Topline
With Donald Trump’s presidency win, the stage is set for one of his most prolific backers—the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk—to wield his newfound political influence, and while it’s a mystery what role he may play in the administration, Musk has laid out several priorities.
Trump, left, and Musk greet each other on the campaign trail last month.
Key Facts
In his 25-minute victory speech, Trump spent nearly four minutes discussing Musk, proclaiming the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive a “super genius,” flowering praise on SpaceX’s rocket launches and satellite internet programs, and declaring “a star is born—Elon!”
Though Trump didn’t touch on specifics about Musk, who donated more than $130 million toward Trump election efforts this year, the pair seem to agree Musk will have a major influence in Trump’s second term.
After endorsing Trump in July, Musk quickly embraced the idea of helming a “Department of Government Efficiency” (D.O.G.E.) aiming to cut $2 trillion or more from the federal budget, while Trump has touted Musk as the so-called “Secretary of Cost-Cutting.”
They have both indicated it’s unlikely Musk will take on an official role, as Trump says Musk “doesn’t want to be in the Cabinet” and Musk said “No pay, no title, no recognition is needed” for his services.
Musk said he doesn’t plan to stop weighing in on politics with this election, as his America super political-action committee “is going to keep going after this election, and prepare for the midterms and any intermediate elections.”
In an interview on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast released Monday night, Musk said he hopes to “curtail [federal] agencies to be much smaller,” make sure they “stick to what Congress authorized instead of all this other stuff” and “clear the decks” of undue regulations and federal agencies, adding if his task force removes “some regulation or agency that was doing something useful, we can put it right back.”
What Has Musk Said He Would Do In A Trump Administration?
In a series of Tuesday and Wednesday posts on his X social media platform, Musk offered minimal information on what his role will be: He responded “I think so” to an artificial intelligence-generated image of him speaking at a D.O.G.E. platform, he retweeted an image dubbing him the U.S. chief technology officer, said the D.O.G.E. will be “so lit,” responded with fire emojis in a post calling to fire Federal Trade Commission chief Lina Khan and Securities and Exchange Commission head Gary Gensler and replied affirmatively to a post calling to “dismantle Washington as we know it.” Musk butted heads often with regulators in the Biden Administration. The Khan-led FTC slapped X, then known as Twitter, with a $150 million fine and ordering restrictions on the social media company’s data collection methods for advertising, and the Gensler-led SEC wrestled with Musk over his use of Twitter in the context of his role at Tesla, dating back to a controversial 2018 tweet in which Musk said he secured the requisite funding to take Tesla private.
How Could Musk Benefit From A Trump Administration?
There are a slew of outstanding lawsuits and government probes against Musk and his companies, meaning he would likely enjoy the lighter regulatory climate floated by Trump. Among the legal and regulatory issues facing Musk are an appeal to reinstate his $50 billion bonus in Tesla stock struck down by a Delaware judge in January, an investigation into Tesla’s autonomous driving systems from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a reported warning from the Justice Department over the America PAC’s $1 million awards to certain swing-state voters. And Tesla, which accounts for more of Musk’s wealth than any of his other companies, may get a boost from Trump’s economic proposals which would likely hurt its electric vehicle competitors, a benefit reflected in its stock’s massive rally Wednesday (see below for more details).
When Did Musk Become A Trump Ally?
Musk backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and said he voted for Joe Biden in 2020. His rightward shift coincided with his 2022 purchase of Twitter, and he said in June of that year he cast his first-ever vote for a Republican candidate for former Texas Rep. Mayra Flores. By that November, Musk said he’d back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the presidential election, eventually endorsing Trump in July following the failed assassination attempt on Trump, joining Trump on the campaign trail in subsequent months.
Chief Critic
“I’m not sure how they’ve gotten to that number,” hedge fund manager turned Trump advisor Scott Bessent, a potential pick to be Trump’s Treasury Secretary, told before the election, calling into question Musk’s goal to cut $2 trillion from the federal government’s annual budget. “But I look at the way he runs his companies. He runs them pretty well,” Bessent added.
Key Background
Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla are both among the world’s most valuable companies, with the aerospace giant SpaceX the second-largest private company in the world with a reported $210 billion valuation and the electric vehicle firm Tesla the 10th-largest public company with a more than $900 billion market capitalization. Musk has a 42% stake in SpaceX and 13% stake in Tesla, while he also has controlling stakes in X, the platform formerly known as Twitter and generative AI startup xAI. The South Africa-born Musk is by far the richest person in the world, with his roughly $280 billion net worth more than $60 billion more than the next wealthiest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Tangent
The fruits of Musk’s potential personal benefit from a Trump administration were on display Wednesday, as shares of Tesla took off 14% to their highest level since last July, minting $20 billion to Musk’s fortune. “Musk’s big bet on Trump [is] a homerun for Tesla,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. Trump’s proposal to end federal electric vehicle tax credits “could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment,” Ives wrote to clients, adding heavy tariffs on Chinese imports “would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players from flooding the US market over the coming years.”
Further Reading