{"id":169429,"date":"2024-11-06T18:02:08","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T18:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/06\/elon-musk-rocket-boosted-trumps-campaign-but-will-it-all-end-with-a-bang\/"},"modified":"2024-11-06T18:02:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T18:02:08","slug":"elon-musk-rocket-boosted-trumps-campaign-but-will-it-all-end-with-a-bang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/06\/elon-musk-rocket-boosted-trumps-campaign-but-will-it-all-end-with-a-bang\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk rocket-boosted Trump’s campaign – but will it all end with a bang?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Elon<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

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“The future is gonna be fantastic,” America’s unlikely kingmaker posted on X, above a photograph of his Starship rocket blasting into space.<\/p>\n

It was, after all, Elon Musk<\/a><\/strong> who strapped boosters to Donald Trump’s campaign<\/a><\/strong> and helped propel him to a decisive victory<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The world’s richest man bombarded his 200m+ followers on the platform he controls with pro-Trump content, some true, much false.<\/p>\n

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There’s also evidence that, since Mr Musk endorsed the president-elect, X algorithms amplified pro-Trump content.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think this race would even be close if it wasn’t for what Elon Musk was doing with X and showing people what is going on,” said Mr Trump’s eldest son – Donald Trump Jr – in a polling day podcast.<\/p>\n

Throw in Mr Musk’s tens of millions in campaign donations to Mr Trump, million-dollar giveaways to voters, appearances at his rallies and podcasts supporting him, and we have ourselves a winner.<\/p>\n

US election latest – world congratulates Trump<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

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\n 15:08<\/span>
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Elon Musk’s political journey<\/span>
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But what is in it for Elon Musk?<\/p>\n

First is the role promised to him by Mr Trump as head of a new Department Of Government Efficiency.<\/p>\n

This would give the billionaire the power to scythe through US federal bureaucracy that both he and Mr Trump say has long held America back.<\/p>\n

Mr Musk certainly feels it holds him back. Environmental and safety regulations have, at times, delayed his break-neck rocket testing programme and the rollout of self-driving Tesla robo-taxis.<\/p>\n

Mr Musk nicknamed the would-be new department DOGE – a reference to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency he often promotes – so quickly you wonder if the idea was his all along.<\/p>\n

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Removing regulatory barriers to his own business interests, or cutting contracts for his more cumbersome, government-dependent rivals like Boeing, would clearly appeal.<\/p>\n

But Mr Musk is also ideological and wants to go much further – arguing there is $2tn (\u00a31.55tn) in inefficiency to be slashed from the federal budget.<\/p>\n

Many economists think this would be insane, gutting budgets for healthcare, education, science, environment and welfare, tanking the economy and fuelling unemployment.<\/p>\n

But Mr Musk didn’t become the world’s richest man by doing things by half.<\/p>\n

His purchase of Twitter<\/a><\/strong> for $44bn (\u00a334bn) in 2022, was seen as a spectacularly bad business move. Does it look that way now?<\/p>\n

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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n


\n \"Elon
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‘Trumpian Willy Wonka’ hands out cheques<\/span>
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Mr Musk also wants Mr Trump to deliver on his promise to promote the cryptocurrencies he backs ideologically and is invested in financially – even a plan to use a crypto price boom to pay down America’s $35tn (\u00a327tn) debt.<\/p>\n

And Mr Musk’s gamble in backing Mr Trump is already paying off. The value of his companies like Tesla has grown, if X and Space X were publicly traded, it’s expected they’d have soared too.<\/p>\n

The price of cryptocurrencies has also shot up at news of Mr Trump’s victory, including meme coins like Dogecoin – long regarded as junk even by most crypto investors.<\/p>\n

The Trump-Musk relationship takes America into new, very uncertain territory.<\/p>\n

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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n


\n \"Tom
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\n 2:49<\/span>
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The key issues behind Trump’s victory<\/span>
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Big business has always sought influence in government – but never has the relationship been this close or exclusive.<\/p>\n

And never between two men as madcap and morally removed from the mainstream.<\/p>\n

But will the relationship endure?<\/p>\n

Mr Musk might bring the White House Silicon Valley<\/a><\/strong> expertise and cash. He has promised to continue his America PAC donations<\/a><\/strong> to support Republicans. His control of social media is a formidable tool for the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Trump’s plans for aggressive tariffs could destroy Tesla’s business with China.<\/p>\n

Mr Musk has said “f*** oil,” while the president-elect calls it “liquid gold”.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong>
Should we be worried about Trump?<\/a>
World economy fears over US tariffs threat<\/a>
America’s night of historic firsts<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Then there’s the two men themselves. Mr Trump has said he will accept only total loyalty in his new administration.<\/p>\n

Can he – more his famously fragile ego – tolerate a man with greater wealth, a clearer mission, and possibly even a larger ego than himself?<\/p>\n

Mr Musk is famous for not suffering those he sees as fools, and a willingness to blow things up in his dogged pursuit of success.<\/p>\n

This could all end with a bang.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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“The future is gonna be fantastic,” America’s unlikely kingmaker posted on X, above a photograph of his Starship rocket blasting into space. It was, after all, Elon Musk who strapped boosters to Donald Trump’s campaign and helped propel him to a decisive victory. The world’s richest man bombarded his 200m+ followers on the platform he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/10\/768x432\/skynews-elon-musk-donald-trump_6730823.jpg?20241105214026","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[6741,2243,2534,6039,131409,1734],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169431,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169429\/revisions\/169431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}