It is clearly extremely difficult to attempt to interpret intentions for people with whom a “monstrous” gulf separates you and a spiritual, economic and intellectual distance of equivalent magnitude.
But if you put, in the place of the average American today, yourself, it is a given that after the “aho” and the excitement of the epics over the re-election of Donald Trump you would be more interested in knowing what one of the most influential people on the planet wants to do from now on.
Of course the “why” the world’s richest man has chosen this particular route plays a role – an important one – but motives when you are part of the government of the most powerful economy on the planet come second.
Even harder as a task seems to be trying to try to characterize Elon Musk in one word. “Rich”, “genius”, “innovative”, “devilish”, “visionary”, “ambitious” alone are not enough as they only describe parts of the man – or rather – the part of the personality we are familiar with. Whether we like Elon Musk or not, he is clearly a phenomenon (no quotes) simply because no one before him has been able to deliver such a broad electoral victory in such a direct manner to a President of the United States. Yes data Elon Musk and “X” – formerly Twitter – gave Donald Trump a very different dynamic electorally.
Musk emerged just as the Democrats were making one major move after another, first changing Joe Biden and supporting Camala Harris without a convention in a second year. Suddenly Trump, who had been the victim of an assassination attempt and had years of strategic planning against a particular opponent – and mostly polling differences of considerable importance – was faced with something completely different and a mechanism that seemed well-organized and, more importantly, with considerable funds (Harris’ record of $1 billion in donations is very unlikely to be repeated in the future by either Democrats or Republicans).
Elon Musk did not only support Trump financially, after all, the more than 200 million he gave, for him and his entire financial surface, is in free “translation” what 10,000 euros is for us “normal” people. Musk gave image to Trump at the time he needed it most. Based on the figures that Donald Trump quoted in his speech yesterday from Mar a Lago, more young people than ever before (aged 19-25) supported the Republicans and Musk is certainly credited for that. It is difficult to understand and especially to analyze why Americans vote this way – we are not Americans after all – but it is even harder to interpret “why” a man with Musk’s beginnings, having conquered all the known and socially acceptable peaks – chooses to dance on a podium with Trump by his side.
The Musk who is one step closer than anyone on our planet to sending missions to Mars, the Musk who has bet like no one else on electrification, the Musk who has a brain implant company in his portfolio, is the same man who chose not just a political camp but a winner in the 2024 presidential election. Given that Trump found in Musk the one man who could have such a profound – sweeping as it turned out – influence on the vast or at least critical “mass” of the country’s voters.
Musk embodies something that is built into the genetic code of Americans; Elon Musk is now the face of the “American Dream”. Donald Trump has not hesitated for a moment to seize the opportunity that Musk himself gave him and without “shame” as in most of his activities, he has taken advantage of it (and him). Today Trump is a winner and Musk is without a rival his right hand man. There is no one in the 47th President’s political entourage who talks to him more and more often than Musk. But these relationships for Trump, with no exceptions whatsoever, have an expiration date. Trump is also a personality who simply doesn’t like to hide. Yesterday’s line from the next US President during the extensive report-thank you to Musk also contained a “stigma” from the future : “he’s a top guy, he’s been here in Mar a Lago all the time since election day. I can’t get rid of it for anything” Trump said among jerky “laughs”.
In what Musk has given Trump, if we “sterilize” it from money, he has received in return a position in a ministry that he proposed creating and Trump adopted. Musk, like any billionaire businessman in capitalist economies, abhors Government control and interventionism. From his new position he will attempt to strike at this, but his pledge to save $2 trillion in government spending is to some an exaggeration, to him it is realistic and in the end may even prove pivotal to the course of the entire Trump Administration.
None of the above, however, answers the “why” Musk chose to “get involved”, as we would say in our country, with politics. It is extremely difficult even for those who have studied him and worked with him for years to provide even a single clue to this particular thread. Answers immediately may not even be ready for him.
What is certain is that Elon Musk today is more “ticklish” as a personality than Trump himself, and that’s because it’s not unlikely that down the road he would have taken advantage of the President of the country. After all, his momentum and his track record show that his strength is to “open” new roads. Perhaps his aim is to turn himself into an “X” factor and a driving force for new political mores. Hate him or love him, consider him a genius or an oligarch, Musk is the figure of the 2024 Presidential election and if for some Trump can go away but not “Trumpism” they may be forced to reconsider or change the name in the next few years to this movement-trend.
