Elon Musk joins the White House to run Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency
All eyes are on what happens next between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, with some insiders saying the world’s richest man is wearing out his welcome.
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In another boost for Elon Musk, US President-elect Donald Trump tapped Republican Brendan Carr, a Musk-backed critic of big tech, to lead the Federal Communications Commission, calling him a “warrior for Free Speech” in a statement.
Carr has built an alliance with billionaire Musk - Trump’s wealthiest backer, whose Starlink satellite internet service could benefit from access to federal cash.
That said, whether out of jealousy or genuine annoyance, some of Mr Trump’s other allies are already warning that Mr Musk may be wearing out his welcome.
“Elon is getting a little big for his britches,” an insider told Politico. Another said to NBC News: “He’s behaving as if he’s a co-president and making sure everyone knows it.”
Donald Trump drew the line at taking his house guest to the White House.
It had been a week since his election victory, and at the President-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Elon Musk seemed to be everywhere. The world’s richest man was joining calls with foreign leaders, providing advice on cabinet appointments, even posing for family photos.
So when Mr Trump boarded Trump Force One for his meeting with Joe Biden in Washington DC, his self-proclaimed “first buddy” was by his side. But Mr Musk missed out on visiting the Oval Office. Instead, he had to content himself with a standing ovation from Republican members of the House of Representatives, who greeted the pair with a hero’s welcome.
“Elon won’t go home,” Mr Trump said of the man sitting in the front row of their meeting.
“I can’t get rid of him. Until I don’t like him.”
Mr Trump was joking, according to those in the room. He seems enamoured with the brilliant entrepreneur who put his day jobs on hold to help propel him back to the presidency. Mr Musk, in turn, is embracing his emergence as the world’s most powerful private citizen.
It is a blossoming bromance that is changing the course of history. Although those close to the billionaire odd couple are already starting to wonder: will it burn bright or burn out?
The pair’s relationship has its roots in another overlooked White House invitation. Six months into Mr Biden’s presidency, he hosted a summit to celebrate electric vehicle manufacturers without the boss of Tesla, the world’s biggest electric vehicle manufacturer.
Mr Musk’s father Errol said the slight – insignificant as it may have seemed – affected him deeply. It also drew him into politics, a world in which he previously had very little interest.
He found himself on the outer because of Tesla’s efforts to prevent its workforce from unionising, even though he voted for Mr Biden in 2020 and considered himself a Democrat.
(In 2022, Mr Trump said: “He told me he voted for me, so he’s another bullshit artist.” Mr Musk replied: “It’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.”)
The billionaire responded by buying Twitter for $US44bn – a purchase that was derided at the time – and rebranding it as X, a platform he said would be a bastion of free speech. He also dipped his toe into the Republican Party’s process to choose its presidential candidate.
Initially, Mr Musk supported Mr Trump’s top rival Ron DeSantis, launching his campaign with him in a livestream on X that was marred by technical glitches. But it was the former president’s defiant response to being shot – just days before he was due to claim the Republican nomination – that immediately won him Mr Musk’s endorsement.
From there, he was all in. He became Mr Trump’s second-largest donor, pumping $US120m into his campaign through a political action committee that ran the party’s get-out-the-vote operation and controversially gave away $US1m a day to registered swing state voters.
Mr Musk also transformed X from a left-leaning platform into a media force for conservatives that was flooded with misinformation, especially about electoral fraud. Not only did he drive these online conversations, he became a surrogate for Mr Trump on the campaign trail, hosting rallies and securing the endorsement of America’s biggest podcaster Joe Rogan.
“We have a new star. A star is born: Elon,” Mr Trump said in his victory speech.
Officially, the 53 year old’s reward is running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which the President-elect predicted would be “the Manhattan Project of our time” after Mr Musk vowed to cut $US2 trillion from the government’s annual $US6.5 trillion bill.
Unofficially, however, he is turning himself into an industrial titan with unparalleled influence.
Even before the election, Mr Musk’s political activities were met with deafening silence from the Democrats, because he was an irreplaceable part of the federal government with billions of dollars in contracts. The US needs SpaceX to send its spy satellites into orbit, just as it needs Starlink to keep Ukraine’s armed forces connected to fight Russia’s invasion.
Dark MAGA Assemble!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2024
pic.twitter.com/JGqFQ1DTGO
Now, Mr Musk’s DOGE – a nod to his investment in Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency – will be charged with slashing regulations that govern his business activities. For instance, having been stymied by Biden administration investigations into Tesla’s autonomous vehicle technology, he plans to push for uniform federal laws to allow self-driving cars.
Mr Musk is also in Mr Trump’s ear about appointing friendly government officials. Through X, he is increasingly up-ending news narratives that have long been set by mainstream media outlets. And he says his political action committee will “keep grinding”, investing even more money to boost Republican candidates in the next round of congressional elections in 2026.
Figuratively and literally, Mr Musk’s investment in Mr Trump is paying off. Since the election, his net worth has swelled by an extraordinary $US70bn to $US320bn.
As for the President-elect, despite his jokes about his house guest, he seems happy to have Mr Musk along for the ride. While campaigning, he regularly veered from his stump speech to recount watching his world-first effort to catch a rocket in a giant pair of mechanical arms, and praised his rollout of his Starlink system to bring hurricane-hit communities back online.
“He’s a super genius … We have to protect our super geniuses,” Mr Trump said.
The world’s richest man is now daring to dream that Mr Trump can help him fulfil his mission of colonising Mars. Here on Earth, however, the President-elect has a country to run. They both have their work cut out for them – and neither usually enjoys sharing the spotlight.
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Originally published as Elon Musk joins the White House to run Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency
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