« Game, set and match “: this night, while the scenario made a victory for Donald Trump more and more likely, Elon Musk soberly congratulated himself on the expected success of his foal on his X account. ” The American people have spoken out unequivocally in favor of Donald Trump », he added later that night.
Long a Democrat (he claims to have voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020), the billionaire made a 180-degree turn during this campaign. After creating suspense for a few months, he publicly rallied behind Donald Trump after the assassination attempt on him in July.
Unwavering support from Donald Trump
From then on, Elon Musk threw all of his (considerable) forces behind the Republican candidate's campaign. The richest man in the world first put his opulence at the service of Donald Trump, donating no less than 119 million dollars to his campaign. He also set up a lottery system awarding $1 million per day to randomly selected voters, provided they reside in one of the swing states and agree to sign a petition defending the U.S. Constitution. A device suspected of being illegal, but which the courts have so far validated.
But money isn't Musk's only asset. The entrepreneur has also taken advantage of his numerous media appearances to advocate for the Trump vote at every opportunity. He thus affirmed that this election was the last chance to save American democracy, pointed out the risks of electoral fraud unfavorable to Trump, or even affirmed that voting for him was the best chance to ensure that humanity would go one way. day on Mars.
Donald Trump's economic program in 3 minutes flat
The boss of illegal immigration to the United States, one of the main axes of Donald Trump's campaign. Some critics also accuse him of manipulating X's algorithms to amplify the voices of the American right (including his own) and pushing content likely to benefit Donald Trump, such as suspicions of electoral fraud or the rise and fall of impact of illegal immigration.
Finally, the billionaire also put his fine knowledge of internet culture at the service of the former president, in order to attract young voters. During the last days of the campaign, he multiplied the “memes” referring to Peanut, a squirrel star of social networks euthanized by the New York authorities, because he was suspected of having rabies. The unfortunate animal was brandished as a symbol by Republicans denouncing government interference. On Tuesday, the son of the Republican candidate, Donald Trump Junior, claimed in a podcast that the billionaire had played a key role in his father's campaign. The two men watched election night together at Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Jackpot pour Tesla ?
Whatever one thinks of his actions, it is undeniable that Elon Musk took a big risk by investing so massively behind the Trump campaign. Risk of alienating its historic fans, from Silicon Valley Democrats to Tesla customers sensitive to the climate cause, denigrated by Trump. But also to put himself at odds with a future Harris administration, while Musk's flagship companies are dependent on the American government: the sales of his cars benefit, for example, from purchase credits on electric vehicles, while that SpaceX is dependent on its contracts with NASA.
A risk which should now pay off for the billionaire. The benefits have already started to appear. Tesla shares jumped 12% overnight, as Donald Trump's victory became clearer, swelling Musk's personal fortune by twelve billion dollars. And largely repaying the financial investment put into the new president's campaign, even if the stock price naturally remains volatile.
Wall Street welcomed Donald Trump's clear victory
The fact that Elon Musk is lining up behind Donald Trump seems a priori very curious from the point of view of the strict economic interest of the Tesla boss. A convinced climate skeptic, close to the oil industry, the Republican candidate has never hidden his disavowal of electric cars. He regularly accuses them of costing too much, of not working or of benefiting China to the detriment of the American automobile industry. The Republican candidate also called their defenders “ whimsical » can « roast in hell “. He has also repeatedly criticized the credits for the purchase of electric vehicles established by Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which benefit Tesla.
But since Elon Musk rallied behind him, Trump has toned down his criticism of electric cars, even coming to their defense several times during his rallies. He redirected his arrows towards electric vehicles imported from abroad, from China or even Mexico, proposing to impose draconian customs duties on them to promote American production. Measures that could benefit Tesla, which manufactures some of its vehicles in California and Texas. And if the manufacturer also produces cars in China, they are intended for markets other than the United States.
A deregulated vision of AI
Elon Musk's other companies could also benefit from his special relationship with the new president. Over the years, SpaceX has become a preferred service provider for the American government. The company competes with Boeing for supplies to the International Space Station, and recently began building spy satellites, in which the Pentagon wants to invest billions of dollars. In this context, maintaining excellent relations with the White House can only benefit Elon Musk. During his victory speech, Donald Trump praised the billionaire and praised the recent performance of catching up in flight with his Starship megarocket.
Elon Musk is also invested in cutting-edge artificial intelligence, through his young startup xAI, which dreams of rivaling OpenAI, and brain-machine interfaces, via Neuralink. Two areas that could benefit from the anti-regulation approach of a Republican administration. Elon Musk has notably championed completely free generative artificial intelligence, devoid of the safeguards against offensive comments and disinformation that companies like Google and OpenAI have put in place in their respective products. An approach which is unlikely to encounter opposition from a republican government.
Donald Trump's economic program in 3 minutes flat
Elon Musk's role within administration
Finally, Donald Trump's victory opens new career opportunities for Musk. Indeed, the Republican candidate promised to appoint him to head a Department of Government Efficiency, a new agency which would be responsible for cutting the expenses of a federal bureaucracy that Donald Trump considers partly inefficient and useless. A plan inspired by the vast layoff plan that Elon Musk implemented when taking the helm of Twitter, separating from a large part of the teams dedicated to content moderation to tighten its workforce on a core group of engineers .
The billionaire could also recruit several of his conservative allies from Silicon Valley to pilot the Trump administration's strategy on new technologies. Investor David Sacks, as well as entrepreneurs Peter Thiel (PayPal, Palantir) and Palmer Luckey (Anduril) could thus have a role to play within the future Trump 2.0 administration. With, as a result, a techno-conservative administration aligned with the right wing of Silicon Valley, advocating a mix of disruptive technologies, deregulation and tax cuts.
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