Elon Musk’s gamble on Donald Trump pays off

"Elon has emerged as a new star," Donald Trump remarked during an extensive tribute to his top supporter, asserting his success in the U.S. presidential election on Wednesday morning.

Trump's victory marks the beginning of a fresh chapter for Musk, who is already the wealthiest individual globally with a fortune of $260 billion. His risky bet on a closely contested U.S. election has proven successful, as he is positioned to become a key political and business adviser to the new president.

Musk's anticipated position as the leader of a new Department of Government Efficiency will grant him extensive authority to suggest significant reductions to what he considers an extensive federal bureaucracy that is substantially hindering America's progress.

Musk has promised to advocate for less regulation and will have a significant impact on US policies regarding artificial intelligence, space exploration, and electric vehicles. He is personally invested in these areas through his roles at xAI, SpaceX, and Tesla.

"He's quite the personality, a unique individual, a real genius," Trump remarked about Musk on Wednesday. "We need to safeguard our brilliant minds; we don't have many of them."

Earlier that evening, Musk shared a modified image of himself bringing a sink into the Oval Office. This quirky nod references a similar photo he tweeted when he took over X right before finalizing his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform in October 2022.

In another photo from Tuesday, he was seen engaged in a discussion with Trump during an election night celebration at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. The caption read, "The future is looking incredibly bright ????."

Musk, who calls himself a "free-speech absolutist" and has admitted to voting for Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama in the past, has shifted noticeably towards the right over the last few years. He has begun to support Trump's campaign on topics like immigration, government regulations, and a dislike of traditional media, as well as what he refers to as "woke" politics.

Just hours after Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on July 13, Musk came out in support of him, dedicating more time and effort to his re-election campaign.

He donated over $100 million to the pro-Republican America Pac, organized town hall meetings in important states like Pennsylvania, and provided $1 million daily to voters who backed his petition advocating for free speech. On election day, he arranged transportation for Amish voters to polling places for those who couldn’t drive.

Musk has already seen significant profits from that investment—Trump's election win contributed billions to his fortune, causing Tesla's stock to jump nearly 12 percent on Wednesday morning.

In the weeks prior to the election, Musk took charge of his platform, X, where he has over 200 million followers. He saturated the site with messages in support of Trump, claims of election fraud, and dire predictions that Kamala Harris would ruin the country if she were to become president.

In just one day on Tuesday, he sent out close to 200 tweets, as reported by the Financial Times. These tweets garnered around 955 million views. In the month prior to the vote, he had been averaging over 100 posts daily.

In a conversation with conservative media figure Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night, Musk stated, "I believe in giving it all you've got and playing to win, rather than holding back."

Critics claim that Musk has influenced the platform's algorithms to favor certain biases and has promoted extreme right-wing stories and conspiracy theories without substantial evidence. Meanwhile, he has reduced the platform's ability to moderate content and verify facts.

There have been warnings that Musk has emerged as a major source of false information and conspiracy theories regarding elections leading up to the voting period, including allegations of possible voter fraud. A review by the fact-checking organization PolitiFact examined 450 posts made by Musk on X during the first half of October and uncovered a significant amount of misleading information. These posts garnered almost 679 million views and over 5.3 million likes.

However, Musk's campaigning has received praise from Trump’s close associates and libertarian tech supporters. They believe that his remarkable involvement has strengthened Republican perspectives and increased transparency in politics.

In a podcast this Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. mentioned, “I believe this competition wouldn’t be tight at all if it weren’t for Elon Musk's actions with X and revealing the current situation to people.”

Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, and a frequent supporter of both Musk and Trump, shared on X: "The pivotal moment was when Elon acquired Twitter."

The head of X may bring a team of supporters from Silicon Valley to the White House, featuring figures like tech investor and podcaster David Sacks and Palmer Luckey, who co-founded the defense technology startup Anduril. Musk has already made commitments to Luckey, responding to him on X that it's crucial to allow innovative companies like his access to the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies.

Investors are optimistic that Musk's companies will reap rewards as well. Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, remarked that even if Trump, who is known to be doubtful about electric vehicles, were to eliminate EV subsidies, “Tesla’s unmatched scale and reach in the EV sector might provide Musk and Tesla with a significant edge in a market without subsidies.”

Before the election results were announced, Musk stated his intention to be actively involved in US politics for the foreseeable future. While participating in a livestreamed question-and-answer session aboard a private jet headed to Mar-a-Lago to await the results with Trump, Musk committed to continuing his financial support for his America Pac, regardless of the election outcome.

The leader of group X stated that their lobbying organization plans to play a significant role in the 2026 midterm elections and intends to impact elections for district attorneys and judges across the nation.

Musk stated that action must be taken to address the harm caused by [George] Soros to the American system, referring to the wealthy investor known for backing liberal and progressive initiatives. He emphasized the need for district attorneys who prioritize the safety of their communities, expressing disbelief at the number of city DAs who fail to take action against criminal activities.

During the livestream, Musk elaborated on his vision for heading the proposed government efficiency department, which he playfully referred to as "Doge," inspired by the meme coin he endorses on X. In a potential second Trump administration, he expressed a desire to significantly reduce what he describes as a massive federal bureaucracy that he believes is significantly hindering progress in America.

"We plan to thoroughly evaluate all government departments... Many of them share similar responsibilities, leading to overlaps," Musk stated. "There are numerous government employees whom we should help move into more effective positions within the private sector."

Musk mentioned that the layoffs would be handled in a compassionate manner and suggested the possibility of providing financial support to government workers for two years as they seek new employment. Additionally, he expressed a desire to implement term limits for government officials and to reduce a variety of regulations considerably.

"We definitely see the value in regulations; they just need to be essential. It's similar to referees in a game. You need some referees to keep things fair, but having more referees than players would be absurd," he explained.

Further contributions from Cristina Criddle based in San Francisco.