WASHINGTON — For two weeks, Donald Trump has welcomed Elon Musk into his world. On Tuesday, it was Musk’s turn to host the president-elect.
Trump flew to South Texas to watch Musk’s SpaceX launch a Starship rocket near the Mexican border. Trump listened intently as the world’s richest man explained how the test would work and demonstrated it with a model. And then Trump looked up into the bright sky to watch the takeoff.
It didn’t go perfectly — the reusable booster didn’t return to the launch pad as it had done in a previous test the previous month. Instead, the booster headed for the splash in the Gulf of Mexico.
But Trump’s presence was a remarkable display of intimacy between the two men, one who has a stake in American politics, government, foreign policy, and the possibility of humans reaching Mars.
Musk spent about $200 million Trump has been given unprecedented access to help beat Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race. He has advised Trump on candidates for the new administration, joined the president-elect’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and has been tapped to chair an advisory committee on shrinking the size of the federal bureaucracy.
In addition to political influence, It could benefit Musk personally as well SpaceXhis rocket company, has billions of dollars in government contracts and eventually aims to start a colony on Mars. He is also the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, which has battled with regulators over safety concerns surrounding self-driving cars.
“Trump has the utmost respect for people who break the rules and get away with it,” said William Galston, senior associate professor of governance at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. “Musk has shown extraordinary achievement in doing that.”
To make matters worse, Musk owns the social media company X, formally known as Twitter, which he has leveraged as an influencer to promote Trump and his agenda.
“Stop the swamp!” He wrote on Tuesday when he shared a warning that entrenched Washington interests are trying to undermine Trump before he takes office.
Before the election, Musk rejected the idea that he expected any favors in return for helping Trump in the presidential race.
“There is no quid pro quo” Posted in X in September “With the Trump administration, we can make major government reforms, remove the red tape that is suffocating the country, and unlock a new era of prosperity.”
Still, Trump hasn’t gone anywhere without Musk in the two weeks since his Harris win. Musk joined Trump at a meeting with House Republicans in Washington and sat next to him at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match in New York. The trip to Texas for the rocket launch was Trump’s third time outside of Florida since the election.
Much of Trump’s activity is occurring with little public access to the press. Unlike his predecessors, he has made a point of not regularly opening up his travel plans or events to the press.
The relationship between Trump and Musk was not always so close.
Two years ago, Trump mocked Musk in stump speeches and Musk said Trump was “time to hang up his hat”. & set sail into the sunset.’
“Trump would be 82 at the end of his term, which is far too old to be CEO of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Musk wrote. in social networks
But Musk was quick to agree with Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt in July. He quickly became a member of Trump’s orbit, appearing at times to outshine Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Trump began bragging at campaign rallies about Musk’s accomplishments, such as returning Starship’s reusable rocket booster to the launch tower and trapped by mechanical arms.
“Those arms hold your baby like you hold them, just like you hold your baby. And he hugged her and let her go, and there she was,” Trump said.
Musk was with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on election night and has spent much of the past two weeks there. Trump’s grandson Kai Trump posted a photo of himself with Musk at one of Trump’s golf resorts, writing that Musk was “getting uncle status.”
Last week, Musk appeared in a golden ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, sitting in the middle of the room, as the guest of honor at an event. Trump, speaking at the black-tie event, called Musk’s IQ “as high as they can get” and praised him as a “very good guy”.
“He launched a rocket three weeks ago and then he went to Pennsylvania to campaign because he thought this was more important than launching rockets that cost billions of dollars,” Trump said.
Musk joked about his continued presence at Mar-a-Lago, saying, “He likes this place. I can’t get out of here.”
He added, “And you know what, I love being here.”
Musk said of the election results: “The people have given us a mandate that couldn’t be clearer.”
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Price reported from New York.
