Elon Musk, the billionaire, gave significant personal time and at least $ 260 million to Donald Trump’s campaign.
Trump, who has since re-entried to the White House, was successful with that large investment. And it’s paid off for Musk, who has bought himself a choice seat at the new president’s table – he literally dined with the Trump family on Thanksgiving.
Additionally, Musk has been given a potentially powerful position in the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a mysterious non-profit organization charged with auditing every branch of the federal government. And as Trump begins to rein in his foreign policy in his first few months in office, Musk has established himself as a significant player.
At the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, Musk and Trump made a phone call to Volodymyr Zelenskyyy and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Musk’s growing role as an adviser, and perhaps more, on issues of foreign policy presents one of the biggest wild cards for the new Trump administration. If Musk remains as influential in the Trump administration as he has been during the campaign and transition periods, we are poised to see an American foreign policy driven by Musk’s net worth, his worldview, and, most notably, his ego.
Musk’s nine-figure investment in getting Trump elected has already benefitted Musk financially. Tesla’s market cap topped $1 trillion and Musk’s personal fortune grew to more than $300bn immediately after Trump’s win. Investors have good reason to believe that even American foreign policy will bend in order to protect these corporate interests, and that Musk’s companies have a reason to believe that Trump’s companies will benefit from it.
By portraying his bottom line as a public good, Musk has successfully funneled taxpayer dollars into his business ventures for years. As part of its economic stimulus and clean energy initiatives, the federal government early in the Obama administration extended a $465 million loan to Tesla, enabling the automaker to become a significant force in the sector. In 2015, the Los Angeles Times documented nearly $5bn in government subsidies acquired by Musk’s companies, including Telsa and SpaceX, and that number has only grown over time. For instance, Musk threatened to stop using his Starlink satellite internet service, but the Pentagon secretly paid for it after Musk threatened to shut it down. Musk initially donated the use of his Starlink satellite internet service to Ukraine during its conflict with Russia.
Even these examples fail to account for how much of Musk’s corporate interests may dictate American foreign policy going forward. In light of European efforts to regulate and punish Musk for using the social media platform X, incoming vice president JD Vance suggested that regaining American support for NATO must be conditioned on Europe to back down against X.
Musk has pressed for the repeal of the electric vehicle tax credit, which would hurt US car companies like General Motors and Ford and benefit China, which already has a significant lead in the EV market, including a large portion of Tesla’s production.
Musk’s influence on foreign policy may have a significant impact on nations around the world where Trump is uninterested. Take sub-Saharan Africa, a country that Trump largely ignored despite branding some of its neighbors as “s***holes” and imposing a “Muslim ban” on several of them. Musk’s Starlink service is rapidly expanding across Africa. Many nations now have access to internet, but this also poses challenges for regulatory regulations as the country continues to expand. Musk could use American influence to pressure these governments into repressing them to rescind their plans to enact restrictions or regulations on Starlink in this area of policy. The countries involved would gain from a move like this, which would increase connectivity for their citizens, but which could also result in the elimination of telecom jobs. However, Musk has a clear advantage over his competitors, and he is well-positioned to leverage his influence both domestically and internationally to benefit his corporate empire.
In addition to promoting positions and policies that would boost his already sizable net worth, Musk has also developed a more traditional political agenda that occasionally overshadows his financial interests. Musk’s impulsive decision to buy Twitter appears to have been motivated by his steadfast support for “free speech” and his desire to have a platform where he can freely express his opinions about the world. In addition to his frequent sharing of his own opinions on X on the internet, Musk has found a kinship with Donald Trump. Musk has recently tweeted support for reducing foreign aid and expressed doubt about international agreements that “restrict the freedoms of Americans,” which are views that resonate with Trump.
Trump and Musk in fact enjoy cozying up to far-right figures and authoritarians. The billionaire appeared video at a party in Germany’s far-right AfD party after causing controversy on Inauguration Day by performing what appeared to be a Nazi salute, which Musk later mocked online. Musk has previously argued that “only AfD can save Germany.” In nations like the UK, Musk has supported far-right opposition groups. Musk has previously made statements that appeared to avenge Chinese ambitions to control Taiwan and Russian control of Crimea (apparently after Musk had spoken with Putin about the matter). Musk is also developing a relationship with Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei, who has slashed the country’s budget in a move to fight out-of-control inflation, but at the cost of plummeting GDP and rising poverty. Milei’s policies serve as a model for other US policies, according to Musso. Musk is expected to further Trump’s own tendencies by alienating long-standing American allies and placating autocrats and ideologues.
However, the most important consideration for Musk’s involvement with the incoming administration is perhaps not knowing the ideological direction the latter will take. From Musk’s point of view, Musk’s reservations about the course the world should take in crucial issues like war and peace seem less grounded in reality and more in the notion that he should be in charge of achieving these goals. Even though Musk’s mercurial nature causes that the content of those visions to frequently change, he wants to be the one to put the grand visions into practice.
Look at his involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. In order to resolve the conflict, Musk immediately confronted Vladimir Putin in a fistfight shortly after the Russian invasion in 2022. When that solution did not work, Musk volunteered the use of his Starlink services to Ukraine, giving the country’s military a much-needed logistical lifeline. However, Musk’s donation of his Starlink satellite internet services to Ukraine was more than just a gesture of kindness or co-operation with Ukraine. Rather, it’s part of a larger effort by Musk to manage the conflict. Musk’s decision to restrict the use of Starlink was evidenced by this, which was opposed by the Ukrainian government and its military strategists. Additionally, according to reports, Musk reportedly had undisclosed conversations with Vladimir Putin, and Zelenskyy quickly rejected his unsolicited “peace plan” as appeasement for Russia.
In summary, Musk made the unilateral choice to play a significant role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Musk’s growing role as a quasi-government agent for Trump will only serve to strengthen his sense of self-importance in global affairs after making an attempt to micromanage the conflict as a private citizen.
Musk, a businessman, has a reputation for casting a wide net and has invested in everything from space travel to social media to create a multifaceted corporate hydra. His poorly defined Department of Government Efficiency sees itself as having full control over the entire federal government as its domain as he enters politics. Mussk is likely to adopt a similar all-inclusive perspective on foreign policy, stepping into any and all situations where he believes to be smarter than the experts.
And Trump seems to encourage this kind of overreach, saying that he prioritizes reputation over loyalty when selecting his top advisers.
In order to rekindle relations between Iran and the UN, Musk met with the Iranian ambassador. After Trump allegedly orchestrated an assassination plot against him in retaliation and Iran allegedly authorised an assassination plot against him during his first presidency, this task is a tall order. The majority of administrations would hand the task to top-level professional diplomats rather than a mercurial billionaire in order to negotiate such a significant reboot of bilateral relations with a major geopolitical foe in a precarious time for the Middle East.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump aren’t both the most successful billionaires, though. Trump, who has a semi-isolationist “Make America Great Again,” has only a passing interest in the rest of the world, and Elon Musk has elaborate plans to completely reimagine the world and other worlds. Whether it’s Middle East diplomacy, European conflict or African infrastructure, look for Elon Musk to assert that he knows best, with the weight of the US government now behind him.
Source: Aljazeera
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