Playing Power: Round 1.

Who struck the first blow in our Trump-Musk Saga?

Dec 31, 2024

The increasingly intimate relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk seemed to constitute the beginnings of some oligarchical nightmare. Most recently, Ross Gerber of Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management criticised Elon Musk for not managing Tesla in the traditional sense, unlike other tech CEOs such as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. He suggested that Tesla shareholders are aware that Musk's focus is increasingly on his relationship with Donald Trump, as Musk has become a prominent supporter of Trump, publicly praising him and donating millions to his and other Republican campaigns. Their sense of mutual appreciation and trust had become almost impenetrable, with Musk attending events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and even advising him on political matters. After his official assignment in the role as the future head of ‘DOGE’, the pair felt too close for comfort and would inevitably find themselves fighting for custody over the minds of more impressionable right-wing extremists, (foot-soldiers)

and soon.

In recent years, we’ve seen the alignment between Trump and Musk rest on the basis of certain issues, especially related to the culture wars, business freedom, and their shared scepticism toward mainstream media. Musk, after taking over Twitter/ ‘X’ chose to adopt a more populist and anti-establishment stance, which overlaps with sensationalist fears emerging from Trump’s political base. Then there was Musk’s criticism of the media, along with his advocacy for ‘free speech’, which seemingly echoed Trump’s history of combatting “fake news” as it got in the way of his own ability to spread misinformation, and as respectable businessmen, the two found common ground in exploring Musk’s business ventures, like Tesla and SpaceX, in alignment with Trump’s pro-business, deregulation policies.

When Musk played his position as a supporting act to the politician, particularly when it comes to his policies on energy, technology, and space exploration, Musk’s sphere of influence didn’t seem to challenge Trump’s. Sure, he’d expressed some reservations, but in the spirit of diplomacy (a necessary characteristic of those powerful players even as they sat outside of politics), he refrained from directly attacking him, continuing to support Trump's administration, going as far as to call him a ‘friend’.

But as estimated, there have been instances of friction, and where accusations arose surrounding Trump’s concession of the presidency to Musk threatened to overshadow the beginnings of his presidential term, questions from the media surrounding the power dynamic at play here have begun to erode those niceties that prevented the occasional slip-up, from under which true sentiment might creep forward. Musk’s influence has raised alarm among both Democrats and Republicans, with his ability to influence public policy reminding us of the undeniable strength that comes with economic power even without 51% percent of the vote, even without voting at all. When all it took was Musk’s complaints, in a series of social media posts at 4:00 am to convince Republicans to reject a bill which aimed to keep government funding open for essential programs, including funding for the National Institutes’ support of paediatric cancer research, his command was further solidified. He criticised the bill for not raising the debt ceiling and called for financial support for primary challengers to lawmakers who supported it. But when Trump was prodded in just the right way in an effort to reveal more about his feelings surrounding power yielded to Musk, he bit the bait noting that Musk could never become president due to his foreign birth… a seemingly loaded issue in light of Musk’s recent contentions with MAGA supporters. After escalating a dispute over the H-1B visa program allowing U.S. companies to hire skilled foreign workers, Musk vowed to ‘Go to war’ over the issue. Whilst it’s true that Trump has also historically supported the H-1B program, his staunchly xenophobic remarks in years gone passed creates tension between his core voter-base, and his primary donator.

So, I’m wondering whether the future of this alliance and its operations from within it will read more like a political chessboard of sorts. Musk’s unfiltered influence over policy will likely tug at Trump’s insecurities, as he has been able to wield unchecked influence without the need for any official instalment. Meanwhile, Trump will take the occasional dig at Musk’s immigration status every once and a while to ensure his loyalists don’t follow the money. Outside of American politics, I’m nervous at how what will most likely be a contention between the two will have consequences around the world, particularly as both parties commit to expansionism now.

But mostly, I’m hoping for mutual destruction.

Asisa

Playing Power: Round 1.

Who struck the first blow in our Trump-Musk Saga?

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