Less than a month before the presidential election, Elon Musk has been a near-constant presence in the campaign. Musk jumps with glee at a Donald Trump event in Pennsylvania while wearing a custom black Maga helmet. On social media, he posts AI-generated graphics disparaging Kamala Harris. Behind the scenes, he funds one of the largest Trump-supporting political action committees.
The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has emerged as a unique influence on the campaign, distinguishing himself from even the most politically active billionaires and tech elite. He is a loud Trump supporter, campaign megadonor, informal policy adviser, media influencer, and prolific supplier of online misinformation. At the same time, he is the world’s richest man and the owner of one of America’s most popular social networks, as well as a federal defense contractor with control over crucial satellite communications equipment.
According to Federal Election Commission papers released on Tuesday, Musk donated $75 million to his pro-Trump America Pac over the last three months. The nonprofit has grown into a key ground game operation in battleground states, and Musk is its sole funder.
Although the ultra-wealthy have long attempted to influence politics, few people in US history have had the combination of vast riches and a desire to use them to impact an election as Musk does. According to Larry Noble, former FEC general counsel, he has become a symbol of the ultra-wealthy’s disproportionate control over democracy and is enjoying the attention that his unique position has brought him.
“He clearly enjoys attention,” Noble explained. “Unlike a lot of very wealthy people who get engaged in politics and want to stay in the background and operate via dark money groups so their names aren’t associated with certain things, he’s out there. He wants his name out there. I believe he wants to be adored.
Musk’s X becomes a megaphone for Trump.
Trump and Musk have a difficult history: Musk dubbed Trump “too old” to run for re-election in a series of tweets in 2022, while Trump characterized to Musk as a “bullshit artist”. However, the two men have been increasingly entangled during the 2024 presidential election. Musk revealed his entire support for Trump in July, after months of publicly opposing Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. In the months afterward, Musk has devoted his money and power to the Trump campaign. The internet magnate frequently declares that if Trump does not win, this will be “the last election.”
Musk’s most prominent Trump support occurs on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, which he acquired for $44 billion in 2022. Musk’s account has over 200 million followers, and he has asked the company’s developers to maximize the exposure of his tweets; the algorithm now prioritizes Musk’s tweets over those of other users, ensuring that more people see them. Musk took the choice to reinstate Trump on the social network in late 2022.
“People like Musk, they’re the ones using their money and lawfare to try and suppress real work that’s just trying to contribute to the public discussion,” said Callum Hood, head of research at the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Musk sued CCDH when it produced studies demonstrating that hate speech and extremism had increased under Musk’s control. He lost the lawsuit but is appealing.
Musk, the mega-donor.
While Musk has campaigned online in support of Trump, he has also devoted significant funds to on-the-ground activities and media campaigns for the former President. His expenditure is the culmination of years of secret funding of Republican groups, which has propelled him to the position as one of the country’s greatest right-wing funders.
Musk’s America Pac, which was created earlier this year, is now conducting voter turnout campaigns in battleground areas. According to the New York Times, Musk has effectively relocated his center of operations to Pennsylvania in support of the endeavor, and he is organizing a series of events in the state following his appearance at a Trump rally earlier this month.
“That is what will decide this election, especially in Pennsylvania,” Musk stated during the Butler event. “In all honesty, you just want to be a pest. Simply be a nuisance to everyone you know, including passers-by. Vote repeatedly. Fight, fight, fight. Vote, vote, vote.
Musk is in a league of his own, operating in a strongly partisan manner with little judgment. According to Soskis, he is demonstrating “a kind of gleeful embrace of partisanship,” emulating a political style similar to Trump’s.
“That feels unusual for the wealthiest individuals – the complete eschewal of discretion as a mode of political engagement,” Soskis told reporters. “That seems new.”
A plot to gut regulators.
If Trump and Musk appear to be an odd couple on paper – Trump has vowed to repeal an electric vehicle tax credit, while Musk is the CEO of possibly the world’s most well-known EV company – they do have a strong distaste for regulators. Musk’s long-running skirmishes with government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration may change in his favor under a Trump administration that is expected to dramatically reduce their funding and diminish their authority.
Although the plan is imprecise in detail and fails to address the obvious conflict of interest in Musk auditing the regulators who supervise his firms, both Trump and Musk have often mentioned Musk’s prospective position in a Trump administration. During an appearance on Fox News earlier this week, Trump stated that he would name Musk to the new position of “secretary of cost-cutting”.
“He’s dying to do this,” Trump explained.
Musk’s Maga support extends beyond business.
Musk’s visible rightward move is the culmination of years of aligning himself with right-wing leaders around the globe. Musk has recently cultivated relationships with nationalist and nativist politicians such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, and India’s Narendra Modi.
Some of these partnerships looked to benefit Musk’s financial interests. He has developed a friendship with Argentina’s anti-regulation, far-right president, Javier Milei, whom he invited on a personal tour of Tesla’s Texas headquarters and has often promoted on X. Argentina, meantime, has some of the world’s greatest lithium reserves, a critical mineral used in electric vehicle batteries that Musk has previously demanded be processed in greater quantities.
Musk faces a significant test if Trump loses, which he joked will lead him in legal or physical danger with Democrats. Will he accept a loss? Or would he use X to spread conspiracy theories he’s previously promoted, such as the idea that mail ballots are “too risky” or that non-citizens impact US elections, both of which are Trump’s pet election issues?
Under Musk’s leadership, X “is building now, as we speak, another fresh stolen election narrative, and we all know what the consequences could be” , according to Hood.