POLITIQ

On Sunday 22nd of December, Donald Trump attended the Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix. Among other things, he made sure to reaffirm his status as the President-elect of the United States and dismissed any notion of Elon Musk’s rising political influence.

‘No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,’ Trump remarked to the crowd of cheering supporters. His nervousness came through, though, when he started to elaborate on the reasons why the apparently baffling suggestion really is baffling: ‘And I’m safe. You know why he can’t be (the President)? He wasn’t born in this country’.

Whether or not Trump really did betray any sign of anxiety, Musk’s growing influence is nevertheless clear.

It was just a couple of days before the conference, on December 18th, that Musk single handedly killed the Spending Bill which was about to mark a rare occasion of bi-partisan consensus in Congress.

Posting on his X account more than a 100 times over the course of the day, Musk called the bill ‘criminal’ and highlighted the provisions he wanted to remove. He also urged his multi-million follower base to contact their political representatives and make their feelings about the bill be known. Musk vowed that any representative who failed to oppose the bill should be voted out at the mid-terms.

Despite the real threat of a government shutdown, which happens when the Spending Bill does not pass in time, and in a direct defiance of authority of the House Speaker Mike Johnson and their own party, many Republican lawmakers decided to reverse their position on the Bill and vote against it. Even though the revised version, which reportedly satisfied both Musk and Trump, eventually passed in time to avoid the shutdown, this whole series of events raises yet more pressing questions about who is in charge of the Republican party.

It is perhaps worth noting that under the U.S. Constitution, Congress serves as an independent branch of the federal government. So even the President does not have the authority to control it directly. All the more striking it is to see an unelected individual exerting such strangely enormous influence over the American lawmakers.

This may well be a consequence of Trump getting too cozy with billionaires during his presidential campaign. In all honesty, Musk really was one of the significant factors in Trump’s election victory. Both his more direct actions, in creating financial giveaways for large sums of money in a key swing state of Pennsylvania, and more indirect in using his control over X to rally support behind the Republican candidate, played a role in shaping the election outcome.

It is only natural then that Musk feels that he deserves a stake in the new administration. However, Musk’s strong anti-big government rhetoric does not entirely align with Trump’s platform, as Trump knows such messaging could alienate voters. That is why Musk’s role in the government is rather unclear as there are likely to be some policy tensions between him and the President-elect.

Beyond that, and more importantly, Musk is unelected, which presents challenges to basic democratic principles. He seems to be content with his status as the kingmaker, while avoiding the complexities of policymaking. House Speaker Johnson’s half-joking—perhaps not entirely, though—suggestion that Musk take his role to understand its challenges underscores this point.

Though Musk’s support undoubtedly helped Trump to secure the White House, it still remains unclear how long the President-elect will tolerate the billionaire’s growing influence. In the past, Trump had been very sensitive about his power and if that hasn’t changed, a clash between him and Musk may be inevitable.