With his full support for Donald Trump’s electoral campaign, Tesla boss Elon Musk is not only betting on the former president’s return to the White House but also underlines his lasting desire to influence world decisions.
KEYSTONE
At the beginning of October, the billionaire appeared for the first time at a political meeting, jumping on stage as he joined Trump, and at the same time becoming a new source of memes, these diverted images which abound on his social network, X.
In the process, an interview given to conservative columnist Tucker Carlson attracted attention, between jokes on assassination attempts on Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, and concern about her future in the event of Donald Trump’s defeat.
“If he loses, I’m screwed,” he said candidly.
Because Elon Musk bet everything on the ex-president, spending tens of millions of dollars on his campaign and declaring himself available for a possible government position in the event of victory.
Right turn
For many, Elon Musk’s turn to the right does not come out of nowhere: some recall that he grew up in South Africa during Apartheid, believing that this past could weigh on his vision of the world today, particularly on demographic and migration issues.
The boss of Tesla regularly assures, without proof, that migrants threaten American democracy, taking up the theory of the “great replacement”, already present in South Africa during his childhood.
“In the 1980s, the nightmare of white South Africans was that one day black people would rise up and massacre them,” recalled British columnist Simon Kuper in the Financial Times.
But more recent personal experiences have weighed on his political evolution, chief among them the change of name and sex of his daughter, Vivian, in 2022, at the age of 18.
For Elon Musk, his child was “killed” by the “woke virus” promoted by the elitist Californian school where his daughter studied, participating in the hardening of his political discourse.
His support for Donald Trump is also not without professional interest, while his companies operate in particularly regulated sectors and regularly come into conflict with the authorities.
Risk for Tesla
With Trump in the White House, Musk could potentially “be responsible for his own regulation, giving him the ability to do absolutely what he wants,” said Rob Enderle, analyst for the Enderle Group.
In this case, Mr. Musk has a real instrument of influence, thanks to disinformation, close to the ideas defended by Donald Trump.
Even more, the virtual absence of moderation provides an echo chamber for lies or distortions of reality promoted by accounts close to the ex-president.
“Having the support of someone like (Elon) Musk, with his own social network, is not the same as having his support as a simple individual,” said Sophie Bjork-James, professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University.
And it goes further: recently, the support committee launched by Elon Musk promised to pay $47 to anyone who gets a voter in a key state to sign a petition in favor of freedom of expression and the wearing of guns, “easy money,” Mr. Musk posted on his profile.
“His influence lies in his money, his support committee and X. And he has no problem using them for Trump, even if it is to put forward lies that would help him,” explains Larry Sabato , professor at the University of Virginia.
His supporters see his political involvement as the natural extension of his professional success.
“Almost systematically, the innovations brought by Musk were added to things that the government wanted to do, but he did it better,” said Professor Paul Sracic of Youngstown State University for the Washington Examiner.
However, its political orientation is beginning to change the general perception towards its companies, like Tesla, “which is no longer the first choice to show your environmental commitment”, underlines Mark Hass, who advises many large companies.
His political involvement is nevertheless something new in the American political landscape: a tech giant, very rich, with enormous media influence, with authoritarian leanings, details Mr. Hass, and which could, in the event of a winning bet, become “the king of the world.
© Agence France-Presse
