. Bezos publicly congratulated him on 鈥渁n extraordinary political comeback鈥� and wished him success in 鈥渓eading and uniting鈥� the country.
The message was posted on X.
