The world’s richest man is expecting a big return on his investment for his generous support of the Trump campaign.
We have never seen the American plutocracy operate like this. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has led the way to the finish line of the 2024 presidential campaign, providing some government and financial support to a candidate, which is almost unprecedented in the annals of American pay-to-play campaigning. Not since Howard Hughes secretly funneled money to Hubert Humphrey, Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1968 has a volatile, flamboyant billionaire industrialist wielded such influence over a presidential race.
Musk gave $74,950,000 to America PAC, the Trump-supporting organization he co-founded with like-minded tech billionaires, in the most recent quarter, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings. He also gave $289,100 to the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Other right-wing billionaires have contributed tens of millions of dollars to PACs supporting Donald Trump. But Musk was doing more than dipping into his highly indebted fortune to support Trump’s campaign and associated PACs. Although Musk and Trump have spoken to each other both publicly and privately, the two men have ended their bitter feud by forming an uneasy alliance, gassing each other at Trump rallies, on social media and in television interviews.
Trump has adopted the iconic and cultivated image of Musk as a tech visionary and business genius with ambitions that reach beyond the stars. The flattery is mutual: Musk, who runs a register of doomsayers favored by reactionary venture capitalists and Trump himself, has routinely portrayed the Republican nominee as the only person who can save America from civilizational collapse.
True to his word, Musk did everything he could to promote Trump’s candidacy on X. Through a series of feature changes, including promoting right-wing accounts across the site — most notably his own — Musk turned X into 4chan lite. The platform has become a conduit for bad information, bigotry and Trump-baiting Nazis. Musk is the goblin king of this raw patrimony, plucking inane, racist, completely made-up posts from rivers of shit and using them to satiate the political hysteria of his esteemed followers.
It’s unclear whether X’s lecherous platform can still have the massive influence it once had on the mainstream media, which has grown weary of Musk. But he still gets clicks even though he’s a villain now. In his ability to shape the news cycle—or, more accurately, troll it—Musk can only be rivaled by Trump. And Trump, who rarely posts on X, must have been overshadowed there by his fan promoting ketamine.
Current issue
Musk took a comprehensive approach to the election. He moved most of his business empire to Pennsylvania and assembled a war room of advisers and political consultants to devise a strategy to win the crucial state. His America PAC focused on gathering voter data in swing states and used spoofing tactics that quickly sparked an investigation. Musk joked that he had personally toured areas of Pennsylvania. Instead, he did the rich man’s version, unleashing his PACs to hire field campaigners in swing states.
The motive behind MAGA Musk’s makeover was, he described, a simple matter of personal interest. In the event of Trump’s defeat, he told Tucker Carlson: “I’m screwed.” In an attempt to make a joke, he asked how long his prison sentence might be and if he would be allowed to see the children. Even if they weren’t mostly grounded in reality, Musk’s dark, usually unfunny quips reflected the truth: He saw the stakes as incredibly high. And we should too.
Trump has touted Musk as the future “secretary of spending cuts” — an unofficial leader who will give the rambunctious billionaire carte blanche to cut federal programs, close departments and restructure the administrative state in line with the persecution fantasy he harbors about the “awakened mind virus.” . Such a position would give Musk unprecedented powers to dismantle agencies he doesn’t like, which in practice means firing masses of middle-class government workers and cutting back on regulations that try to curb corporate power. To consider just one possibility, Musk, Trump and the GOP could find common cause in ending protections for trans youth and the health care programs that serve them. Musk’s ability to disrupt American life—not just in the rhetorical sense favored by his fellow Silicon Valley moguls—would be immense.
The results of the 2024 election were still unknown when this article went to press. But it should be emphasized that the broader oligarchic logic of the Musk-Trump alliance will not disappear anytime soon. The next phase of the MAGA movement is poised to unleash countless new impacts on the menagerie of crypto crooks, proto-world fascists, and billionaire ghouls that have long surrounded Trump. Just think of Trump’s heir apparent, J.D. Vance. Like Musk, he came through Silicon Valley as a dedicated venture capitalist, Peter Thiel’s understudy. Vance is a chameleon and sycophant of power – and no one in this decadent phase of the American empire wields more power than Elon Musk.
Can we count on you?
The future elections will decide the fate of our democracy and basic civil rights. The conservative architects of Project 2025 plan to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision at all levels of government if he wins.
We have already seen events that fill us with both horror and cautious optimism – throughout this, Nation was a bulwark against misinformation and a defender of bold, principled perspectives. Our dedicated writers interviewed Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders, exposed J.D. Vance’s right-wing populist appeals, and discussed the path to victory for the Democratic Party in November.
Stories like this one and the one you just read are vitally important at this critical juncture in our nation’s history. Now more than ever, we need insightful independent journalism with in-depth coverage to make sense of the headlines and separate fact from fiction. Donate today and join our 160-year legacy of speaking truth to power and elevating the voices of grassroots advocates.
Through 2024 and what will likely be the defining election of our lifetimes, we need your support to continue publishing the insightful journalism you’ve come to expect.
thank you
Editors Nation
