On Wednesday morning, following the U.S. election, Elon Musk posted what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself on X, the social media platform he owns. In it, he’s saluting the American flag in front of a dusty pink sky. His caption reads: “It is morning in America again.”
It was the culmination of his frenzied effort to re-elect Donald Trump as president. Over the past few weeks, Musk pogoed with excitement during one of Trump’s rallies, poured more than $100 million of his personal money into a pro-Trump super PAC and hunkered down with Trump in West Palm Beach as the votes rolled in throughout election night.
When Trump gave his victory speech, he singled out Musk. “We have a new star,” he declared. “A star is born — Elon!”
Musk is the richest man in the world, worth some $290 billion, and has a lot to gain from a Trump presidency. Many of the companies he owns, including Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, rely heavily on government subsidies. He’s already started to benefit by way of the stock market, with his investments soaring more than $26 billion on November 6. With a friendly government, Musk could continue to amass wealth and consolidate power, while using his feed on X as a megaphone to boost his allies.
Let that sink in pic.twitter.com/XvYFtDrhRm
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2024
“The whole idea of the quid pro quo is pretty clear,” says Gita Johar, referring to the highly public interactions and warm relationship between the two men over the course of the campaign. Johar is a Columbia Business School professor who researches X and consumer psychology. “Musk supported Trump so explicitly with unprecedented levels of support — not just financially, but in personally being there. And I think that the idea and the expectation was that ‘You take care of me and I'll take care of you.’”
The Trump campaign, representatives from X, and Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Here are several ways the Trump administration could potentially benefit Musk and his companies.
Musk could be Trump’s new “Secretary of Cost Cutting”
In August, Musk floated the idea of creating a “government efficiency commission” that would act as an auditor to the entire federal government. He first brought it up during a live streamed conversation with Trump on X. Musk said the commission could ensure taxpayers’ money “is spent in a good way.”
Just three weeks later, Trump announced he’d create the commission and place Musk in charge.
Ethics experts immediately pointed out many conflicts of interest: Musk’s businesses, which are regulated by multiple federal agencies. His electric car company Tesla gets government funding and has received millions to install EV charging stations. His rocket company SpaceX has won billion-dollar government contracts for moon missions. And his satellite internet company, Starlink, has also gotten millions in subsidies from the federal government.
During the first Trump administration, at least one government appointee — Wilbur Ross, who was Commerce Secretary — was allegedly able to flout ethics rules with little consequences. Ross failed to divest his millions in assets, even when he said he would and despite telling ethics officials he’d done so.
In heading a government commission, Musk could have substantial influence over federal agencies and how budgets are allocated. Trump hasn’t detailed how the commission would operate and what kind of autonomy it would have. He has emphasized, though, that it would look into major budget cuts.
During his campaign rallies, Trump repeatedly referred to the commission and nicknamed Musk the “Secretary of Cost Cutting.” Musk has said that in this role, he would cut nearly a third of the federal budget — an eye-popping $2 trillion. Similar commissions in the past haven’t been empowered to actually make cuts, but rather make recommendations to Congress.
What happens to the federal investigations into Musk’s business empire?
During President Joe Biden’s administration, Musk’s companies have been under increased regulatory scrutiny. The Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Trade Commission have all launched investigations into his businesses.
The Justice Department has investigated Tesla for allegedly misleading consumers about the autonomous driving capabilities of its vehicles and for wire fraud. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into Tesla’s autopilot driver-assistance system, which has been blamed for several fatal crashes. It resulted in the recall of more than 2 million vehicles last year.
In response to the recall, Musk posted on X: “the fun police made us do it (sigh).”
The Environmental Protection Agency has investigated and fined several of Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX. After NPR’s reporting on nearly 20 methane gas turbines that were installed at Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence supercomputer facility, the EPA said it was “looking into the matter.”
X has also been the focus of government investigations. The Federal Trade Commission has probed the social media site’s privacy practices, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has battled Musk over his purchase of shares in the company, saying he initially failed to disclose his investment. Musk started amassing shares in 2021 and bought the company about a year later for $44 billion.
At one point, during another tiff with the SEC — this time over Tesla — Musk taunted the agency by posting, “SEC, three letter acronym, middle word is Elon’s.”
Like Musk, Trump’s disdain for regulation is well-known. And experts like Johar say that under his presidency, light-touch regulation would likely be encouraged.
“I think the government contracts would be given without much oversight to Musk,” Johar says. “And that's lack of regulation, lack of oversight — all of which will serve to benefit Musk.”
Trump has already made it clear that he’s a fan of Musk’s companies. The former president, who once criticized electric cars, now seems to support Tesla. During an August rally, Trump announced, “I’m for electric cars. I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly.” And in October, nodding to SpaceX, he said, “We will land an American astronaut on Mars. Thank you, Elon.”
During Trump’s victory speech on Wednesday morning, he called out Musk saying, “We have to protect our geniuses. We don’t have that many of them.”
X could become more of an influence machine
Since Musk bought X, it’s increasingly become a megaphone for conservative politics. He often boosts right-leaning leaders, talking points and political views. He’s hyped his favored politicians, promoted conspiracy theories about immigration and other hot-button topics and smeared Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one,” Musk posted in September, along with an AI-generated image of Harris dressed in a red outfit and cap adorned with a hammer and sickle. “Can you believe she wears that outfit!?”
Musk has the biggest account on X, with more than 200 million followers. He tends to stoke rumors, which pick up steam and confuse people about whether they’re real or not. For example, he promoted the false claim that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, which quickly spread across X and spilled over into real life in the small city. After city officials dismissed the claims as false, they received anonymous threats, including 33 bomb threats at local schools, according to CNN.
Since Musk endorsed Trump in July, he has increasingly amplified pro-Trump posts and conservative politicians, according to an in-depth analysis by The Wall Street Journal. The Journal’s analysis shows that X’s algorithm tends to recommend partisan topics that lean right — those political posts account for half of the total posts on people’s “For You” home feeds.
“[Musk] has the megaphone now. And I think Trump will, by extension, get that megaphone,” Johar says. “There is a universe of people on X who are just going to keep cheering this on. And if we talk about we're all living in our bubbles, I think that's one massive bubble.”
Under Trump, X could be seen as a platform backed by the president of the United States — making it even more of an influence machine.
On election night, one of Musk’s posts to his millions of followers read: “You are the media now.”
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