Elon Musk Is Already Doing What He Said He Would Do

Less than a week after the election results were called for former president Donald Trump, his centibillionaire supporter Elon Musk is already doing what he promised: he is taking an active role in shaping the government under Trump’s second administration.

During the campaign, Musk emerged as one of Trump’s biggest supporters and his most ardent advocate in Silicon Valley. His political action committee, of which he was a major donor, spent $200 million to help the Trump campaign. But he also entered the campaign and garnered support in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, appeared with Trump at a rally, embarrassed Trump on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, hosted a live broadcast on X (which he owns), and used his own. platform and celebrity power to push campaign talking points and promote propaganda that Democrats will allow undocumented immigrants to vote.

In his first administration, Trump undertook the task of managing the family business, bringing his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner into prominent positions. Musk, according to Trump’s grandson Kai, has now reached “uncle” status, appearing in a family photo (and apparently refusing to leave). It looks like Musk will be heavily involved in whatever comes next. And his posts on X, and his pre-election engagement with Trump, make clear what that might look like.

Musk, who reportedly joined Trump’s calls with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, appears ready to play a role in the administration. In September, Trump said he would create a government efficiency commission with Musk—whose business empire benefits heavily from government contracts and subsidies—in charge. On Sunday, Musk also shared a post reflecting on the Trump administration’s focus on “deregulation (undermining the SEC, FTC, and others), reducing government spending (making room for the private sector), tax cuts, and focusing on technology-enabled innovation,” adding comments, “Good.” Musk also asked to “ensure that dedicated small government reformers join this regime!”

And of course, Musk is starting to focus on personnel decisions for Trump’s second administration and beyond. On Sunday morning, Musk released a poll asking users who should be the new leader of the Senate, to succeed the outgoing minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Users appeared to vote overwhelmingly for MAGA’s favorite Senator Rick Scott of Florida. When Trump announced that New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik was his pick for UN Ambassador, Musk took X to check on her, saying, “Elise is great, but it might be very sad to lose her in the house, at least for now. ” Reporting from the Financial Times revealed that Musk wants to include his loyalists and supporters in the government, especially people like Steve Davis, the CEO of the Boring Company founded by Musk, and it is reported that he asked Trump to appoint SpaceX employees to the Department of Defense. .

In another post that includes a video of National Public Radio CEO Katherine Maher’s TED Talk he gave in 2021, three years before he took over the reins of the organization, Musk asks, “Should your tax dollars be paying for an organization run by thinking people. is the truth a ‘distraction’?” In a letter shared over the weekend, Musk described the Department of Education as “underfunded.” (Project 2025, the road map created by the Heritage Foundation for the second Trump administration, calls for the completion of the Department of Education). In all, Musk advocated $2 trillion in spending cuts—more than the federal government spent in fiscal year 2023 for all discretionary spending including defense, according to the Congressional Budget Office.