Elon Musk Is Already Doing Exactly What He Said He Would

Less than a week aft the predetermination results were called for erstwhile president Donald Trump, his centibillionaire backer Elon Musk is already doing what helium promised: taking an progressive relation successful shaping the authorities nether a 2nd Trump administration.

During the campaign, Musk emerged arsenic 1 of Trump’s biggest backers and his astir zealous advocator successful Silicon Valley. His governmental enactment committee (PAC), of which helium was the superior funder, spent $200 cardinal to assistance the Trump campaign. But helium besides deed the run way drumming up enactment successful the captious battleground authorities of Pennsylvania; made an appearance with Trump astatine a rally; stumped for Trump connected Joe Rogan’s fashionable podcast; hosted a unrecorded connected X, which helium owns; and utilized his level and the powerfulness of his ain personage to propulsion the campaign’s talking points and boost propaganda claiming Democrats would let unauthorized immigrants to vote.

In his archetypal administration, Trump famously made governing a household business, bringing his girl Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner into salient positions. Musk, according to Trump’s granddaughter Kai, has present seemingly reached “uncle” status, appearing successful a household photograph (and apparently refusing to leave). It does look that Musk volition beryllium heavy progressive successful immoderate comes next. And his posts connected X, arsenic good arsenic his aboriginal post-elections interactions with Trump, marque wide what that mightiness look like.

Musk, who has seemingly already joined Trump’s calls with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Serbia president Aleksandar Vučić, and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, looks poised to person immoderate benignant of relation successful the administration. In September, Trump said helium would make a government ratio commission with Musk—whose concern empire benefits extensively from authorities contracts and subsidies—at the helm. On Sunday, Musk reshared a post envisioning a Trump medication that focuses connected “deregulation (defanging the SEC, FTC, and others), authorities spending cuts (making country for the backstage sector), taxation cuts, and a absorption connected technologically enabled innovation,” with the comment, “Great.” Musk also called for “ensuring that maniacally dedicated small-government revolutionaries articulation this administration!”

And already, Musk is opening to measurement successful connected staffing decisions for the 2nd Trump medication and beyond. On Sunday morning, Musk released a canvass asking users who should beryllium the caller Senate Majority Leader, successful enactment to win outgoing number leader, Kentucky legislator Mitch McConnell. Users appeared to overwhelmingly vote for MAGA favourite Florida legislator Rick Scott. When Trump announced that New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik would beryllium his prime for UN Ambassador, Musk took to X to measurement in, saying, “Elise is awesome, but it mightiness beryllium excessively dicey to suffer her from the House, astatine slightest for now.” Reporting from the Financial Times revealed that Musk is looking to instal his ain loyalists and backers into the government, peculiarly radical similar Steve Davis, CEO of the Musk-founded Boring Company, and has reportedly asked Trump to name SpaceX unit to the Department of Defense.

In different station including a video of National Public Radio CEO Katherine Maher from a TED Talk she gave successful 2021, 3 years earlier she took implicit the organization, Musk asks, “Should your taxation dollars truly beryllium paying for an enactment tally by radical who deliberation the information is simply a ‘distraction’?” In a station shared implicit the weekend, Musk described the Department of Education arsenic “not precisely large worth for money.” (Project 2025, a roadmap created by the Heritage Foundation for a 2nd Trump administration, calls for eliminating the Department of Education). In all, Musk has advocated for $2 trillion successful spending cuts—more than the national government’s full spending successful fiscal twelvemonth 2023 connected each discretionary outlays including defense, according to the Congressional Budget Office.