The richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, is now called the co-president of the United States and rightly so. He who changed his past political allegiances to align himself with the MAGA camp which he defends tooth and nail, sometimes with even more conviction than the most fervent allies of Donald Trump.
Not only did he actively participate in Trump’s presidential campaign by acting as a spokesperson on his X platform, but he also donated nearly $280 million to help him win last November’s presidential election. Evil tongues will rather say that he bought himself a president.
Conflicts of interest
Since Trump’s victory, Elon Musk has been named co-secretary of Government Effectiveness or DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). A pseudo ministry, not directly associated with the White House, whose mission will be to radically cut government spending. The obvious problem hanging over his head is potential conflicts of interest. Elon Musk is at the head of the social network X, where he is followed by nearly 213 million people and with very few safeguards curbing misinformation. He also owns Tesla, Starlink (telecommunications) as well as Space X. For the last company, will he be excluded from future government contracts affecting the aerospace sector? I doubt it.
Foreign policy or interference?
The man from South Africa does not mince his words when he speaks of foreign leaders whom he does not particularly respect. He compared Justin Trudeau to Hitler during the pandemic and called him “insufferably thick” recently. He celebrated his resignation and openly supported the candidacy of Pierre Poilievre as potential prime minister. He also supported a far-right party in Germany in addition to getting involved in a number of international issues.
During the transition from the Biden to Trump presidency, he took part in the president-elect’s first call with Volodimir Zelensky, president of Ukraine and reportedly met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in November.
-And the real VP in all this?
The administration’s real number 2, JD Vance, was almost absent from Trump’s entourage in the weeks preceding his swearing in. Will the ex-Ohio senator enjoy being in Musk’s shadow for the next four years? It will be interesting to see what files will be assigned to him as it is at the discretion of the president. Will he have an active role like Joe Biden when he was Barack Obama’s vice-president, or will he have a rather discreet role, a ceremonial role as a “green plant” of the administration?
There also remains the possibility that the romance between Trump and Musk will be short-lived. Time will tell how long the honeymoon will last.
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