What Elon Musk can gain from Donald Trump’s new presidency in the US

Donald Trump’s return to the White House could also be a victory for one of his most visible supporters: Elon Musk.

The world’s richest man spent election night with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as the results were counted.

“Tonight, the American people have given @realDonaldTrump a crystal clear mandate for change,” Musk wrote on his X social media platform, as Trump’s victory began to look clearer.

And in his victory speech from the Palm Beach Convention Center, Trump spent several minutes praising Musk and recalling the successful landing of a rocket made by SpaceX, one of his companies.

Musk – who previously cultivated an image of an eccentric technological genius who was outside of politics – He gave his full support to Trump’s campaign after he survived an attempt on his life during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. on July 13.

In full view of the American public, the 53-year-old South African tycoon has invested his time, operational knowledge and deep pockets in trying to get the Republican elected, a rarity among America’s business elite, which traditionally prefers to influence politics. behind the scenes.

It’s a radically different approach from traditional CEOs, many of whom have been better known for hosting expensive, exclusive fundraising dinners or hosting potential donors at lavish homes.

Therefore, Musk’s strategy has led analysts to ask questions about his motivations.

The traditional political approach for executives is to “stay out of the public spotlight,” explains Erik Gordon, chair of the entrepreneurship department at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

“Musk does it loudly and proudly, and therefore perhaps becomes a lightning rod,” he adds.

As one of the president-elect’s most important sponsors, The tech billionaire donated more than $119 million to fund a Super PAC aimed at re-electing Trump.

He also spent the final weeks before Election Day conducting a campaign to mobilize voters in battleground states, which included delivering $1 million a day to voters in those territories. The delivery, which was carried out through a raffle, became the subject of a legal challenge, which was later dismissed by a judge.

Beyond the obvious benefit Musk will receive from Trump’s proposals to reduce taxes on corporations and the wealthy, the president-elect has said that in a second term he would invite Musk into his administration to help eliminate government waste.

Musk talked about this initiative as the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).for its acronym in English), which refers to the name of a meme and a cryptocurrency that he himself has popularized, known as dogecoin.

His close relationship with Trump, Democrats say, could present a complex conflict of interest, given the billions of dollars in government contracts Musk has received for SpaceX and Tesla.

“That is deeply unethical and illegal,” says Lenny Mendonza, former economic and business advisor to the governor of California.Gavin Newsom.

Mendonza believes that those with intertwined government and regulatory relationships “can have a voice,” but should not be in a position of authority over those same interests.

Musk’s companies could also benefit from Trump’s presidency. One of them, SpaceX, already dominates the business of sending government satellites into space.

With a close ally in the White House, Musk could seek to get more out of those government tiesAccording to Matt Teske, CEO of electric vehicle charging platform Chargeway.

According to him, the political change by Musk, founder of Tesla, has been difficult for many in the electric vehicle industry, but is not surprising after several years in which he has been increasingly active in the political sphere.

“I think Musk’s interests are predominantly focused on a handful of things that are important to him, that relate to his businesses, and government regulations are something that he has expressed concern about,” he says.

Teske points out that Musk “strongly rejected” the restrictions implemented during the pandemic in California and from there he distanced himself from the Democrats and approached Trump..

Professor Gordon of the University of Michigan agrees. He says Musk sees himself as someone who has been held back by regulators and feels government intervention has stifled development of the technologies he focuses on, such as autonomous driving.

“You want to be on the frontier, a wild entrepreneur who can open new paths and not be stuck by regulations, which tend to delay technological advances by 5, 10 or 20 years,” he warns.

“Musk wants to go further,” he adds. “He wants to go to Mars.”

Musk has also criticized his rivals, including Boeing, for how their government contracts are structured, saying they discourage completing projects on budget and on time.

SpaceX has also begun building spy satellites just as the Pentagon and U.S. spy agencies appear set to invest billions of dollars in them.

Tesla, meanwhile, could reap the benefits of a Trump administration after the US agency charged with regulating road safety revealed last month that it was investigating Tesla’s self-driving software systems.

Musk has also come under fire for allegedly trying to stop Tesla workers from unionizing. The United Auto Workers union filed a complaint against Trump and Musk for unfair labor practices after the two spoke during a conversation on X about Musk’s alleged decision to fire striking workers.

*With reporting from BBC News reporters Lily Jamali, Nada Tawfik and Bernd Debusmann Jr.

Subscribe here to our new newsletter to receive a selection of our best content of the week every Friday.

And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.