Tesla and SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk's huge bet on President-elect Trump has paid off as he looks to form an administration that will strengthen his companies and his political power. It seems so.
As of early Wednesday morning, Trump was expected to defeat Vice President Harris head-on in the Electoral College, win the popular vote for the first time, and win the presidency.
In his early morning victory speech, the president-elect gave a shout-out to Musk.
President Trump said, “A new star has been born to us.'' “A star is born, Elon!”
Amid congratulations on the Republican victory, several prominent business figures also praised Musk.
“Congratulations @realDonaldTrump,” billionaire investor and Harris representative Mark Cuban wrote in a post on X. Congratulations to @elonmusk as well. #Godspeed”
Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director in the Trump administration before becoming a critic of his former boss, also called Trump and Musk's campaign “incredibly well-run.” expressed his congratulations.
Musk endorsed Trump in July, shortly after the former president was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt at a campaign rally. The move and the months that followed marked a major shift to the right for Mr. Musk, who had previously stayed away from politics and occasionally criticized Mr. Trump.
The billionaire then used his massive X platform and vast wealth to back the former president, launching a pro-Trump super PAC to which he donated approximately $118 million.
America's PAC has played a key role in the Trump campaign's vote-getting efforts in battleground states, sometimes harsh with boundary-pushing tactics such as giving away $1 million a day to registered voters in battleground states in the final weeks of the campaign. It attracted attention. election.
Musk himself took an active role in promoting Trump's candidacy, attending several rallies with the president-elect and holding a series of town halls in Pennsylvania.
Republican strategist Chris Johnson suggested that Musk had made a “bet” that the Trump administration would create room for innovation without government oversight.
“When you see these bureaucracies growing and getting in the way of technology development and manufacturing and energy development, you can see why they're sympathetic,” Johnson told The Hill.
“And I think the best thing that Elon is arguing is that a Trump administration will allow for the development of energy, technology and manufacturing types with less government intervention than a Democratic administration. I think so.”
A number of companies led by billionaires are likely to benefit from President Trump taking the reins of the country.
The president-elect's hostile stance on electric vehicles seems at odds with Musk's priorities as CEO of Tesla, but Trump's plan to cut EV subsidies could give the automaker a boost. be.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said the loss of subsidies would likely hurt the EV industry as a whole, but it would give Tesla a “clear competitive advantage.” President Trump is also expected to raise tariffs on Chinese goods, which could keep cheap Chinese-made EVs out of the U.S. market.
Ives estimated that a Trump victory could boost Tesla's stock price by $40 to $50. As of Wednesday's market close, Tesla's stock had risen nearly 15%, adding more than $15 billion to Musk's value.
“This is a strategic bet for Mr. Musk and will be historic for Tesla,” Ives told The Hill.
Musk could play a role in pushing the incoming administration to reduce government regulation, either through his Cabinet position or through his indirect influence with President Trump.
President Trump has not said whether Musk will have a formal role in his second administration, but he has floated the technology mogul's name to head a committee focused on cutting government costs.
The position in Trump's cabinet is create a conflict of interest Musk is now a major government contractor through his ownership in SpaceX and Tesla.
NASA and the Department of Defense are among more than a dozen federal agencies that have contracts worth billions of dollars with Musk's ventures. New York Times analysisFound something published last monthMusk's electric car company Tesla and his aerospace company SpaceX have won $15.4 billion in government contracts over the past decade.
It is not yet clear whether President Trump's proposed Government Efficiency Commission will become a reality, but former government officials and ethics experts say it would give Mr. Musk more control over agencies whose companies directly work with him. It has been suggested that supervisory powers may be granted.
The alliance between Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump comes amid a broader rightward shift in Silicon Valley, with several technology industry leaders expressing support for the former president and an apparent wall-off ahead of his re-election bid. I'm trying to repair it.
The tech mogul's high profile and association with Trump could position him as a symbol of Silicon Valley's apparent shift away from the left.
Asked whether Mr Trump's victory signaled this trend would continue, Mr Johnson said he believed it would be a “long-term change”.
“I think this is the beginning of a broader trend unless Democrats change their view of government and their sacrosanct view of bureaucracy,” he said. “There is little to no overlap between the interests of innovators and entrepreneurs and the priorities of the Democratic Party.”
