Elon Musk isn't just aiming for Mars — he wants to put a friend in the Oval Office.
Midway through a mutual admiration session with Donald Trump, the tech guru insisted that his politics had generally been "if not moderate, slightly left."
No longer. For more than two hours Monday night on Musk's X platform, the social media network formerly known as Twitter, the world's richest man and Trump waded through a conspiratorial stew. The event started 40 minutes late, due to what Musk insisted was a denial-of-service attack on the platform. "As this massive attack illustrates, there's a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say," he said.
The conversation showed how presidential politics has been transformed by the power of social media and the declining influence of traditional journalistic venues, where Trump would have faced cross-examination rather than adulation. Trump may not have been president without what was once Twitter; his extraordinary skill for distilling a pithy insult into a few words met its moment in 2016, with a platform that rewarded the capacity to stir anger in millions of people.
Eight years on, under the leadership of Musk, who preaches unfettered free speech, X has dismantled many of its safeguards against the propagation of falsehoods and conspiracy theories on the site. It is, therefore, a perfect venue for the ex-president to escape the constraints of traditional media and to spin his web of alternative reality. Much of what Trump said on Monday night was familiar — and even a little boring — although he may have been successful in reaching people who don't normally vote but are attracted by Musk's quirkiness, power and willingness to offend.
Musk's decision to line up behind Trump is fascinating. At times, he seemed to be trying to coach him into a more effective set of attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris than the ex-president has so far managed. Musk also has huge incentives for developing friendly ties with Trump and helping him get elected. The Tesla tycoon, who also owns SpaceX, has huge financial links to the US government and stands to benefit if the Republican nominee wiped out regulatory frameworks that he complained were hampering his businesses and those of others. The forum therefore was like listening to a public display of political transactionalism that greases much of US politics but that is often carried out behind closed doors.
Musk is not just intervening in US politics. The South African-born entrepreneur recently clashed with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after he was accused of stoking tensions following race riots by suggesting that a "civil war" was inevitable. Before Musk welcomed Trump, European Commissioner Thierry Breton warned him not to permit any "harmful content" that could be viewed inside the EU, prompting the Trump campaign to instruct Breton not to interfere in American elections.
The most significant takeaway from the chummy chat with the Republican nominee: The main attraction was Musk, who is sending notice that he's no longer a bystander in global politics and is increasingly becoming a major protagonist ready to leverage his enormous wealth and power.
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