Trump’s victory is a triumph for Elon Musk

Elon Musk contributed huge sums of money. He campaigned relentlessly. And his social media network X provided a platform for the candidate. Of all the architects of Donald Trump’s return to the White House this week, arguably none was more influential than Musk, and certainly none were playing for such high stakes. If he had lost, the X owner would have faced a furious regulatory backlash. As it happens, however, the election has been a triumph for Musk — and will make him more powerful than ever.

Even from this side of the pond, it was hard to escape Musk’s presence during the US election. The entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX put $118 million into the political action committee campaigning for Trump, and even offered $1 million a day to a voter chosen at random who signed a petition supporting the constitution in the seven swing states that were crucial to the result.

Perhaps most importantly, Musk bought the techno-libertarian elite, a small but very wealthy group, into Trump’s largely blue-collar, industrial and conservative base, broadening its support. His crucial influence was acknowledged by Trump, seldom a man to waste time praising anyone but himself, in his victory speech. Musk may well now be rewarded with a role in the new government.

Musk is a man who has played his cards right. While his critics will continue to dislike him, it’s hard to dispute that his decision to go all in behind Trump was a brave one that could easily have backfired. The polls in the US election were neck and neck. Had Trump lost, as seemed quite likely if the expert predictions were anything to go on, Musk would have been in trouble.

Kamala Harris’s White House would have not taken kindly to the Trump cheerleader’s business activity. His various companies are highly vulnerable to regulatory vengeance. Tesla still needs the support of the government in subsidies and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles to thrive. As it considers moving into sectors such as robo-taxis, it is also reliant upon regulatory approval. SpaceX is critically dependent on government contracts. Even X might have faced a blizzard of laws and rules. Harris, if she had won this week, could easily have ordered a clampdown.

Musk is a man who played his cards right

It would have been easy for Musk to remain neutral, as Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, did when he decided the Washington Post, the newspaper he owns, should not endorse either candidate. Instead, Musk bet the farm on Trump. And, as it turned out, he won.

It is that kind of judgment that makes you one of the richest men in the world. It remains to be seen whether Musk takes any formal role in the Trump administration. Even if he doesn’t, he has already shifted the president’s views; Trump is now in favor of electric vehicles (EVs). “I’m for electric cars, I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s quite a turnaround for a man who said EV supporters should “rot in hell” and that assisting the nascent industry is “lunacy.”

What Trump does now is far from clear. But what is unmistakable is that his victory is a triumph for Elon Musk, who will reap some rich rewards over the next four years.

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.