Elon Musk spent nearly a quarter billion dollars of his own money to help Donald Trump get elected to the presidency. So what does he want in return for his investment?
Max Chafkin is a tech reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek and co-host of the podcast "Elon, Inc.” He told KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 that it might have something to do with SpaceX’s defense contracts.
Listen here:
“I should say just off the bat that Elon Musk has said he did this out of his, you know, personal conviction, not out of his desire to favor-trade or anything like that,” he said. “That said, I think the notion that he wants things from the incoming administration is absolutely correct, and I think you gotta start with his government contracts.”
The U.S. government is one of SpaceX’s most important customers, and on the campaign trail, Trump talked about throwing even more money Musk’s way for a Mars mission. Tesla also depends heavily on its “favorable tax treatment,” Chafkin said.
Chafkin said Musk’s net worth has already increased by over $50 billion since the election due to soaring Tesla stock and investments in his other private companies.
“By putting himself at the center of the campaign by becoming this big surrogate Musk, you know, really helped his social media company X,” he said. “During the election X saw, you know, there's a lot of energy around this. It became, you know, a really big part of the sort of news cycle.”
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
Musk’s continued support is valuable for Trump as well, particularly as he fights to keep the Republican Party united behind him.
“In the next midterm, [Musk] said he's gonna, you know, be a big player there, so he is an asset to Trump as Trump looks to kind of corral, you know, potentially wayward Republicans,” Chafkin said. “He could fund a primary challenge for any Republican that doesn't kind of get with the program, and he's more or less said that's what he's going to do.”
Listen to the full episode above to hear from two law experts about Trump’s promise to end birthright citizenship, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 every weekday at 2:30 p.m.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
