Trump victory a golden age for Elon Musk as ‘Dark MAGA’ rises

Elon Musk said he voted for Joe Biden in 2020. But his discontentment with the state of US politics has been brewing for years, as Donald Trump brands him a ‘super genius’ who ‘we have to protect’.

Elon Musk tipped about $US118m into Donald Trump’s campaign.

A golden era for Elon Musk has begun as US president-elect Donald Trump heaps praise on the South African born businessman.

Musk, Trump said in a victory speech, was a “super genius”.

“We have to protect our geniuses. We don’t have that many of them,” Trump said.

Musk, the world’s richest man, was one of Trump’s biggest backers, tipping in more than $US118m ($179.5m) into his campaign, at times sounding more like a politician himself than a Silicon Valley executive.

What’s more, he joined Trump on stage at his rallies, jumping around, hands in the air, embracing the Make America Great Again cause with fervour, declaring himself “Dark MAGA” as he became Trump’s biggest cheerleader.

But it was more than just having “fun”, which is how the Tesla chief executive and SpaceX founder described the US presidential race.

Donald Trump has heaped praise on Elon Musk.

Musk’s resentment to US authorities began in the Covid-19 pandemic, when he was forced to close his Tesla electric car factories. He defiantly reopened the company’s factory at Fremont in Democrat-controlled California, tweeting “If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me” to ensure the business’s survival.

Then he bought Twitter for $US44bn in early 2022, declaring the “bird is free” and “let the good times roll”. Musk said he wanted “civilisation to have a common digital town square” and preserve free speech, later rebranding the platform X.

But it was his daughter Vivian’s gender transition, which, according to author Walter Issacson’s book on the mogul, made him vehemently anti-woke.

He told the author Jordan Peterson during an interview last month streamed on X earlier this year that “So-called gender-affirming care” was “a terrible euphemism.”

“It’s really a child sterilisation … They can never have children again.”

Donald Trump says Elon Musk is a ‘super genius’ and ‘we have to protect our geniuses’.

After saying repeatedly he voted for Joe Biden in 2020, he endorsed Trump. Trump’s policies resonated with Musk, who soon amplified them at every opportunity to his more than 200 million followers on his social media platform X.

This included telling the Joe Rogan Experience this week that the Democrats were planning to grant US citizenship to scores of illegal immigrants to swing future elections in their favour. “Everywhere will be like California,” Musk said. “There will be no place to escape. This is it. This will be the last chance.”

Kamala Harris, according to Musk, would shut down X if she had won the election, claiming she would unleash the Department of Justice on the social media platform. “There’s no that the Kamala Harris puppet regime would allow X to exist,” Musk told a podcast.

Tesla – chaired by Australian Robyn Denholm – and Musk’s social media platform X are already subject to 20 investigations and reviews, according to The New York Times.

His purchase of X would later pit him against Australian authorities. Musk accused Australia’s eSafety Commissioner of trying to control “the entire internet” after she won an urgent court ruling earlier this year requiring his social media platform X to remove video of the alleged stabbing of Sydney cleric Mar Mari Emmanuel.

Elon Musk become one of Trump’s biggest backers, both financially and vocally.

The eSafety Commissioner later abandoned the legal action to force X to remove the footage.

Then Musk branded the Albanese government “fascists” after it announced new legislation, under which social media platforms such as X and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram face fines of up to 5 per cent of their global revenue if they fail to rein in misinformation. Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones retaliated, telling the ABC that Musk’s comment was “crackpot stuff”.

Donald Trump talks to Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago while waiting on the US election result.

But Musk will emerge as one of the most influential people in Trump’s administration, after he said earlier this year he would make the billionaire the head of a new government efficiency commission. Musk said he could save the US federal budget “at least $US2 trillion”.

Musk is no doubt a visionary. Last month, SpaceX caught a towering booster rocket back at its launch pad in south Texas, an engineering milestone for the Starship vehicle at the centre of Elon Musk’s plans for deep-space exploration. It was SpaceX’s first attempt at the catch, a feat that Musk said is key to reducing the cost of rocket launches.

Musk thanked the NASA chief for his support and said SpaceX was looking forward to serving the agency in returning humanity to the moon.

SpaceX has US government contracts worth more than $US15bn, including a $US843m contract to “de-orbit”, removing the International Space Station when it’s decommissioned at the end of the decade.

As Trump promises a golden age for America in his resurrected presidency, Musk’s fortunes are also rising.

“Let me tell you, we have a new star. A star is born, Elon. Now he’s an amazing guy,” Mr Trump said in his victory speech.