Political influence is growing – Musk has already called Trump with Zelensky

Trump promised to instruct Musk to cut government spending. The 53-year-old does not yet hold a government position, but was still present for the telephone conversation. Through the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s team tried to limit the damage: Musk’s participation in the conversation was unplanned. He simply walked into the room when Trump and Zelensky were talking. This raises a new question: Can the richest person in the world just walk in on what will soon be the most powerful man in the world?

In fact, Musk has become deeply entwined with Trump’s inner circle in recent months. So much so that he can be seen holding one of his sons in a family photo of the Trumps after the election victory. The tech titan has done a lot to earn this spot. By mid-October alone, he had invested about $120 million in the ex-president’s election campaign, mainly in the potentially crucial state of Pennsylvania.

Intensive campaign support – financial and on “X”
He also flooded his more than 200 million followers on the online platform X, which he owns, day in and day out with calls to vote for Trump and scathing criticism of Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. Musk mainly addressed the popular topic of immigration. He spread the false claim that Democrats were flying in migrants to overturn the election. Even users who don’t follow him directly started seeing pro-Trump posts in their timeline via the “For You” selection.

But in what direction could Musk steer Trump’s policies? And how can the interests of its many companies come into play? Ultimately, Trump and Musk would hand over control of government spending to someone who constantly complains loudly about regulatory hurdles.

What if Musk simply cuts off the money from the authorities that annoy him? When he took over Twitter, he simply fired half the staff. Could the government face a similar blow if it sticks to its usual course of action?

Musk is not only the head of electric car manufacturer Tesla and owner of the online platform that has now been renamed X by Twitter. He also runs the space company SpaceX, among other things. This means that the US is already dependent on him: only SpaceX has the rocket capacity to put American satellites and astronauts into orbit on a large scale.

Government contracts for SpaceX’s billion-dollar operations
For SpaceX, this is a billion-dollar business. And the debacle of competitor Boeing, whose new NASA space capsule seemed too unsafe to fly astronauts back from the ISS space station, has only strengthened this dominance.

Musk also controls the Starlink satellite system with SpaceX. It is essential for Ukraine: its troops communicate through the country after the Russian invaders destroyed the telecommunications infrastructure. Musk’s biography revealed that he single-handedly prevented a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the occupied Crimean Peninsula – refusing to activate Starlink in the region.

However, there is another tech billionaire who wants to offer the US government an alternative to SpaceX: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. His space company Blue Origin is also developing rockets – and also plans to compete with Starlink on the Kuiper satellite system.

Could Musk’s proximity to power strengthen SpaceX’s position in the future? For his part, Bezos does not want to antagonize Trump. He congratulated the president-elect almost euphorically – and shortly before the election, Bezos’ Washington Post newspaper dropped an endorsement for Kamala Harris that had already been written. On the same day, Blue Origin boss Dave Limp met Trump. A coincidence, Bezos assured.

Tesla’s “Autopilot” in the crosshairs of the authorities
Tesla could also use a little less attention from regulators. The road safety authority NHTSA has been investigating accidents involving the driver assistance system ‘Autopilot’ for years. Just a few days ago it was announced that the NHTSA sees a problem with Tesla’s ‘Autopilot’ videos. They could give drivers the false impression that Teslas can control themselves with the latest version of the system. Even the latest expansion phase with the full name ‘Full Self-Driving’ is just an assistance system where the person behind the wheel must maintain control at all times.

And Musk has big plans: he recently demonstrated a Tesla robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. It should go into production from 2026 and make autonomous driving possible only with cameras – instead of the expensive laser radars that successful robotaxi companies like Google rely on today. This would give the electric car manufacturer a significant cost advantage over the competition.

The tech billionaire, who is notorious for missing deadlines, announced that Tesla wanted to quickly build two million such vehicles per year. But there are two problems with the big plans – and less pressure from authorities could help with both. On the one hand, it is far from clear among experts that reliable autonomous driving can only be achieved with cameras. And on the other hand, cars without steering wheels and pedals are now only allowed on the road in small numbers as experimental vehicles.

In an extraordinary nexus of US politics and the private sector, Trump-appointed Vice President JD Vance in September linked US NATO contributions to no action being taken against Musk’s online platform X in the EU. America must say that Europeans must commit to freedom of expression so that there is more support for the defense alliance, Vance said in an interview with YouTuber Shawn Ryan. By this he meant the possible action against disinformation and hate speech on online platforms under the new digital law DSA.