Elon Musk really wants former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, to prevail this November.The mercurial billionaire gave his endorsement to Trump, just minutes after the GOP presidential candidate was nearly assassinated on July 13.Since then, Musk has only doubled down on Trump and his newly minted running mate, Vance on his social media platform, X.”My smartest friends, including those living in the San Francisco Bay Area who have been lifelong Dems, are excited about Trump/Vance,” Musk wrote in an X post on Sunday.I believe in an America that maximizes individual freedom and merit. That used to be the Democratic Party, but now the pendulum has swung to the Republican Party.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2024
Besides campaigning for Trump on his own X account, Musk has even gone so far as to proposition his fellow tech billionaires after President Joe Biden said that he was dropping out of the race.The president said in an X post on Sunday that he was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee instead.But Biden stepping aside instead prompted Musk to reach out to Democratic donors like early OpenAI backer Vinod Khosla and Netflix cofounder, Reed Hastings.Both Khosla and Hastings were calling for the Democratic Party to pick a suitable replacement for Biden when Musk jumped in and made a pitch for the Trump-Vance ticket.Musk made a similar overture to LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman after the latter endorsed Harris.Come on, Vinod. Trump/Vance LFG!!— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2024″I’m not suggesting that Trump is without flaws, however we need an administration that is more likely to be meritocratic and promote individual freedoms over the heavy hand of government,” Musk told Khosla after the venture capitalist replied and expressed his misgivings about Trump.
The potential switch in Democratic nominee to Harris hasn’t swayed Musk, who started criticizing her candidacy on Sunday.”Imagine 4 years of this …” Musk wrote in an X post about Harris. Musk was mocking Harris’ opening remarks at meeting, where she was heard introducing herself as a “woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit.”It’s worth noting that the video Musk referenced was a clip of Harris from July 2022, where she was presiding over a meeting with disability advocates. Her remarks were meant to accommodate visually impaired meeting attendees.Musk’s pro-Trump bluster may not have the effect he’s hoping for, experts sayDaniel Hallin, a professor emeritus studying political communication at UC San Diego, says it’s not uncommon for billionaires like Musk to weigh in on politics, giving how vital money is to political races.”I think it makes sense that Musk supports Trump; they are similar in many ways, narcissistic, macho, and prone to think of themselves as above any kind of rules of the game. And I think Musk sees Trump as someone who will let billionaires be billionaires, keep their taxes low, not bother them with regulations or legal scrutiny,” Hallin told BI.Hallin added that Musk “probably thinks Trump is likely to win and wants to have a friend in power, both because it is fun to be an insider, and because he has lots of business interests that are affected by government.”As for Musk’s support, Hallin told BI the “partisan” bluster on X may not be great for Musk’s business in the long run — but it won’t move the needle for those who already support Trump. “You might think it would undermine Trump’s populist image, but I don’t think his supporters care — I think they are comfortable with the idea of a billionaire populist,” Hallin told Business Insider.Jonathan Aronson, a communications professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, told BI there is a reason why Musk’s being so overt about his support for Trump.”Musk hates government regulators telling him what he can and cannot do — hence his exit to Texas,” Aronson told BI. “Trump won’t pursue him. Trump stokes his ego.”Aronson added that youths and minorities could rally to a Harris-led Democratic ticket — but it likely won’t just be because of Musk and his allies’ support for Trump.Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.
