The United States government barely avoided a shutdown yesterday, but the chaos wasn’t just politics as usual. At the center of it all was Elon Musk. The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is now as much a political disruptor as he is a tech icon.
His deep-pocketed support for President Donald Trump and his economic policies has turned him into an unelected power broker, and people are wondering: is this billionaire’s game about helping America or protecting his own empire at the expense of the economy?
Elon has thrown a fat $277 million behind Trump and his Republican allies. $239 million of that was funneled through Elon’s America PAC, making him the largest donor of the 2024 election cycle. For a man who once claimed he wouldn’t support either candidate, Elon didn’t just flip, he went all in.
By August, he was rallying voters at Trump campaign events, calling the election “the most important of your lifetime” and urging his hundreds of millions of followers to act. According to him, his breaking point was the Democrat-originating WOKE culture.
Elon’s role in Trump’s economic revolution
Trump’s economic policies are as divisive as his tweets, and Elon’s fingerprints are all over them. Let’s talk about tariffs. Trump wants to slap 10% to 20% import taxes to boost American manufacturing. He also wants to hit BRICS countries with 100% tariffs if they dare abandon the US dollar.
Sounds patriotic, right? Well economists are not impressed. They predict that these tariffs will drive up consumer prices without creating the jobs Trump promises.
Then there’s the immigration plan: mass deportation. Trump wants millions of undocumented immigrants out. Critics say this will cause labor shortages in critical industries like agriculture and construction, where immigrants are the backbone.
And here’s where Elon officially steps into the policy arena. Trump has proposed the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E), a $500 billion federal spending-cut machine. Elon is set to lead it. This initiative aims to slash federal spending by identifying and axing what Elon sees as wasteful programs.
That’s $2 trillion over four years. But here’s the catch: those cuts will amputate services millions of Americans depend on. Even Elon admits this won’t be easy. He has acknowledged “temporary hardship” for Americans during this economic reset.
But what’s hardship for the guy with hundreds of billions of dollars? Because for families living paycheck to paycheck, it’s rising prices, fewer jobs, and shredded safety nets. Retailers have already warned of price hikes thanks to those tariffs.
Deportations could cripple supply chains. And cutting federal spending by billions is gonna be public services, housing programs, and food aid on the chopping block.
Elon’s motives: Public service or self-service?
Let’s not pretend Elon is just a well-meaning billionaire trying to save America. Though he is a decent person, this is also about power and revenge for him. He’s been violated many times by the Oval before, and that must’ve been hurtful. It is fair to assume he has gotten just a tad vindictive, and perhaps petty too.
You see, Elon’s alignment with Trump gives him access — real, tangible access — to federal contracts, regulations, and influence that could supercharge his companies. SpaceX, Tesla, and his other ventures thrive on government contracts.
With Elon leading the efficiency commission, he’s essentially got a direct line to control federal spending priorities. Who needs a lobbyist when you’re the one holding the purse strings?
Some Democratic Senators say Vice President-elect J.D. Vance is going to be pretty much useless. They think it’ll be Elon in the Oval making all the decisions while Trump “yes and”s him.
And this guy doesn’t just play behind closed doors. He uses his platform—literally his platform, X (formerly Twitter)—to drive his agenda. It’s no secret that he has ramped up his numbers of tweets in a day since his buddy won the election.
At one point, Elon posted over 150 times in a single day, derailing the bipartisan government funding bill. Elon’s posts included more than once inaccuracies, like claiming the bill gave lawmakers a 40% pay raise and funded a $3 billion stadium in D.C.
You can go through the bill yourself and see that none of that was true. But by the time fact-checkers caught up, it was already dead.
“This bill should not pass,” Elon wrote. Twelve hours later, it didn’t. He celebrated, tweeting, “The voice of the people has triumphed!” But was it really the people, Elon? The bill wasn’t even public then.
Why was Elon so invested in killing that bill? Well, as it turns out, buried in the legislation was a provision targeting tech transactions involving China. And guess what? Elon has deep business ties in China. The original bill would’ve cost him money. We can’t say how much though.
Anti-crypto and Wall Street critic Senator Elizabeth Warren summed it up in an open letter to Trump: “The American public has no way of knowing whether the advice Elon is whispering in secret is good for the country—or just good for his own bottom line.”
Washington’s newest power couple
Trump and Elon are reshaping power in America. Trump gives Elon legitimacy. Elon gives Trump money, reach, and a level of influence no other billionaire can match. Together, they’re a force. And they’ll probably change the world, starting with that national Bitcoin strategic reserve.
And then fixing all of the economic bridges Joe Biden burned, like Russia and China. Elon’s billions and his platform make him untouchable in a way no one else in Trump’s circle is. Cabinet secretaries can be replaced. Advisors can be sidelined.
But Elon? He’s too big to fail, too connected to ignore, and too rich to challenge. Republicans joke about Elon as the next Speaker of the House, but the truth is, he doesn’t need the title. That’d be like a demotion to him now.
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