President-elect Donald Trump hugs Elon Musk during an October campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The two men have built a warm relationship in recent months.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

hide caption

change caption

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

On Wednesday morning, after the US election, Elon Musk posted what appeared to be one AI-generated image of self on X, the social media platform he owns. In it, he salutes the American flag in front of a dusty pink sky. His caption reads: “It’s morning again in America.”

It was the culmination of his mad attempt to re-elect Donald Trump as president. In recent weeks, Musk poodle with excitement spent more than $100 million of his personal money during one of Trump’s rallies into a pro-Trump super PAC and hunkered down with Trump in West Palm Beach as the votes poured in on election night.

When Trump gave his victory speech, he mentioned Musk. “We have a new star,” he declared. “A Star is Born – Elon!”

Musk is the richest man in the world, worth about $290 billion, and has a lot to gain from a Trump presidency. Many of the companies he owns, including Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, are highly dependent on government subsidies. He is already starting to benefit from the stock market, with his investments with more than 26 billion dollars on November 6. With a friendly government, Musk could continue amassing wealth and consolidating power, while using his feed on X as a megaphone to boost his allies.

“The whole idea of ​​the quid pro quo is quite clear,” says Gita Johar, referring to the very public interactions and warm relationship between the two men over the course of the campaign. Johar is a professor at Columbia Business School who researches X and consumer psychology. “Musk so explicitly supported Trump with unprecedented levels of support – not just financially, but personally. And I think the idea and the expectation was: ‘You take care of me, I’ll take care of you.’”

The Trump campaign, representatives for X and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

Here are several ways the Trump administration could potentially benefit Musk and his companies.

Musk could be Trump’s new ‘secretary of cost savings’

In August, Musk floated the idea of ​​creating a “government efficiency commission” that would act as an auditor for the entire federal government. He brought it up first during a live streamed conversation with Trump on X. Musk said the committee can ensure taxpayers’ money is “spent well.”

Just three weeks later, Trump announced this he would create the committee and place Musk is in charge.

Ethics experts immediately pointed to many conflicts of interest: Musk’s companies, which are regulated by multiple federal agencies. His electric car company Tesla receives government funding and received millions to install EV charging stations. His rocket company SpaceX has that won billion-dollar government contracts for lunar missions. And his satellite internet company, Starlink, has done just that also received millions in subsidies of the federal government.

During the first Trump administration, at least one administration appointee — Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce — could have done this. ignoring ethical rules with little consequence. Ross failed to divest his millions in assets even when he said he would and despite telling ethics officials he had done so.

As chairman of a government committee, Musk could have substantial influence over federal agencies and how budgets are allocated. Trump did not detail how the commission would operate and what kind of autonomy it would have. However, he has stressed that major cuts will be considered.

During his campaign rallies, Trump repeatedly referred to the commission, calling Musk the “secretary of cost savings.” Musk has said he would cut nearly a third of the federal budget in this role eye-watering $2 trillion. In the past, similar committees were not authorized to actually make cuts, but to make recommendations to Congress.

What’s happening with the federal investigations into Musk’s business empire?

During President Joe Biden’s administration, Musk’s companies came under increased scrutiny. The Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Trade Commission have all launched investigations into his companies.

The Ministry of Justice Tesla has investigated for allegedly misleading consumers about the autonomous driving capabilities of its vehicles and for internet cable fraud. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started an investigation in Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system, which is responsible for several fatal accidents. It resulted in the recall of more than 2 million vehicles last year.

In response to the recall, Musk said posted on X: “the nice police made us do it (sigh).”

The Environmental Protection Agency has investigated and fined several of Musk’s companies, including Tesla And SpaceX. After NPR’s reporting on almost twenty methane gas turbines, this was the case installed in Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence supercomputing facilitythe EPA said it is “investigating the matter.”

X has also been the focus of government investigations. The Federal Trade Commission has done that examined the social media site’s privacy practicesand the Securities and Exchange Commission has gone against Musk his purchase of shares in the company and said he initially did not disclose his investment. Musk started accumulating shares in 2021 and bought the company for $44 billion about a year later.

At one point, during another spat with the SEC — this time over Tesla — Musk blasted the agency post“SEC, a three letter acronym, the middle word is Elon’s.”

Like Musk, Trump’s disdain for regulation is well known. And experts like Johar say light regulation would likely be encouraged under his presidency.

“I think the government contracts would be given to Musk without much oversight,” Johar says. “And that’s lack of regulation, lack of oversight – and that’s all going to be to Musk’s advantage.”

Trump has already made it clear that he is a fan of Musk’s companies. The former president, who once criticized electric carsnow appears to be supporting Tesla. At a rally in August, Trump announced, “I’m for electric cars. It has to be, you know, because Elon was very supportive of me. And in October, nodding to SpaceX, he said, “We will land an American astronaut on Mars.” Thank you, Elon.”

During Trump’s victory speech on Wednesday morning, he called out Musk, saying: “We have to protect our geniuses. We don’t have that many of those.”

X could become more of an influence machine

It’s been that way since Musk bought X increasingly becoming a megaphone for conservative politics. He often promotes right-wing leaders, talking points and political views. He has hyped his favorite politicians, promoted conspiracy theories about immigration and other hot topics, and smeared Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Kamala swears he will be a communist dictator on day one,” Musk said posted in September, together with an AI-generated image of Harris dressed in a red outfit and cap decorated with a hammer and sickle. “Can you believe she’s wearing that outfit!?”

Musk has the largest account on X, with over 200 million followers. He has a tendency to stir up rumors, which build up steam and confuse people as to whether they are real or not. For example, he promoted the false claim that Haitian immigrants ate people’s pets in Springfield, Ohiowhich quickly spread across X and spilled over into real life in the small town. After city officials dismissed the claims as false, they received anonymous threats, including 33 bomb threats at local schools. according to CNN.

Since Musk declared his support for Trump in July, he has increasingly amplified pro-Trump posts and conservative politicians, according to a US newspaper in-depth analysis The Wall Street Journal. The Magazine’S Analysis shows that X’s algorithm tends to recommend partisan topics that lean to the right. These political posts account for half of the total posts on people’s ‘For You’ home feeds.

“(Musk) has the megaphone now. And I think by extension Trump will get that megaphone,” says Johar. “There’s a universe of people on X who just keep encouraging this. And when we talk about us all living in our bubbles, I think that’s one huge bubble.”

Under Trump, X could be seen as a platform supported by the President of the United States – making it even more of an influence machine.

On election night one of Musk’s messages to his millions of followers read: “You are now the media.”