Behind the major influences on Elon Musk

25 December 2024

Some Democrats have been jokingly describing Elon Musk as "President Musk," which is their way of saying that the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) has way too much influence on the Republican Party and President-elect Donald Trump's incoming second administration.

The "President Musk" meme was used a lot during recent budget negotiations in the U.S. House of Representatives when Musk threatened House Republicans with primary challenges if they voted for any bills he disliked.

In an article published by the New York Times the day before Christmas 2024, reporters Theodore Schleifer, Ryan Mac, Lily Boyce and Kirsten Grind list some "people who influence Mr. Musk right now, and those whom he influences in turn."

"They are longtime friends, investors, staff members or party buddies — and sometimes, those boundaries blur," the journalists explain. "They shape how Mr. Musk operates and views the world. Many have propped him up, in the good times and the bad, and some now stand to gain from his new position in U.S. politics."

The "backers" listed include venture capitalists Steve Jurvetson, John Hering and Marc Andreessen; Shaun Maguire and Roelof Botha of the firm Sequoia Capital; Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison; and former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel.

Although Thiel expressed libertarian views in the past, some say he has taken a far-right MAGA turn and is now a major donor to MAGA Republicans.

The Times reporters note, "Mr. Thiel and Mr. Musk are members of the so-called PayPal Mafia, a group of founders and early employees of the payments company. While Mr. Thiel helped oust Mr. Musk from the company decades ago, he has recently become a political ally and supporter. Vice President-elect JD Vance once worked for Mr. Thiel's venture capital firm, and Mr. Thiel was the one who introduced the running mates."

Schleifer, Mac, Boyce and Grind also list some of Musk's allies in Trump World and the MAGA movement, who, they report, include former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, investor Nelson Peltz and MAGA businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump has proposed a new advisory committee that would be called the Department of Government Ethics (DOGE), and he would like Musk and Ramaswamy to lead it.

Read the New York Times' full article at this link (subscription required).

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