Early Wednesday morning, as Donald Trump reveled in his presidential win, Elon Musk was right by his side. Trump hailed Musk as a rising star during his speech at Mar-a-Lago, expressing gratitude to the world’s wealthiest man for dedicating two weeks to campaign in Pennsylvania.
Musk invested over $130 million into pro-Trump initiatives and has transformed his support for Trump into a full-time gig lately, backing efforts in key swing states to register voters and using X (formerly Twitter) to promote his candidate—often sharing misleading information.
Musk’s financial backing is already reaping rewards, even though Trump won’t officially take office until January 20.
On Wednesday, Tesla’s stock jumped 15%, adding around $15 billion to Musk’s wealth on paper. While Tesla faces challenges from Chinese competitors and declining sales in Europe, along with growing public discontent over Musk’s political stance, Wall Street seems optimistic about the company’s prospects with Musk aligning himself with Trump.
The president-elect has promised to cut regulations that Musk dislikes.
But it’s not just about Tesla for Musk; there are broader benefits at stake. During his victory address, Trump also acknowledged SpaceX and thanked Musk for providing Starlink Wi-Fi terminals to areas hit hard by hurricanes.
This gives Musk plenty of reasons to feel hopeful that a second term for Trump could yield significant benefits for him and his ventures.
Currently, however, Musk’s companies are facing various investigations and lawsuits from federal agencies concerning issues like alleged securities violations and workplace safety concerns.
With the executive branch holding considerable sway over federal regulatory bodies, there’s potential for some of the ongoing probes—19 known ones against Tesla, SpaceX, and X—to ease up under a new administration.
On October 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Musk joined other supporters of Trump during an all-day rally.
The media largely focused on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial remarks at the event rather than on what was said by attendees like Musk.
He was introduced by Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, who called him “the greatest capitalist in U.S. history.” Lutnick even mentioned that he and Musk were co-founders of an imagined Department of Government Efficiency and asked him how much he thought could be trimmed from the federal budget!
Musk threw out a figure of at least $2 trillion, which actually tops the federal government’s discretionary budget of $1.7 trillion.
His comment sparked a loud reaction from Lutnick and cheers from the audience. While Musk didn’t detail what he wanted to cut, he has previously called out various agencies like the SEC, EPA, and FAA for what he sees as overstepping their bounds or infringing on his freedom of speech.
He’s also criticized the Biden administration for hiring too many IRS agents and has been outspoken against a proposed billionaires tax.
If he were involved in a special commission, it could give him some influence over federal budgets and staffing decisions, plus a chanceSure! Please provide the text you’d like me to rewrite and paraphrase.to advocate for getting rid of regulations that don’t sit well with him.
During a Tesla earnings call on October 23rd, Musk mentioned that he plans to leverage his relationship with Trump to create a federal approval process for self-driving cars since right now those approvals are handled at the state level.
Tesla has been developing driverless tech for over ten years but hasn’t yet rolled out any robotaxis or vehicles that can operate without someone ready to take control if needed.
On top of that, a Trump administration might be more inclined to collaborate with Musk’s ventures. His latest project, xAI, is working on large language models and generative AI software aimed at competing with offerings from companies like Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Meta.
Speaking of Meta, they just made their open-source Llama models available to U.S. government agencies focused on defense and national security.
OpenAI is already in bed with the military after bringing on board a retired Army general who previously directed the NSA back in June. Musk didn’t get back to us when we asked for his thoughts on this topic.
Billions in federal contracts awarded to SpaceX.
Research from FedScout shows that since 2008, SpaceX has raked in over $19 billion in federal contracts, with major contributions coming from NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the Space Force.
According to Geoff Orazem, the CEO of FedScout, SpaceX is set to continue pulling in billions each year from these prime contracts for the foreseeable future.
It’s worth noting that this figure doesn’t account for classified spending or smaller expenses like Starlink terminals, nor does it include state-level funding through federal block grants—like assistance from FEMA after natural disasters.
On a different note, Tesla has reported around $10 billion in sales from automotive regulatory credits since 2015. Orazem uncovered this by looking at Tesla’s financial documents.
These credits mainly stem from U.S. regulations requiring automakers to either sell a certain number of low-emission vehicles or purchase credits from companies like Tesla that often have a surplus.
In fact, regulatory credits made up about 60% of Tesla’s net income in Q2 2024 and dropped slightly to 39% in Q3. Additionally, government incentives for electric vehicle sales contributed roughly 50% of Tesla’s profits during the third quarter.
As for Trump’s stance on these programs? He hasn’t been very clear about whether he’ll keep those rebates and credit schemes intact; he even hinted at possibly cutting the federal $7,500 EV tax credit.
He’s also promised to lower income taxes and impose hefty tariffs. While tariffs might shield Tesla from competition with Chinese companies, they could also disrupt Tesla’s supply chain since they rely on various materials and parts sourced from China.
When it comes to labor rights, Musk has been trying to challenge the constitutional authority of the National Labor Relations Board through legal action.
However, if Trump decides to diminish or eliminate the agency’s power—which is meant to protect workers’ rights to unionize—Musk might find he no longer needs those lawsuits at all!
Let’s talk about Musk and his connections with governments under sanctions. At SpaceX, he decided not to let U.S. troops in Taiwan use Starlink, the company’s satellite internet service. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, this move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly asked him to do so on behalf of Chinese President Xi Jinping during their ongoing chats.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson reacted to these claims by suggesting that if they’re accurate, Musk should be investigated by federal authorities for his talks with Putin.
NBC News analyzed that Musk has been sharing pro-Kremlin messages with his massive following on X. He even interacted with content from Tenet Media and its creators over 60 times! The Department of Justice claims Tenet was involved in a covert Russian operation aimed at swaying U.S. public opinion before the 2024 election.
Interestingly, while Vice President-elect JD Vance labeled Putin as an adversary of the U.S., former President Trump has consistently expressed admiration for him, even after Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine back in 2022.
This week, Kremlin officials were reportedly pleased with Trump winning the election.
Musk publicly backed Trump just moments after an assassination attempt against him last July and mentioned he plans to stay active in U.S. politics for the long run.
In a recent discussion on X, he stated that his super PAC would keep going post-presidential election and would aim to sway midterm elections and local prosecutor races across the country.
He emphasized that one of his main goals is to help elect district attorneys who go after repeat violent offenders who pose a real threat to society.