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What’s next for Elon Musk after Trump’s re-election?

Umito November 9, 2024

It’s not particularly surprising that Tiffany Trump saw fit to publicly congratulate her father on his big election victory this week. “Dad, we are so proud of you,” the president-elect’s youngest daughter wrote on X in a message accompanying a photo of the entire extended Trump family posing happily. With one exception. There, in the front row of the Trump board, is the only exception to this insular family: tech billionaire and self-proclaimed “dark, goth MAGA” acolyte Elon Musk.

Dad, we are so proud of you! pic.twitter.com/GyNqBviT4iNovember 6, 2024

That Musk, the richest person in the history of the human race, is welcomed into Trump’s inner circle is a marked change from just two years ago, when the Tesla CEO encouraged the former and future president to “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.” But since then, Musk has positioned himself as Trump’s spokesperson. the biggest political promoter, spend millions of his personal fortune to obtain the Republican ticket, while lending his cultural cache (largely Internet-based) to the MAGA cause. It’s a gamble that has paid off handsomely for Musk, whose net worth jumped by about $20 billion in the hours following Trump’s victory.

Now, as Trump begins the process of regaining executive control of the United States government, it is perhaps Musk more than anyone who stands to gain from his relationship with the president-elect. Beyond the billions of dollars in federal contracts that Musk already controls, Trump has also floated his name as a potential adviser on reducing what he sees as government waste in the new administration. So where does Elon Musk go from here?

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Musk, standing alongside Trump on election night, marked an “inflection point in an unprecedented metamorphosis” for the tech billionaire who “promised to direct his erratic but visionary ethos more toward national politics,” declared The Washington Post. Musk’s promise this week that his pro-Trump America PAC is “going to continue after this election” to focus on the upcoming midterms and future political elections is one indication: Mother Jones“ Anna Merlan underlined “the scope and consequences of her new political ambitions”.

While Trump and Musk have “indicated that Musk is unlikely to take on an official role” in the new administration, the ultra-conservative billionaire has “embraced the idea of leading a ‘Department of Government Effectiveness ‘(DOGE) aiming to cut $2 trillion or more from the federal budget,’ Forbes said. At the same time, Musk stands to benefit personally from the Trump administration, “given the executive branch’s outsized control over federal regulatory agencies,” said CNBC. He can now “expect regulators and intelligence agencies to bring an end to some or all of the 19 ongoing federal investigations and prosecutions” against his various businesses and interests.

Beyond simply relieving regulatory pressure and investigations, Musk seeks to expand these interests Also; he asked Trump to hire employees from his rocket and satellite company SpaceX as “senior government officials, including at the Department of Defense.” The New York Times said. The effort to “integrate SpaceX employees into an agency that is one of its biggest clients” shows how Musk “wants to fill a potential Trump administration with his closest confidants,” no matter how much his Federal contracts “pose a conflict to any government.” role.”

With much of Elon Musk’s fortune tied to his ownership of Tesla, it will be worth watching whether “government support for electric vehicles is now reduced or eliminated, as is likely the case with Trump’s victory.” Trump.” CNN said. Even if that’s the case, “Musk’s wealth will remain intact,” and the billionaire could even “benefit from the end of government support for electric vehicles,” a move that could have a much bigger impact on traditional automakers than on Tesla itself. Chinese imports could “continue to deter cheaper Chinese electric vehicle players from flooding the U.S. market in the years to come,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush. Yahoo Finance.