The unprecedented and potentially explosive alliance of Elon Musk and Donald Trump, in which ideology closely marries financial interests, will now come up against the realities of power while the two men seem to have a thirst for power and provocation.
• Also read: Uninhibited, tumultuous and vengeful: what to expect from Donald Trump’s 2nd presidential term?
• Also read: Before Donald Trump’s inauguration, the despair of migrants on their way to the United States
The tandem, born during the last electoral campaign that the boss of Tesla and SpaceX generously financed, links two eruptive personalities who want to saturate the media space, one via his network its Truth Social platform.
“Like Trump, Musk understood the interest in capturing attention by saying or doing things considered scandalous” and in “defying established norms,” underlines Margaret O’Mara, professor of history at the University of Washington, specializing in the connections between politics and the technology industry.
“Elon Musk is rich, he’s provocative and he keeps telling Donald Trump that he’s wonderful. That’s everything Donald Trump likes,” summarizes Peter Loge, media and public affairs specialist at George Washington University.
“The probabilities of long-term friction are high” between these two attention-hungry men, predicts Lorenzo Castellani, professor at the Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, specialist in particular in American history.
The richest man in the world, who concluded huge space contracts with the American government, will not be a minister.
However, he will lead an external advisory mission to reduce the budget and massively deregulate, which is already raising concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
Is this a first reminder of the reality of political power?
Elon Musk assured that he could reduce federal spending by $2,000 billion. He now says that cutting 1000 billion would already be “a great result”. And a pharaonic undertaking, knowing that the federal budget weighs in its entirety from $6,500 to $7,000 billion.
“Business sharks”
The 53-year-old South African native hasn’t left Donald Trump since the election. He appears in a tuxedo at his side during evenings in the president-elect’s sumptuous Florida residence, and participates in meetings with big bosses or foreign leaders.
According to Lorenzo Castellani, his profile is reminiscent of that of the American “business sharks” of the late 19th century.e century and early 20th centurye century, Cornelius Vanderbildt, Andrew Carnegie or JP Morgan, who had “enormous economic power and political influence”.
-Like these captains of industry or these great bankers of yesteryear, Elon Musk uses his political influence to push his interests.
When he shakes up the political debate in several European countries, always taking the side of the radical right, the desire to protect his X network is never far away.
The hyperactive businessman has called on the British Prime Minister to resign, and actively supports the German far-right AfD party, while stifling the European Commission.
However, the United Kingdom has adopted a major restrictive law for social networks, which must come into full force in 2025, while Belgium threatens X with a heavy fine.
Elon Musk is a free electron, but he doesn’t act entirely alone.
Friction with the Trumpists
Around Donald Trump now gravitate several technology barons of a fairly similar profile, who adhere to a libertarian ideology, mixed with reactionary ideas.
But the interests of a few extremely wealthy men, with global ambitions and futuristic projects, do not always necessarily align with those of the Trumpist base, hostile to globalization and tempted by withdrawal into identity.
A recent episode confirms this.
Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead the spending-cutting mission with him, recently ardently defended H-1 B visas, which allow companies to bring foreign workers to the United States equipped with specific qualifications.
Some conservative figures were outraged by this position of the tandem, and in particular an outing from Vivek Ramaswamy, according to whom “American culture has worshiped mediocrity rather than excellence for far too long”.
“We welcomed the tech guys when they came running towards us,” joked Matt Gaetz, former congressman and ardent supporter of Donald Trump. We did not ask them to design a migration policy.”
