A look at the influence Elon Musk could have in the incoming Trump administration

Elon Musk was among Donald Trump’s most visible and powerful surrogates on the campaign trail. Now with President-elect Trump, Musk remains within the inner circle, joining calls with world leaders and weighing in on staffing decisions. Amna Nawaz discussed the influence Musk could exert on the next administration and what he stands to gain with Vittoria Elliott of Wired.
Amna Nawaz:
Among Donald Trump’s most visible and powerful surrogates on the campaign trail was Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who owns the platform X, formerly Twitter. Now with president-elect Trump, Musk remains within the inner circle, joining calls with world leaders and weighing in on staffing decisions.
For more on the influence Musk could exert on the next administration and what he stands to gain, I’m joined by Vittoria Elliott, a reporter from Wired who has long covered Elon Musk.
Vittoria, welcome. Thanks for joining us.
Vittoria Elliott, Wired:
Thanks so much for having me.
Amna Nawaz:
So let’s just start with the influence Musk has already had on getting Trump back into the White House. We mentioned he owns and controls the platform X. He donated over $118 million to the reelection bid.
How instrumental would you say he was in getting Trump reelected?
Vittoria Elliott:
You know, obviously, he plowed a lot of money into the campaign and he really brought the full weight of his own personal celebrity, because before Musk even owned Twitter, he was one of the top 10 most followed people on the platform.
So just his audience, even without the sort of super juicing that now we have seen as he owned it, as he’s changed the algorithm, would have been incredibly powerful. There was a really great report from the Center for Countering Digital hate that found that the posts on X from Musk alone between July 13, when he endorsed Donald Trump, and October 25 reached so many people that if a campaign were to like pay for that kind of visibility, it would have been the equivalent of about $24 million in advertisements.
So even the use of his platform alone to boost the Trump campaign’s talking points, to boost its visibility was incredibly valuable. But then, if you zoom out from that, he also gave permission for a lot of these other more right-leaning people within Silicon Valley, people like David Sacks and Shaun Maguire Sequoia Capital, to be really public about their support for Trump and to put their money behind his campaign too.
So, I think he sort of really was at the vanguard of being willing to take the public heat and attention for this, such that other people in his circle felt comfortable backing Trump. And that’s also true for bringing the people that have followed him for years, including his fan base.
Amna Nawaz:
Musk is also the richest man in the world. He’s the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. He also relies on the federal government for a big chunk of his wealth, Right? He’s gotten billions of dollars in federal government contracts over the years.
From what we know about how former President Trump, president-elect Trump, plans to govern, how could Musk and his businesses benefit from a Trump administration?
Vittoria Elliott:
Well, definitely, what we know from how the first Trump administration went is that Trump values loyalty and he is more than willing to use his position as president to reward the people who have been very loyal to him.
So I think a really great place that we may see this is in space exploration. SpaceX competes with other companies like Blue Origin, which is run by Jeff Bezos, for contracts. I think we could definitely see him getting more contracts for that. Tariffs, which have been a huge talking point, would be incredibly helpful for Musk, particularly tariffs on China and Chinese electric vehicles, because that really helps Tesla’s market share, even though Donald Trump has sort of taken a more pro-fossil fuel vision for how he envisions his administration and is not as hot on electric cars as Elon Musk is.
Still, some of these policies will be really good for his businesses. So I think this rollback in regulation, regardless of who you are, if you are a billionaire, if you have a big business, it is an ultimate win. And particularly, if you read Project 2025, the rollback on labor rights and labor protections, Musk is part of several labor lawsuits and is trying to currently dismantle the National Labor Relations Board.
And that, in itself, being free from some of these suits, being free from the ability of his workers to make claims, are all boons for him. So I think there are many ways in which a Trump administration could really benefit him.
Amna Nawaz:
We have also seen over the years a lot of people who got very close to Mr. Trump who ended up getting burned by him in the long run. You’re talking about two very big personalities, two men who are used to being in control and getting their way.
What do you think happens in the future? Do you see this alliance continuing between these two men?
Vittoria Elliott:
Both of them are very sensitive. We have seen them really value loyalty and be willing to fire or cut ties with people over even disagreements or perceived slights.
I think it could really go either way. Though Musk has said he would be in charge of some form of government efficiency commission, I think we may see him much more as a floating adviser to the Trump administration, rather than someone who’s actually installed within it.
And I think that’s, frankly, because these are two people who are used to being in charge, who kind of conceive of themselves as alpha men. And I don’t see either one of them being comfortable willing to work in a position that feels like it’s beneath the other.
Trump has no problem letting go of people who have previously supported him if he feels that their loyalty or their support is in question. And I don’t think Musk would be any different, particularly once Trump is in office and has the full power of the regulatory state that he can then he could sort of rely upon.
Amna Nawaz:
That is Vittoria Elliott, a reporter from Wired, joining us tonight.
Thank you so much. Good to speak with you.
Vittoria Elliott:
Thank you.