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: by 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 a fantastic match, and it’s not simply because he’s cute and so they 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 little thing Elon for years now, to strive to determine what he sees within the former president, what he actually needs, and what he’ll do if he will get it. From Vox:
Persona-wise, and simply when it comes to 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 in opposition to him, all of those prison court docket circumstances in opposition to him, these trials, as a result of they don’t need him to win the election. They’ve each often been critics of the media. Elon Musk has additionally talked about how legacy media is admittedly biased and doesn’t platform the reality. They might kind of have a look at one another and say, “Yeah, you get me. We’ve each been unfairly attacked.”
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Beneath the Biden administration, Elon Musk felt that quite a lot of these regulatory companies are staffed with people who find themselves conserving a detailed eye over company misbehavior. His corporations have been investigated or fined by totally different authorities companies, 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 comply with security rules, he’ll be like, properly, these security measures are silly, anyway. I believe I do know greatest. 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 may assist run it. Primarily, that sort of fee would slash the budgets of quite a lot of regulatory companies.
Trump and Musk are kind of framing that as making a authorities that’s extra smart and environment friendly concerning the funds, however actually, it might additionally probably function a solution to flush the budgets of companies which were coming after his corporations. If he has Trump’s ear, you understand, he might say, “Effectively, perhaps if you wish to appoint a brand new particular person to the Labor Board, it ought to be somebody extra pleasant to companies, slightly than to staff.” That’s a possible sort of alliance that they may kind.
For Musk’s sake, he higher hope this masterful gamit pays off. He’s actually painted himself right into a nook that’ll be exhausting to come back 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 more durable to return when there’s a protracted file of him popping out for a Trump crowd, formally endorsing him, and all of that.
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[O]ne of the the reason 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 come back again and say, “Hey, let’s nonetheless work collectively in some capability?” That’s going to be a a lot more durable street.
