The Tesla CEO, Trump’s most influential advertising and marketing marketing campaign backer, has become a key power supplier in presidential transition.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is diving even deeper into the world of politics after Donald Trump’s election win, cosying as a lot because the president-elect and offering him enter on key administration hires, in response to US media tales.
Musk, who donated $119m to a pro-Trump political movement committee and aggressively campaigned for the Republican, has made near-daily visits to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida since Election Day on Tuesday, spending time with the president-elect and his family, CNN reported.
Kai Trump, Donald Trump’s granddaughter, posted {a photograph} of herself with Musk and his toddler on social media, joking that the billionaire was “reaching uncle standing”.
Elon reaching uncle standing 😂 pic.twitter.com/vufSffziZN
— Kai Trump (@KaiTrumpGolfs) November 10, 2024
Musk is making his voice heard on essential staffing deliberations, in response to CNNwhereas using the X social media platform, which he owns, to promote his political imaginative and prescient.
“He positively inserts himself regularly. That’s his kind,” tech journalist Kara Swisher instructed CNN. “I’ve heard from Trump people, calling me, saying, ‘Oh, wow. That’s odd.’ And it is.”
Over the weekend and on Monday, Musk posted endorsements for Florida Senator Rick Scott to steer the Senate and invited most of the people to counsel candidates for Trump’s cabinet.
The billionaire moreover shared posts by former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, whose title has been floated for an administration place, advocating to “radically downsize” the federal authorities.
“The obstacles are overcoming the Kafkaesque nature of the foundations governing this large kinds and guaranteeing that maniacally devoted small-government revolutionaries be part of this administration!” Musk wrote in a single publish, responding to Ramaswamy’s suggestion.
Actually, the obstacles are overcoming the Kafkaesque nature of the foundations governing this large kinds and guaranteeing that maniacally devoted small-government revolutionaries be part of this administration! https://t.co/ObfnIeuTXa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2024
Musk’s entry to Trump at Mar-a-Lago, which CNN reported has grow to be the de facto nucleus of Trump’s presidential transition, has given him an infinite amount of sway in a method that may revenue his corporations, analysts talked about.
His electrical car company, Tesla, has already seen a raise with its shares leaping 14 p.c the day after Trump’s election win and the specter of tariffs on Chinese language language imports likely blocking rivals from the nation.
“We’ve seen lobbying efforts. We’ve seen large PACs [political action committees]nevertheless this generally is a fully completely different diploma we’ve certainly not seen sooner than,” Gita Johar, a professor at Columbia Enterprise School, instructed The Guardian. “There’ll in all probability be some quid skilled quo the place he [Musk] will revenue.”
Whereas Trump earlier floated the idea of naming Musk “secretary of cost-cutting”, he is unlikely to take any job that requires Senate affirmation or disrupts his corporations, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fischer reported.
As an alternative, Musk may serve on a “blue-ribbon committee the place he would nonetheless have large entry nevertheless would not be matter to authorities ethics tips”, in response to CNN.
With such shut ties to the president-elect, Musk is susceptible to push arduous for deregulation, which he has repeatedly blamed for slowing innovation in his companies, along with SpaceX and Tesla.
“America is a nation of builders,” Musk wrote on X on the day of Trump’s election victory. “Rapidly, you will be free to assemble.”