For children, there is Parc Astérix. For Elon Musk, there is the American presidential election. You just need to take a quick look at the billionaire's account on his social network In twenty-four hours, more than 70 posts and reposts flooded his profile. Boomer memes, unfounded accusations of electoral fraud, self-promotion… The fifty-year-old, who has become one of Donald Trump's most fervent supporters, has been frantic. Celebrating in passing his possible entry into the administration of the next president of the United States. Libé retraced his election night by going back through the thread of his messages.
9:01 p.m.: “With tomorrow’s vote, humanity reaches a fork in the road”
The day before the polling stations open, the founder of Space X is already on the job. For hours, he shared and re-shared excerpts from Joe Rogan's podcast where he spoke. The presenter, accused of racism and conspiracy, announced the day before the vote officially supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump. And at his microphone, the billionaire felt comfortable. Jumbled together, he accuses the Democrats of “let violent criminals go free”. Relays (unfounded) accusations of electoral fraud. In another excerpt, we see him calmly filling his cup of coffee while predicting in a serious tone: “If Trump doesn’t win, I think this will be the last election.” Agreeing with himself, the businessman republished the extract and wrote on X: “Vote to protect democracy.”
00h38 : «Bravo, Joshua d’Arizona !»
Pipe and a lot of sass. The boss of Tesla congratulates a certain «Joshua d’Arizona». In one photo, the man radiates happiness: he has just won a million dollars. We rewind. After announcing his support for Donald Trump in July, Elon Musk threw himself headlong into the campaign. In total, the billionaire spent $75 million and focused his efforts on swing states where he launched a “lottery”. Each day until the election, the signatory of a pro-Trump petition could be drawn to receive a check for one million dollars. Finally, “by lot”. The winners are actually “spokesperson” carefully selected. It was Elon Musk's lawyers who revealed the deception before the Pennsylvania courts on Monday, November 4, when the reward had been the subject of a request for suspension. A request that the Philadelphia court decided despite everything and without explanation to reject.
00:40: “This platform is the first source of information on Earth!”
Business is business. Throughout the day, Elon Musk adorns his profile with tweets praising the merits of his companies. Of course, he salutes Space X several times. Above all, he is dripping with compliments for “This platform is the first source of information on Earth!” A little later, he prompts: “Send http://X.com links to your friends so they know what’s really going on.” And embellishes it all with criticism addressed to the “traditional media”deemed biased and full of “hoaxes”. While the social network is regularly criticized for its rampant disinformation since its takeover. And who, since the campaign, has been accused of acting as a sounding board in favor of Donald Trump.
11:09 a.m.: “The cavalry has arrived”
What would Elon Musk be without his masculinist community? All it takes is one tweet from an anonymous account, followed by 400,000 people, to excite the boss: "I'm hearing reports from all over the country that men are showing up to the polls in large numbers," affirms the Internet user. Who adds: “The line outside my polling place here in Florida is almost entirely young men.” Elon Musk's tit-for-tat response: “This is a radical change.” A few minutes later, he burst into flames: “The cavalry has arrived. Men are voting in record numbers. They now understand that everything is at stake.” Does the billionaire see, in this unsourced information, the sign of a victory for his foe? Certainly. On several occasions, the election was presented as a “gender war” by the polls, with women more and more Democratic and men more Republican than ever.
3:06 p.m.: “I just voted”
“I just voted in Cameron County, Texas, where Starbase is located [site de Space X, ndlr]», tweeted Elon Musk on Tuesday afternoon. It is in this state that the entrepreneur wishes to relocate the headquarters of two of his companies, X and Space X. A decision taken this summer after a rant against the adoption of a Californian law protecting trans students. In a “Space”, a public audio conversation on X, the business leader announced a few minutes later that he was flying to Florida. Direction Mar-a-Lago, the private residence of Donald Trump, where the Republican candidate must attend the results of the election.
12:35 a.m.: “I’ll let you realize”
Old-timers will understand the wink. When he bought Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk entered the network's headquarters… with a sink in his hands. «Let that sink in», he wrote about X. A pun on the double meaning of the word sink. Two years later, he did it again. Around 6:30 a.m. (French time), the results of certain swing states turned out to be favorable to Donald Trump. And Musk is already triumphant with a photomontage of him and his sink… at the White House. Donald Trump has in any case promised him the head of a commission responsible for optimizing government finances. Whether it holds or not, their romance will prove at least lucrative for the business leader: in the wake of his sidekick's victory, Tesla's share price jumped 13%.
