America elected Donald Trump and it turns out Elon Musk did too

Elon Musk was not a public supporter of Trump until this summer. Then he went all in. Now that Trump has won, Musk seems committed to him in public and behind the scenes. Money and politics have always been linked. But we've never seen anything like this.

American voters re-elected Donald Trump this month. At the moment it also looks like they elected Elon Musk.

Indeed, the richest man in the world, after supporting Trump, campaigning for him and injecting $200 million into Trump's campaign, now seems to be behaving like a shadow president.

Yes, there's his next role as head of Trump's “Department of Government Effectiveness,” alongside former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. And Musk tirelessly promotes Trump on Twitter, the site he bought in 2022 and renamed X.

But that's just the beginning: Since Trump's election, Musk has attended “nearly every meeting and meal Mr. Trump has had,” reports the New York Times, and he offers advice on policies and personnel. He promises to direct his U.S. political action committee to support Trump's allies in the 2026 midterms and subsequent elections.

Musk, who according to the Wall Street Journal has been in “regular contact” with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022, now joins Trump on calls with world leaders, including one with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And the Times reports that earlier this week Musk met with Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, allowing Iran to open a diplomatic channel with Trump without formally sitting down with him.

And much of it is happening out in the open, as Musk parks at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's country club in Florida.

“He loves this place. I can't get him out of here. He just loves this place,” Trump joked in a speech Thursday night. “And you know what, I like having him here too. He's good. He's done a fantastic job.”

Related Stories

President-elect Trump on Elon Musk: “He loves this place. I can't get him out of here!…I ask him 'what do you do best?' and we couldn't figure it out pic.twitter.com/1r8jREg2oz.

CSPAN (@cspan) November 15, 2024

We don't know how long this relationship will last, but more later. But to the extent that this is the case, it's worth noting that this connection between the richest man in the world and the leader of the free world is something we've never seen before.

“It's totally extraordinary. It's never happened before. We've never even come close to it,” says David Nasaw, professor of history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Nasaw, who has written biographies of tycoons like William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Carnegie, who was the world's richest man during his lifetime, notes that it is common for very wealthy men to try to influence the government . What's different here is how literally close Musk is to Trump and how public he is.

“In the past, the oligarchs, after electing their candidate, rightly believed that the candidate would do the job,” he told me. “Then if they had any advice to offer, they would do it using cutouts, who would connect with the president. Musk inserted himself in a way that just hasn't been done.”

It’s a relationship that has heated up quite recently. While Musk and Trump's policies have seemed aligned for some time, here is Musk in the fall of 2023, visiting the Texas/Mexico border, where he described an immigration crisis he called “crazy” , they were only publicly linked this summer.

In March, after reports that Trump had met with Musk in Florida, Musk insisted he did not support his campaign: “Just to be very clear, I am not giving money to either candidate for office. presidency of the United States,” he tweeted.

Within months of that statement, Musk had officially endorsed Trump, campaigned for him at rallies, and supported Trump's get-out-the-vote efforts.

But Trump didn't spend much time talking about Musk's role in his second presidency during the election. He first floated the idea of ​​putting Musk in charge of a government efficiency office in early September, but it was not a focus of his rallies and speeches.

Musk's name never came up once during the Trump-Kamala Harris debate in September, nor during the JD Vance-Tim Walz debate in October. If you were paying attention, you may have noticed that Musk was one of the last speakers to appear before Trump at his rally at Madison Square Garden in late October, a sign of his importance to Trump.

But that's very different from telling people that if he were re-elected, he would count on Musk to help him plan his administration and to represent the country on the international stage.

Next question: how long will this continue? On the one hand, both Trump and Musk have strong incentives to continue their partnership. Trump likes Musk's money and smarts, and he likes the idea of ​​being backed by the richest man in the world; Musk also loves adulation, and he also has very concrete and lucrative ties to the U.S. government through his corporate network.

On the other hand, both men are notoriously out of stock, and the two men I emailed Musk and a Trump spokesperson but didn't hear back from answer, love the spotlight. And this combination makes it easy to imagine a break down the line.

It's also possible that Trump will discover that Musk's advice and consent simply won't be as valuable to him as time goes on. Perhaps he will note that while Musk has been extraordinary at building companies that need an engineering brain, Tesla and SpaceX, he has failed at Twitter, a product that requires “a different kind of socio-emotional intelligence,” as noted by his former employee Esther Crawford.

And Nasaw points out that Carnegie, who helped elect Theodore Roosevelt, and Hearst, who helped elect Franklin Roosevelt, expected to be rewarded once their candidates won, but were basically ignored.

Maybe we'll see a repeat of this. Except that by directly linking himself to the next president, in full view of everyone, Musk has already shown that history does not repeat itself precisely. We are in uncharted territory here.

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos