ELON Musk is set to become the most powerful man on the planet if Donald Trump wins the US election, it has been claimed.
The richest man in the world has emerged as a unique influence on the election campaign – and has become the biggest cheerleader for foe-turned-pal Trump.
AFPA Trump victory could see Musk gaining a lot of power and influence in business and politics[/caption]
AFPThe tech mogul has become Tump’s ‘shadow vice president’, experts say[/caption]
AFPElon Musk jumps on stage as he joins Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Butler, Pennsylvania[/caption]
Musk, who has been dubbed Trump’s “shadow vice president”, has gone all in to support and campaign for the former president.
Not only has he become a mega-donor for the Republican nominee, pumping millions of dollars into the GOP campaign, but also a social media strategist and a PR expert who has been working to promote Trump’s MAGA agenda.
But this unlikely bromance could be a stepping stone for Musk, 53, to become the most powerful person on the planet, experts said.
Dr Alan Mendoza, political expert and executive director of leading Brit think tank Henry Jackson Society, said he seeks to become powerful in both business and politics.
He told The Sun: “There’s clearly a power factor involved here.
“If you’ve got control of significant communications and means of communications and you’ve then got a friendly president who’s willing to give you a push on whatever you are doing, that gives you tremendous power in the business as well as the political world.
“That is the bet Elon Musk is making. It’s a bet he thinks he’ll win.”
For Musk, who owns several influential companies including X and SpaceX, a Trump victory could give him more control – and power – over these institutions.
David Richards, a veteran US political analyst, said Musk is helping Trump at the last minute to gain huge advantages for his businesses should he win.
He told The Sun: “It is a way for Musk to gain some influence should Trump win the election.
“He can be one of those people who has Trump’s ear which could help his business potentially.
“He will gain an advantage in terms of regulations, in terms of how the government and businesses coexist, and especially his businesses.
“He has had trouble in the past with Tesla running into regulations and issues. Some things with Twitter have also caused a few ruffles of feathers.
“So he thinks if he is on the inside, he can prevent a lot of those conflicts from happening.
“In the long term, he could get direct benefit from [more] government contracts for SpaceX and some of his other ventures.
“He wants to make sure he is first in line and seen as a trustworthy and potentially useful ally to the Trump administration.”
Trump even promised Musk a chance to run the US government’s efficiency program – a move that could potentially allow the Tesla boss to take on the regulators he is often in conflict with and create conditions that favour him and his businesses.
If true, Musk would direct a task force to conduct a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government”, offering “recommendations for drastic reforms”.
But beyond a job in the administration, a Trump victory might also give Musk a chance to influence geopolitics.
Elon Musk is on a very different level to what we’ve ever seen before in terms of one person’s ability to influence an election
Dr Alan Mendoza
Through SpaceX and Starlink, Musk has a reach to key strategic and military assets – and his contracts with NASA and the Pentagon are increasingly exposing him to cross-border powers beyond just business.
SpaceX, which operates Starlink, struck a $1.8billion secret deal in 2021.
In a recent press release, the US Navy confirmed it was using Starlink on ships for the internet itself.
Musk can provide internet access to virtually any part of the planet using a vast network of satellites that he controls, but can also switch them off at whim.
In 2023, he cut off Starlink’s internet access during a Ukrainian raid on the Russian military.
Justifying his decision, he wrote on X: “There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol.
“The obvious intent was to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
AFP Trump and Harris shake hands during a presidential debate in Philadelphia on September 10[/caption]
EPAExperts told The Sun that Elon Musk is more popular than Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance (pictured)[/caption]
But Musk’s reach to global leaders – especially his secret talks with tyrant Vladimir Putin – shows the potential of his untapped powers and influence.
Putin, who is said to have held several secret talks with the Tesla boss, asked him to not approve the use of Starlink for Taiwan as a favour to Xi last year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Such kind of powers are usually vested in the state, but in Musk’s case, they have been privatised.
And it may not take long for Musk to reach a point where he holds sway over global leaders.
Brit journalist George Monbiot says that “a vote for Donald Trump is also a vote for Elon Musk”.
He wrote in a column for The Guardian: “Musk could be using Trump as a springboard to perhaps even greater power than the US president can wield.”
FOE-TURNED-PAL
But Musk was not always a Trump fan.
In fact, he claimed to have supported the Democrats when Joe Biden ran for office in 2020.
And just two years ago, the tech mogul called for Trump to step down from politics after a public feud.
However, when Trump survived a shocking assassination attempt earlier this year while campaigning in Pennsylvania, the Tesla boss pledged to support Trump to become the 47th president of America.
And since then, the billionaire has used every resource at his disposal to help him win the elections.
He has splashed millions of dollars into financing on-the-ground operations and media campaigns for the former president.
Musk has invested a whopping $130 million in pro-Trump super political action committee (PAC) in the three months up to the end of September.
He was the sole donor of the spending group in that period.
And last month, he pledged to give payouts of $1million a day to a registered voter in key swing states until the US presidential election.
He claimed winners will be chosen at random from those who sign a pro-US Constitution petition by Mr Musk’s campaign group America PAC.
And beyond splashing an unfathomable amount of money, Musk’s most visible support for Trump takes place on X – the world’s most influential social media platform – which he bought in 2022 for $44billion.
His account currently has more than 200 million active followers.
Reports suggest that Musk, who claims to support free speech, asked company bosses to re-engineer the algorithm of the application to boost the visibility of his tweets beyond other accounts.
He has now turned his account into a propaganda machine, relentlessly pushing out tweets that are often filled with disinformation and misinformation.
The tech mogul’s feed is heavily marked by praise for Trump and a divisive hate against Harris – and has become a source political deepfakes that are believed to have the potential to influence a large number of people.
And it was Musk who decided to restore Trump to the social network in late 2022 after his account was banned in the first place.
‘SHADOW VICE PRESIDENT’
Dr Mendoza said: “Through his schemes trying to target swing State voters and Twitter’s new algorithms that have a massive reach, Musk has shown the amount of influence he has.
“He’s on a very different level to what we’ve ever seen before in terms of one person’s ability to influence an election.”
The political expert also dubbed Musk as “Trump’s second work wife” who has been campaigning relentlessly to make him win.
He added that the tech boss has a bigger profile than JD Vance and has an enormous amount of growing influence that could have a sway over the masses.
“Elon Musk has a bigger profile than JD Vance and that’s quite obvious. He is so invested in the campaign, it is certainly as if he has got a second wife,” Dr Mendoza said.
“I think what Musk is doing for the Trump campaign is very helpful to it. He is the Shadow Vice President who’s out on the stump.”
David Richards added: “Musk has come in at the right moment with millions of dollars and a large apparatus.
“He has thrown his own people behind as much as he can and done a massive restructuring to make Trump’s campaign more efficient.
“Trump recognizes what Musk brings to the table so even if it means putting up him and his demands, he will not see it as a problem but only benefit.”
Race to the presidency
THERE are many ways in which Trump and Harris can reach the 270 electoral college vote, but some are more likely than others.
At least 226 electoral votes from 19 states, including the District of Columbia, are expected to go to Harris, with California holding 54, Illinois at 19, and New York with 28.
Harris must then take home at least 44 of the 93 electoral college votes from the swing states to reach 270 overall.
One route for the vice president would be a win in Pennsylvania with 19 votes, as well as Georgia and North Carolina both holding 16.
Meanwhile, Republicans will receive at least 219 electoral votes from 24 states, including Texas contributing 40, Florida‘s 30, and Ohio with 17.
Trump will need at least 51 of the 93 battleground votes in order to earn 270 electoral votes.
The easiest route to the White House will be for Trump to win North Carolina, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
The former president would need to win four swing states to reach the presidency, while Harris would need three of the seven to defeat Trump.
Either candidate would win the presidency if they won five or more battleground states.
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