As much as we might say “what’s it got to do with us”, the US presidential election — a country considered a superpower across virtually every domain — affects the entire world. Usually, during elections, all eyes are on the candidates and their promises. This time, though, a new tsar appeared on the scene and managed to steal the entire spotlight.
Yes. Our freedom fighter (!) Elon Musk…
Candidates and promises aside, we can’t deny the Elon Musk factor in this election. Whether we like it or not, it’s fair to say that Elon Musk — and the new toy he bought — was one of the significant factors behind Donald Trump becoming president.
You may remember that I wrote a piece a while back on the changes Twitter went through in the post-Elon era. If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend doing so before continuing here (see: A Nightingale in a Golden Cage, Dying Slowly).
In that piece — or in other words, that particular festival of criticism — I laid out my thoughts on how Elon Musk has shaped Twitter as a platform. From algorithm manipulation to putting a price tag on free speech, from bot accounts multiplying like weeds to the moderation team being gutted and the whole thing turning into a rubbish heap — it’s all in there.
I also wrote about Musk’s efforts to present himself as a democratic freedom fighter and man of the people, and how he imposed this image by convincing his audience they were driving the decisions. What did Elon actually do? He legitimised the outcomes he wanted by asking the public about everything that mattered. He polled users on whether to reinstate Donald Trump’s account — suspended in 2021 for violating Twitter’s policies around incitement to violence — and duly reopened it based on the result.
“How lovely, he asked the people”, you might say. But if you think those answers came from real users on a platform crawling with bots, you’d be mistaken.
Otherwise, I imagine he wouldn’t have ignored the calls from Twitter users to run polls for other banned accounts too. Or, when the majority voted for him to step down as CEO, he wouldn’t have sidestepped it with “bots must have voted“. (He later stepped aside and installed a puppet in his place, but that’s a story for another day — let’s close that bracket for now.)
Anyway, during that period our freedom fighter managed to convince a great many people that he’d bought Twitter to rescue and protect free speech. There are still people who believe this, unfortunately, but that’s not the topic at hand. Trump, at the time, wasn’t even really part of the conversation. But over time, the toy Elon had bought rapidly became a propaganda vehicle for both Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Having warmed the water gradually with various signals while stopping short of explicitly endorsing Trump, Musk decided that the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump on 13 July 2024 was the right moment — and came out publicly in support.
There’s nothing wrong with person A supporting person B in a democratic election. But when that person uses a media platform they bought while waving free speech slogans as a tool for their own interests and those of their chosen candidate, there is a problem.
Trump’s posts whipping up his followers into pile-ons against political opponents. The algorithm being bent to make pro-Trump content more visible. Claims like “if Trump doesn’t win, we’ll never get to Mars“ — helpfully turbocharging the science-loving(!) Twitter bots. And the rest of the long list… The result: Twitter became a Trump echo chamber. Our freedom fighter achieved his goal…
Now let’s get to the actual subject… Namely, the likely reasons behind Elon Musk’s decision to back Donald Trump’s candidacy.
What was it, what happened, and — more importantly — what comes next?
Those who follow Musk closely know he doesn’t share the same worldview as Donald Trump across the board. On one side, Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasised the importance of tackling climate change (entirely emotional $, of course — see: Tesla). On the other, Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement during his first term. (Musk actually resigned from his advisory role at the White House after that decision, you may recall.) Or: Elon Musk, who has dominated the electric vehicle sector through Tesla, versus Donald Trump, who claimed electric vehicles would destroy the American automotive industry and took a consistently hostile stance towards them.
So how did Elon Musk suddenly become Trump’s biggest champion? How did Twitter become the primary propaganda vehicle for this process? Let’s quickly look at what Musk did yesterday and what Trump might do tomorrow…
The $44 billion toy: Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion — widely considered to be dramatically above its actual value. Some experts called it the worst deal in history. But others argue that what looked like Musk overpaying actually worked in his favour. Having sold billions of dollars’ worth of Tesla shares to fund the purchase — Tesla stock being in a significant downward trajectory at the time — he had a convenient excuse to offload them. Some believe the primary motive for buying Twitter was Trump propaganda. Others say it was pure ego. Others still point to the Russian oligarchs with direct Kremlin ties who reportedly helped finance the acquisition.
$119 million in donations: Musk donated $119 million to Trump’s election campaigns, and went out of his way to persuade the billionaires’ club to do the same.
Votes for cash: He threw himself into encouraging voter registration in swing states, and announced that registered voters would be entered into a daily draw to win $1 million up until election day.
From Tony Stark to Joseph Goebbels: He turned Twitter into a Trump propaganda machine. Political opponents were silenced directly or indirectly, made invisible, or handed to his bot army for ritual public humiliation. He regularly treated his followers to AI-generated imagery designed to produce the political equivalent of a dopamine hit.
The “concerned” citizen: It wasn’t just domestic opponents he went after. He said nothing about Boris Johnson — a conservative — when he was in power, but the moment Labour’s Keir Starmer took over, Musk decided it was time to interfere in British internal affairs. He stoked the far-right riots of 2024 with inflammatory posts and made every effort to insert himself into events.
He targeted Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes — who had ruled against Twitter for failing to act on disinformation accounts during Brazil’s 2022 elections — publicly branding him a dictator. When it became clear he was going to lose that fight, he quietly reversed course and was forced to comply with Brazilian law.
As for Turkey: take a look at the Turkish-based accounts that were silenced on Twitter after Musk’s acquisition, at the request of the Turkish government, and you’ll have your answer. Or you can read what I wrote about it at the time here.
I don’t want peace. I want problems, always: He grasped that chaos served his ego, served the toy he’d bought, and served the politicians he backed — and he kept feeding on it.
What might Musk get out of this?
Having buried him sufficiently and felt better for it, let’s now look at what Elon Musk stands to gain from Donald Trump’s election victory. (And bury him a little more while we’re at it.)
SpaceX: Musk had been critical of the public procurement contracts awarded in the space research sector for some time, arguing they prevented budgets from being kept under control and deadlines from being met.
He also said that if Kamala Harris won, humanity would never reach Mars. He must know something we don’t. All of which suggests that under Trump, those public contracts will be structured to benefit SpaceX — and therefore Elon Musk.
Tesla: Trump’s hostility towards electric vehicles was no secret. He’d said they were too expensive, had limited range, and would destroy the American automotive industry and its jobs.
While the Biden administration had channelled billions in government support into the EV sector, Tesla had been facing federal safety investigations into the crashes caused by its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.
Under Trump, it’s being suggested those investigations could be dropped — and that Tesla might finally get the green light for Autopilot and FSD approval.
That said, some argue Trump’s China policy could backfire on Tesla, given that roughly 40% of the company’s deliveries are sourced from China. A harder line on Beijing could put Tesla in a difficult spot.
Legal investigations: At least 20 federal investigations are reportedly open into companies owned by Elon Musk. Trump’s appointments to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Departments of Justice, Labour, and Transportation all matter enormously to Musk — because all of these bodies are currently investigating potential violations across Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and Twitter. The companies could be facing substantial fines.
Or — just a thought (!) — those investigations could quietly disappear.
DOGE: Trump had said, if re-elected, he’d invite Musk into his administration to tackle government waste. Musk signalled his readiness, and gave a preview of what he had in mind — a body he named “D.O.G.E.” (Department of Government Efficiency), a nod to the cryptocurrency he’d helped popularise. Whether Trump follows through is anyone’s guess, but if he does, it would be a satisfying outlet for Musk’s political ego.
Workers’ rights: The criticism aimed at Musk isn’t only regulatory. There have been persistent allegations that he’s actively tried to prevent Tesla workers from unionising. He also told Trump he’d fired workers who had gone on strike — which Trump apparently received as a compliment.
A move to ease the pressure on Musk in this area would be very much in keeping with the direction of travel.
Help for the wealthy: Another of Trump’s campaign promises was to cut corporate taxes and reduce taxes on the wealthy. Naturally, the People’s Champion would very much like to see that promise kept — so that the money not taken from him in taxes can be spent for the benefit of the people he champions (!).
Now it’s Trump’s turn
Elon Musk did everything — good, bad, ugly — to get Donald Trump elected. He became one of the most significant factors in Trump actually winning. Musk has done his part. Now it’s Trump’s turn.
From Trump’s first term, we know he’s a figure capable of unpredictable decisions. So it’s entirely possible he won’t give Musk everything he wants.
Elon Musk — beloved hero and freedom fighter of Twitter’s egg profiles, bots, AI accounts, and crypto scammers — we don’t quite know what kind of character emerges when he gets everything he wants, or when he doesn’t. He probably doesn’t know either. Let’s leave that one to time.
UPDATE (13 November 2024): Trump appears to have partially kept his first promise. In an announcement, he declared that “The Great Elon Musk” (he actually wrote that, in all seriousness) would co-lead the D.O.G.E. unit alongside American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. He described the project as “the Manhattan Project of our time” and said it would be completed by 4 July 2026.
UPDATE (29 May 2025): And the inevitable arrived — Elon Musk stepped down from the role.
UPDATE (6 June 2025): Predictably, this has since become a very public, very acrimonious falling-out — the kind you’d expect from a couple whose marriage collapsed under the weight of irreconcilable interests. Setting aside the mutual sniping for personal gain, Musk has also begun making moves towards forming a new political party.