Standing next to Musk, even Trump seems almost in awe; rather than being a boss, he seems more like a peer, as this planet and its challenges are not big enough for him.
Written by: Simon Shuster, TIME
Compiled by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance
Who have we just elected? At the top of the Republican ballot are two names: Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. But part of the madcap month of November left the impression that others have grasped our collective fate.
We have come to know the various roles he plays— the one who acquired Twitter and laid off more than half of its employees, the inventor who revived the space program, the car manufacturer whose new truck makes children stop and stare on the sidewalk. Suddenly, Elon Musk has entered the political arena, hosting rallies, guiding government appointments, and shaping the agenda for the next president of the United States.
For more than three years, he has been one of the richest and most powerful people in the world. Markets have soared and plunged due to his tweets. Astronauts fly aboard his spacecraft. Armies advance using signals from his satellites. Conspiracy theories have become mainstream through his embrace. But it is only under the spotlight of these elections that his influence becomes fully apparent.
Since the era of William Randolph Hearst, this media mogul fueled Roosevelt's rise nearly a century ago, and no ordinary citizen has lived so prominently in so many aspects of American life since, now incorporating political power into his sphere of influence. Standing beside him, even Trump seems almost in awe; rather than being a boss, he seems more like a peer, as this planet and its challenges are not big enough for him.
Photo illustration by TIME (source image: NurPhoto/Getty Images)
Currently, they are connected like partners through their shared desire for mutual benefits and to dismantle government institutions. They may temporarily issue commands in unison. However, their agendas are not aligned on all matters. Both are willful and impulsive, accustomed to being in control. What happens if they begin to clash?
In this battle, Musk may not have the upper hand. History is littered with the wreckage of once-powerful kings who waged war against the leaders they appointed. No matter how much wealth or influence Musk accumulates, the instruments of state power will remain in the president's hands, and if he decides to use those tools against the billionaire who helped him return to the White House, things could get messy.
Ultimately, the durability of their partnership may hinge on Musk's motivations: What drives him to become the MAGA prophet? If what he wants is money, then the mission is accomplished.
Thanks to investors' frenzy over Tesla stock, his wealth soared by more than $50 billion within a week of the election, reaching over $320 billion at its peak. But wealth has never been Musk's obsession. He has staked his fortune on lunar passion projects, like building greenhouses on Mars, enough to prove that his dreams are different from the ordinary Klingons aboard Trump's Starship. (Note: Klingons are a warlike alien race in the fictional universe of Star Trek.)
People close to Musk say that since founding the rocket company SpaceX in 2002, his ultimate goal has not changed. (The company's investors include Marc Benioff and Lynne Benioff, the owners of TIME magazine.) His favorite T-shirt reads: Occupy Mars. "Everything is for this mission," a member of Musk's social circle recently said when speaking about his plans. "He just realizes that controlling the U.S. government budget directly or indirectly will get us to Mars during his lifetime. Doing it privately would take longer."
This does not mean that American taxpayers will foot the bill for Musk's interstellar dreams. But when quirky dreamers take charge of the government, the public often pays the price. Millions of Americans, from retired factory workers to heavily indebted graduates and newborns, benefit from the social programs Musk has promised to cut. Despite Musk tweeting multiple times a day to his 205 million followers, he has consistently refused to answer reporters' questions since becoming an advisor to the elected president, including this time. He has not explained his contacts with U.S. adversaries from China, Russia, to Iran. He also has not addressed the conflicts of interest arising from playing a key role in a government under investigation by regulatory agencies.
So far, Trump seems willing to cooperate. In his victory speech on November 6, he spent four minutes praising Musk, the "super genius" who helped him run ground campaigns in Pennsylvania, reportedly paying canvassers to knock on 11 million doors and hiring vans to transport Amish voters to the polls. "We have a new star," Trump cheered on stage in Florida. "A star is born—Musk!" It wasn't until about 19 minutes into the speech that the incoming president returned to the teleprompter and remembered to thank his voters.
Musk's significance to Trump's campaign goes far beyond the $120 million he invested, the ground projects he established, or the social media boost he provided. For many young people flocking to Trump, Musk embodies an ideal. He injects originality and possibility into familiar nostalgic behavior. If Trump promises to destroy corrupt institutions to excite his supporters, Musk represents the promise of creating new things and solving problems. Trump appears less aged at rallies, with the edge lord playing Diablo bouncing around beside him. When Trump's opponents portray his team as a bunch of fools, the greatest innovator of our time, with a record of executing quirky plans, pledges to cut $2 trillion in spending, making it even more difficult for his opponents.
No matter how often Democrats remind us that Trump's wealth comes from inherited riches, multiple bankruptcies, and decades of business hijinks, they cannot deny Musk's accomplishments as a businessman. Even Senator Bernie Sanders, a scourge of the billionaire class, recently avoided criticizing him on a podcast: "Elon Musk is a very, very aggressive and capable businessman, and his accomplishments are impressive. He said that he could do in a week what the government could do in five years, and in some respects, he's right."
At a time when confidence in government is at a low ebb, many voters hope to see a capable outsider, coolly independent, who knows how to wield a vast machine and make it leaner, faster, and more efficient. Musk's commitment to cutting costs has created momentum and cover for an agenda of scale not seen in Washington for years. During Trump's first term, little progress was made on this agenda. Millions depend on government jobs and the protections provided by regulatory agencies to guard against predatory businesses, such as those that have led us to abuse opioids and smoke to treat asthma. But small-government Republicans will be eager to follow Musk's lead and get embroiled in ugly budget battles over federal waste and bloated benefits. Many Americans will support them.
The most compelling point Musk made during the campaign was not on Joe Rogan's show or on the stage at a Trump rally. It was at a launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, where Musk's aerospace company captured a returning rocket with a pair of mechanical arms, astonishing the world. If the person doing this is so passionately supportive of Trump, why can't Trump accomplish some of the things he promised?
Many voters seem to think so, especially the young men Musk targets with bravado. "The key factor here is that men need to vote," Musk told Rogan on the eve of the election. The next day, when 60% of white voters supported Trump, Musk tweeted, "The cavalry has arrived." But his appeal extends far beyond the manosphere. It has also resonated with a large number of voters who are weary of Trump's personality but excited about his policies. Television pundits say these individuals need a "permission structure"; Musk provided that to suburban women like Betsy Stecz. When she was in line for his rally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in October, she said, "Well, I can lift my head and say: I'm not ashamed to vote for Donald Trump." In her view, the reason was Musk.
Given the role he played in this victory, Musk may expect some form of reward. But reportedly, his position during Trump's transition period has made some aides uneasy. Throughout much of November, Musk camped out at Mar-a-Lago, weighing cabinet picks and advising Trump on policy priorities. He played golf with the elected president, sat by him at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, and posed for photos with Trump's family; one grandson praised Musk on social media for achieving "uncle status." Musk created a different term for his position: "first partner."
On November 16, 2024, elected President Donald Trump, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and Don Trump Jr. (right) watch UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Kena Betancur-AFP /Getty Images
Even such statements are an understatement. The leaders of Turkey and Ukraine had Musk listen in on their calls with Trump. Reports say an Iranian envoy accused of attempting to assassinate Trump met with Musk to discuss easing tensions. (The Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the meeting.) When House Republicans invited Trump to a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, Musk followed closely behind, with a "GUEST 1" tag on the window of his car in Trump's convoy.
At that time, Trump appointed him to lead a new entity called the Department of Government Efficiency. Its acronym DOGE is a tribute to the dog-themed cryptocurrency Musk promoted in a joking manner. But its mission is serious. Trump claimed he would "dismantle" the federal bureaucracy and "reorganize" its agencies. "This will send shockwaves throughout the entire system," Musk said.
It may also give Musk influence over many agencies that regulate his work. In the weeks leading up to the election, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it was investigating Tesla's autonomous vehicles after crash incidents. In June, California regulators ordered Tesla to "correct its ongoing air quality violations at its Fremont factory." Tesla stated that its cars are safe and its facilities comply with environmental standards. SpaceX has also clashed with the Federal Aviation Administration, and Musk threatened to sue the FAA in September. A commentary in The New York Times found that his company faces at least 20 regulatory battles and investigations from "all corners of the government." Musk and several representatives declined to comment or respond to TIME's questions for this article, including potential conflicts of interest.
He has yet to explain what principles will guide him in cleaning up the bureaucracy. DOGE co-director Vivek Ramaswamy ran in the last Republican primary on a pro-business, libertarian platform. In contrast, Musk's political leanings are harder to determine. This summer, he referred to himself as a "moderate Democrat in history." He described climate change as the defining challenge of our time. When Barack Obama campaigned for president in 2008, Musk waited in line for six hours just to shake his hand.
His relationship with Trump is often unstable. They have starkly different views on tariffs, and Musk resigned as a White House advisor less than six months after taking the position in protest of Trump's climate policies. Five years later, Musk stated it was time for Trump to "ride off into the sunset," prompting a strong backlash. Trump said, "Musk should focus on getting himself out of the Twitter mess because he might owe $44 billion over something that may not even be worth anything."
Trump makes a fair point. Musk's acquisition of Twitter made little apparent business sense. By 2022, he paid at least double the company's worth and then spent weeks destroying its revenue streams and cashing in on its talent. He stated that under his leadership, the number of employees at the company fell from 8,000 to about 1,500. Some of the posts he published on the platform (which he renamed "X") were considered intermittent acts of corporate self-harm. One referred to anti-Semitic theories as "real truth." (He later apologized.) Another shared a conspiracy theory about a hammer attack that left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband hospitalized with a skull fracture. In response, dozens of companies, including Microsoft and Coca-Cola, pulled their ads from the platform. "Don't advertise," he told them from a stage at a meeting last fall. "If someone wants to extort me with advertising, extort me with money, then get lost." Fidelity estimated in October that X had lost nearly 80% of its value over the past two years.
From the top left, clockwise: Mark Seliger for TIME, Mark Mahaney for TIME, Nigel Buchanan for TIME illustration, Tim O'Brien for TIME illustration
Musk seems unconcerned. Even without most of the staff, the platform continues to operate, often ranking high among the most downloaded news apps in Apple's App Store. Major advertisers have returned. For some observers, all of this is enough to cheer Musk's acquisition, calling it a masterstroke of corporate efficiency. A member of Musk's social circle said, "What Elon did with Twitter is he went in there, cleaned house, and now it runs better than ever. So the feeling is that Musk can do the same thing with the U.S. government."
It is a daunting task. Even fiscal hawks are hesitating over Musk's promise to eliminate $2 trillion in federal spending. It would require cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and other parts of the social safety net. Musk warned the nation to prepare for a period of "temporary hardship" as these cuts take effect. But it remains unclear whether he has the capability to manufacture them. DOGE will remain outside the government, with no authority to fire federal employees. Many budget experts predict it will behave like countless blue-ribbon panels that try to pressure politicians to cut voter-favored programs, but fail. When it comes to identifying waste, fraud, and abuse, Congress does not need help: it already has an oversight office called the Government Accountability Office that is working to get the job done.
Many early fans of DOGE acknowledge its limited potential but still celebrate it. (The Wall Street Journal) columnist Andy Kessler wrote on November 17: "Yes, the Department of Government Efficiency may be a pipe dream, ultimately as indispensable as the Ministry of Silly Walks. But even if Musk's DOGE just cuts some bloat and saves hundreds of billions, it's worth it."
During the campaign, Musk frequently spoke about the necessity for America. "Live honestly" and "live within your means." But if his social media platform offers any guidance, his goals may have less to do with efficiency and more to do with ideology. His stated purpose for acquiring Twitter aligns with one of the reasons he supports Trump's favorite causes: he said he wanted to save free speech in America. "Free speech is the foundation of democracy," he told Joe Rogan on the eve of the election. "Once you lose free speech, you lose democracy. Game over. That's why I bought Twitter." Multiple reports and studies have concluded that under his management, the platform has become a haven for hate and harmful content, partly because he fired its content moderation team.
When asked to explain his rightward turn, Musk often mentions the "work thinking virus," a term he uses for what he sees as the leftward tilt of American society, which he believes has led to identity politics, cancel culture, and the alleged rampant censorship of the internet. His resentment towards these forces is not merely political. During the pandemic, one of his children sought gender-affirming medical services, which Musk claimed he was misled into approving. His transgender daughter, now 20, is estranged from him and legally changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson in 2022. In a podcast in July, Musk said his child "is dead, killed by the woke virus. I swear to eradicate the work thinking virus from now on."
Wilson responded the next day: "As a dead bitch, I look pretty good." On November 5, as the election results became clearer, Wilson posted another message: "Blame those fucking politicians and oligarchs who made this happen," she wrote. "Take out your anger on them."
In Ancient Greek, the term oligarchy means "rule by a few." Its earliest critic was Aristotle. In the 4th century BC, the philosopher described it as a situation where "the property owners hold the government." In medieval Venice, the leaders of oligarchic groups exercised lifelong rule, and his title was the same as the one Musk bestowed upon his new department: governor.
Elon Musk speaks at a rally for former President and presidential candidate Donald Trump. Sasha Leika—Rolling Stone/Getty Images
This system is most purely embodied in the 1990s Russia, when a handful of businessmen seized control of the national economy during the chaotic transition to capitalism. The Russian term for oligarchy is semibankirshchina—rule by seven bankers.
The most powerful among them is Boris Berezovsky, who helped Putin win his first election in 2000 using his media assets, hoping the new president would share the spoils of power. Instead, the two began to argue. The Russian government soon forced Berezovsky into exile and seized his television network. The oligarch died bankrupt and lonely in 2013 at his estate in the English countryside. Authorities ruled it a suicide. To this day, his former media channels still convey the Kremlin's messages.
One of Berezovsky's close associates, Alex Goldfarb, now lives in New Jersey, following Musk and Trump's footsteps with a sense of familiarity and fear. "It seems that an oligarchy is forming here as well," he said. "In the early years under Putin, the oligarchs fought the state tooth and nail," Goldfarb said. "Here, it seems we have two oligarchs, Musk and Trump, working together to take over the country."
The outcome may depend on how this new dual monopoly treats the institutions they are about to control. If the goal is to refine them into more streamlined and effective governance tools, then the public could benefit from reshaping a system long burdened by bureaucratic weakness. But Trump, like Putin in Russia, also uses these tools—to benefit his friends and sideline enemies.
Musk stands to gain immensely from this arrangement. As long as he continues to play the role of "first partner," he might expect to easily sidestep the influence of the regulatory agencies appointed by Trump throughout the government. Thus, his clearest path to Mars could run directly through the Oval Office. But what benefits can ordinary Americans gain from watching his spectacle of success?
The institutions that provide us with healthcare, keep water clean, and educate children should not operate like businesses. They are not built for profit, but that does not diminish their value, particularly to citizens who struggle to pay. If these institutions are eliminated in Musk's push for efficiency, the hardship for those who rely on government support will not be temporary. For them, such pain could be devastating, and Musk's commitment to an interstellar future will not help them solve today's problems.