Elon Musk loves Donald Trump. He’s been just about his largest supporter – and patron – within the 2024 election, particularly after Trump’s near-assassination in July. The person reveals up at Trump’s rallies, jumps like a “dipshit” and yaps about how nice he’s and the way he’ll save the nation. It’s all very bizarre.
Anyway, we all know how Musk has been supporting Trump: via social media posts and his America PAC which he has donated over $70 million, however we don’t actually know why he’s doing it. Why would this man spend over $100 million simply to get somebody he likes elected? Would a Harris presidency actually be that a lot totally different for the world’s richest man? In a brand new story, Vox takes a deep dive into precisely why Musk sees Trump as such an important match, and it’s not simply because he’s cute they usually each hate anybody who isn’t a cis white male.
The author spoke with one other Vox reporter, Whizy Kim, who has been reporting on every thing Elon for years now, to strive to determine what he sees within the former president, what he actually desires, and what he’ll do if he will get it. From Vox:
Character-wise, and simply by way of their worldview, what I actually observed from the X dialog that that they had in August was that they each come from a spot of feeling personally aggrieved. Trump at many factors talked about how his opponents had engaged unfairly towards him, all of those prison courtroom circumstances towards him, these trials, as a result of they don’t need him to win the election. They’ve each regularly been critics of the media. Elon Musk has additionally talked about how legacy media is actually biased and doesn’t platform the reality. They may kind of take a look at one another and say, “Yeah, you get me. We’ve each been unfairly attacked.”
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Below the Biden administration, Elon Musk felt that lots of these regulatory businesses are staffed with people who find themselves holding a detailed eye over company misbehavior. His corporations have been investigated or fined by totally different authorities businesses, whether or not it’s the Labor Board, OSHA, the SEC, or the Division of Transportation, and Elon Musk sees this as unfair. Even when he acknowledges that his corporations didn’t observe security laws, he’ll be like, nicely, these security measures are silly, anyway. I feel I do know finest. I run my firm. I’m an skilled in these fields. The federal government is simply clunky and slowing us down.
One of many issues that he proposed through the Trump interview was some kind of authorities effectivity fee. And Trump was sort of like, oh, yeah, that’s a good suggestion … and perhaps you’ll be able to assist run it. Primarily, that sort of fee would slash the budgets of lots of regulatory businesses.
Trump and Musk are kind of framing that as making a authorities that’s extra smart and environment friendly concerning the price range, however actually, it might additionally doubtlessly function a solution to flush the budgets of businesses which have been coming after his corporations. If he has Trump’s ear, you understand, he might say, “Nicely, perhaps if you wish to appoint a brand new particular person to the Labor Board, it ought to be somebody extra pleasant to companies, somewhat than to employees.” That’s a possible sort of alliance that they may type.
For Musk’s sake, he higher hope this masterful gamit pays off. He’s actually painted himself right into a nook that’ll be arduous to return again from if Trump loses on November 5:
I do suppose that he’ll proceed to be extra politically vocal, as a result of he’s opened up a can of worms. It’s tougher to return when there’s an extended file of him popping out for a Trump crowd, formally endorsing him, and all of that.
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[O]ne of the explanation why these rich, influential figures attempt to keep quiet is as a result of they wish to play each side, proper? Elon Musk has come out so vociferously as pro-Trump and criticizing Biden and criticizing Kamala Harris. If Kamala Harris wins, is there room for Elon to return again and say, “Hey, let’s nonetheless work collectively in some capability?” That’s going to be a a lot tougher street.
