This Was the Year Elon Musk Took Over Politics

“I think he realized that what the big tech companies have worried about for decades, which is basically how to moderate or how to organize speech on this crazy scale, is not a problem,” Magalhas said. “This is an opportunity for him.”

Since the election, Kasturi has not faded into the shadows, the subject of backroom meetings and secret influence. Instead, he joined the call with it Foreign leadersto weigh On the selection of personnel for the new administrationAnd America threatens to use PACs Fund primary challenges against lawmakers who don’t support Trump’s (and his) agenda.

In November, Trump announced that Musk would co-chair a new federal advisory committee Department of Government Efficiency (like DOGE, memecoin)Responsible for cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget. (Eliminating all discretionary federal spending, including on defense, This will not achieve the goal.) committee doesn’t exist yet, but Musk has already used his presence at X and positioned this new government-aligned, if vague, policy. Perhaps coincidentally, on paper, his Estimated assets About $170 billion is said to have risen since the election.

“He is confused [his ownership of X] In a government position where his ability to influence policy affecting all business interests is extraordinary. And that could pay huge financial dividends,” said Phil Napoli, a professor of public policy at Duke University. “I think that’s the scariest thing that could happen, if a lot of these platforms take that cue from Musk.”

Early returns suggest that other technology leaders will likely follow suit. Matter Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos there is Visited Mar-a-Lago Zuckerberg wants to kiss the ring, Meta officials say Take an “active role”. To help shape the Trump administration’s tech policy.

“Each time a new government, big capitalism, big money, tries to position itself to benefit from it. And I think that’s what they’re doing,” Magalhas said. And Musk’s X use for apparently political purposes could prompt the Trump administration to expect similar behavior from other companies, he says. “I think it’s a blueprint in that sense.”

Musk’s ambitions are clearly not limited to the US. Since the election, he said There he went to the UK to meet far-right politicians And Has posted about his support for the far-right Germany party, Alternative for Germany. Earlier this year He tried to defy the court order In Brazil X must remove some far-right accounts that courts say are undermining the integrity of the country’s elections.

All of this means that Musk’s control over politics is not just a matter of his closeness to Trump. Even if the two titanic egos cause the much-predicted implosion, Musk’s influence will be felt in the new comfort between Silicon Valley and the MAGA movement, and in any part of the world he chooses to cast his eye.

In a way, it’s a return to familiar ground. Even before buying Twitter in 2022, Musk was a super user, one of the most followed people on the platform. His tweets could affect stock prices for his other companies, Especially TeslaAnd His memecoin of choice is Dogecoin. Trump, likewise, was an active Twitter user before becoming president and during his first presidency He was notorious for making policy by tweeting. It now appears that the next four years, at least, will see more governance via social media posts – just now by a different shitposter.