Spending over a billion dollars, Musk is betting all his wealth on Trump. If 700 million voters support Trump, each person can receive $47; in fact, up until election day, $1 million could be given to a random voter every day. It’s worth noting that Musk is the world's richest person, with a net worth approaching $300 billion.
So can Harris's team compete with the world's richest in terms of financial power?
Some may think that with Musk's superpower, Trump is sure to win this election, but in fact, it may not be so. One must understand how much money is involved in the U.S. election. Although Musk is the world's richest person, with wealth rivaling nations, Harris's team is not a soft target.
The Financial Times reported that this year's presidential election is expected to be the most expensive in American history. As of mid-October, the Democratic and Republican candidates and their respective camps have raised over $3.8 billion, with at least $695 million coming from the billionaire class. According to Forbes, at least 82 American super-rich have chosen to support Harris, including Wall Street. The line-up includes heavyweights like the Soros family, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Many Hollywood and entertainment stars are also overwhelmingly supporting Harris. Among them, American pop diva Taylor Swift did not financially support Harris but merely announced on her personal social media account that she would vote for Harris, which caused the U.S. election website's server to crash within 24 hours due to 350,000 followers. On the Trump side, there are only 51 billionaires, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. Why do these billionaires choose their sides? The reason is simple: they are focused on whether the candidates' policy proposals can maximize their interests. The billionaires backing Harris indicate that the Democratic policies will inherit the Biden administration, especially in terms of international business cooperation and globalization, which will become more stable. In contrast, the Republicans often raise tariffs and initiate trade wars, which is clear in terms of benefits and harms for the billionaires' cross-company interests.
On the other side, these are Trump's billionaires. Trump promises that once he returns to the White House, he will reduce taxes for the billionaires who support him and decrease regulation. The cost of tax cuts for the wealthy is that the U.S. will continue to wage trade wars and raise tariffs, after all, the White House cannot afford to live in a family. Of course, Musk's support for Trump is not solely for tax cuts; more so, it is about palace ambitions and silk road interests. Previously, as a Democratic president, Biden firmly stated his support for electric vehicle owners and held an electric vehicle summit at the White House, yet he did not invite Tesla, publicly supporting General Motors and Ford in developing the electric vehicle industry instead. The Democratic Party encourages recognition of the transgender community, which led to Musk's eldest son, X Æ A-Xii, transitioning to a daughter at the age of 18 and participating in Middle Eastern campaign fundraising activities. Within both parties, candidates must first prove their fundraising abilities. In past presidential elections, candidates with stronger fundraising capabilities often end up winning. For example, in the 2020 U.S. election, both sides ultimately spent $14 billion, breaking records for campaign spending. The results showed that Biden's fundraising was higher than Trump's, allowing him to win smoothly. In this election cycle, from June to September 2024, Harris's team raised $500 million more than Trump's team. According to financial reports, as of October 16, Harris's side had raised about $2.15 billion, while Trump’s side had raised about $1.68 billion. However, this is not absolute, as Musk plays a crucial role in this election, and let’s not forget, Musk also controls Twitter, a powerful promotional machine. On October 25, the New York Times and CNN released the last national poll results before the election, showing that Democratic presidential candidate Harris and Republican presidential candidate Trump are tied at 47% support nationwide. Therefore, this is arguably the most intense U.S. election in history. Overall, the U.S. presidential election is a competition among the wealthy, where financial power is the key factor. The so-called American democracy, in simple terms, is built on the capital-based advantage of the rich. Currently, neither Trump nor Harris has an absolute advantage, and every subsequent step is critical. But the reality is that whoever takes office, the underlying winner will always be American capital, not American voters.