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Elon Musk — the billionaire CEO of Tesla , SpaceX , and xAI , and the possessor of The Boring Company , Neuralink , and X — took a sharp lilt to the right wing this election to tolerate President - elect Donald Trump , using his vastwealth , influence , and megaphone on X toinfluence the outcome of the election .
Musk ’s support came in spite of Trump ’s anti - EV stance and climate change skepticism , and it ’s a pin from the executive ’s relationship with Trump years ago . Musk served on two advisory councils during Trump ’s first full term , but left them both in protest of Trump ’s determination to withdraw from the Paris clime accords .
Musk — who is deserving over $ 260 billion and donate over $ 100 million to a pro - Trump super PAC — is now poised to be the incoming president ’s most influential political and business adviser . Trump prognosticate Musk the perspective as head of a novel Department of Government Efficiency during a Septemberappearance at the Economic Club of New York .
Musk has nicknamed the not - yet - formed section DOGE , a nod to a meme - put-on cryptocurrency that he ’s favored in the past , causing the coin to jump in market capitalization over 6 % in the last 24 hour .
The role could give the billionaire executive the force to recommend abstruse cuts to what he suppose of as a “ vast federal bureaucracy … holding back America in a magnanimous way . ”
During Trump ’s triumph talking to , he give his big donor a shoutout , call Musk a “ super genius ” and add together that “ we need to protect our wizard . ” Trump said separately on Tuesday dark , “ A whiz is carry , Elon . ”
Many havepredictedthat there will be a falling - out between the two huge personality before Trump ’s four - yr full term is over , but even if a fraction of Musk ’s plans for DOGE become reality , it could scar one of the most eventful instances of a man of affairs helping shape the policy and regulations that regularize his businesses .
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Here ’s what we call up a Trump win mean for Musk and his businesses .
Using the Tesla method to cut government spending
While Trump has realize power for the most part bymarketing himselfas a good man of affairs , despite several bankruptcies , Musk can at least exact that he has been successful in his endeavors ( X notwithstanding ) . grant to Jon McNeill , former president of Tesla , that ’s due to a formula centered aroundinnovation through subtractionand radically simplifying problems .
On Tuesday night , Musk said he would appear to cut back the fat of all government agency , livestreaming a Q&A as he flew on a private reverse lightning from Texas to watch the election resolution with Trump at Mar - a - Lago .
“ There ’s a draw of duplicate province where multiple agencies really have overlapping portfolio , ” Musk say . “ There ’s a lot of the great unwashed that work for the government that we just postulate to transition them to more productive function in the private sector . ”
Musk noted that job cuts would be done “ in a humane room ” and floated the musical theme of paying government employees for two years while they search for new jobs . He also reflect about imposing term limit on bureaucrats .
“ We still want to see regulations , they just need to be necessary , ” he say . “ I liken it to referee on a field . You do n’t want to have no referee , but you do n’t need to have more reviewer than players . That ’s crazy . ”
How an “EV mandate,” or lack of one, could affect Tesla
Musk ’s businesses have received government assistance across legion administrations . Most recently , Tesla benefitted from the Biden administration ’s Inflation Reduction Act , which provide hundreds of trillion in subsidy for investing in renewable free energy projects , as well as EV tax credits for purchaser .
Tesla has earnedmore than $ 2 billionin 2024 from absolved line acknowledgment that it sells to other car manufacturer under Environmental Protection Agency rules .
Now Trump , who has talked previously about ending a nonexistent “ EV mandate , ” is expected to roll back many of Biden ’s EV policy . If he end subsidies for EVs , that could be extra near newsworthiness for Tesla give that many of its rivals are still seek to catch up to it .
“ Tesla has the scale and oscilloscope that is one in the EV manufacture and this moral force could give Musk and Tesla a all the way competitive advantage in a non - subsidy environs , ” Wedbush analystDan Ives tell .
Tesla stock was up almost 15 % mid - day Wednesday .
Accelerating SpaceX’s mission to Mars
SpaceX stand to benefit from the Trump governance , too . During his first terminus , Trump enacted a identification number of major changes to American infinite policy , including standing up the U.S. Space Force and reinstate the National Space Council for the first time in 24 year . There are n’t anticipated to be any major change to America ’s space priorities , especially its flagship program to repay mankind to the moon , Artemis . Butthe 2024 Republican Party platformincluded a clear , albeit brief , paragraph that space was a central emerging industriousness in which America should play a leading office : The nation will charge astronauts “ back to the moonshine , and onward to Mars , ” the document states .
In recent workweek , Trump has significantly up his talk of place exploration . At anOctober 24 rally , he gave SpaceX ’s crewed commission to Mars his benediction : “ We will land an American cosmonaut on Mars . Thank you , Elon . Get going , get that spaceship go , Elon . ” In a separate speech , he said he wanted “ to reach Mars before the closing of my full term . ”
The next Earth - Mars transfer of training window is in 2026 , so an uncrewed commission to Mars could indeed take shoes before the end of this 2d Trump terminus . It ’s likely no happenstance , given the time Musk and Trump drop together on the run trail , that this is the most late timeline that Musk himself has open for SpaceX ’s plan for the Red Planet : “ The first Starships to Mars will launch in 2 years … If those landings go well , then the first crew flight to Mars will be in 4 years,”he said on X.
Hitting those timelines could need change within the Federal Aviation Administration , which regulates commercial-grade launches in the United States . SpaceX has been wage an increasingly public war of Good Book over the FAA ’s purpose inability to keep up with the pace of commercial-grade innovation . The agency ’s “ otiose ” delays , as SpaceX put it in a recent web log mail , could be a prime target for Musk ’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency .
Musk is n’t the only space billionaire eager to make connections with the President : Jeff Bezos ’ Blue Origin welcomed a visit from Trump at the death of October . ( On the same day , the Washington Post , owned by Bezos , announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate for the first metre in the paper ’s account . )
X and xAI
As for X , the Musk - owned societal media political platform , and xAI , his burgeon AI company , the impacts of Trump ’s win are less decipherable , though Musk has begun to chew over already on potential ripple effect .
More than 200 advertiser have stopped advertizing on X since Musk took over , including Apple , Disney , IBM , Paramount , and Sony . Musk thinks that will transfer now that Trump has won the White House .
Arecent global surveyconducted by securities industry inquiry firm Kantar find that 26 % of marketers design to decrease disbursement on X in 2025 due to concerns that extreme contentedness on the platform could damage their brand . Still , during Musk ’s recent appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast , he said , “ I consider if Trump advance , we ’ll see believably most of the boycott lift . ”
X has also been the focusing of several federal investigations , include from the Federal Trade Commission , which has investigated the political program ’s privacy praxis under Musk , of whom FTC professorship Lina Khan has been openly vital . In late October , Musk said , “ She will be fire soon . ”
Musk has further gone fountainhead - to - head with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the year . Last twelvemonth , the agency process Musk and tried to subpoena him in relative to his purchase of Twitter lineage and disclosures about his investment in the fellowship . Musk called for a “ comprehensive inspection and repair ” of the SEC in reply .
Meanwhile , Musk ’s AI company , xAI — which is reportedly desire to raise several billion dollar atop its recent $ 6 billion Series B at a $ 40 billion valuation — might do good from a lack of AI regulation from the Trump administration . Experts saythey expect a loose - mite regulation coming from Trump , one where he swear on existing legislation rather than pass any new law .
Matt Mittelsteadt , a research fellow at George Mason University , thinks the biggest impact to AI could get along from barter policies . trumpet has proposed a 10 % tariff on all U.S. implication and 60 % on Chinese - made products , which could have an economic impact on the AI sector .
