During my canvassing efforts in the run-up to the U.S. elections in 2024, and with my three decades of experience observing the rise of public figures from obscurity, I had the feeling that Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest individuals, was using Donald Trump to enter active politics. He appeared to be spending as much as one million dollars daily on Trump’s campaign, leveraging this massive investment to build intimacy with Trump and his family, thereby obliging them and positioning himself as the ideological and administrative backbone of the Trump administration. It seemed that Musk envisioned using this shortcut to ascend to the top of the political hierarchy within a few days—a level that conventional politicians spend their entire lives striving to achieve.
Elon Musk’s political ambitions were manifested when he acquired Twitter, a move that did not align with his technological and space-focused endeavors but served as a strategic step into the political arena in the most effective manner. Soon after acquiring Twitter for a whopping $44 billion in October 2022, he installed loyalists in its management and used the platform to grow closer to top politicians, ultimately bringing Donald Trump back into the fold.
The power of Twitter, combined with Musk’s revolutionary work on Tesla—heralded as the car of the future—and the astonishing success of SpaceX, which has left NASA appearing dwarfed, showcased his brute brainpower and visionary approach. These achievements solidified his credibility beyond question. Building on these success factors, Musk positioned himself as a political wizard during the 2024 U.S. elections.
Identifying a strategic opportunity, he took a calculated risk by betting on the “losing horse,” Donald Trump—a figure Musk knew only marginally. By investing over $200 million, providing innovative strategies, and harnessing the manipulative power of X, Musk turned Trump into a dependent ally. Through this move, he orchestrated Trump’s improbable victory, reshaping the narrative and earning himself a pivotal role as the main voice, power, and ideological architect of the upcoming Trump administration.
By doing so, Musk was set to gain numerous advantages. To begin with, he aimed to eliminate government regulations, reduce federal oversight, and lower incident of taxation to benefit his multiple technology companies, secured lucrative contracts with top clients. Expand and solidify his Starlink satellites to become indispnesible partner with Pentagon and US military establishment by providing critical internet services in war fested area including war-torn Ukraine and frist make SpaceX as a trusted partner for with NASA and gradually share biggest chunk of $24.89 billion NASA budget. Additionally, infuse new life to his Boring Company for major infrastructure projects in cities like Los Angeles.
To tackle what he saw as a two-headed monster—government regulations and taxation—Musk strategically positioned himself within the Trump administration, earning the informal title of “Secretary of Cost Cutting.” He joined forces with like-minded right-wing entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to propose the creation of a new Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.).
The primary goal of this initiative was to reduce government oversight of private enterprises, shrink the size of the federal bureaucracy, and redirect the resulting savings ostensibly to improve the lives of common people. However, the plan also covertly safeguarded Musk’s ambitious projects and multibillion-dollar ventures, ensuring they faced minimal regulatory and financial barriers.
In exchange for his instrumental role in helping Trump secure an unlikely victory, Musk earned the president-elect’s unwavering trust. He became a permanent fixture at Mar-a-Lago, advising Trump on cabinet appointments and building alliances with tech investors to strengthen the administration’s ties to Silicon Valley. Musk’s influence extended to the Trump family itself, forging personal connections so deep that he was affectionately regarded as “Uncle Elon” by the president-elect’s grandchildren. Ultimately, Musk cemented his position as America’s most powerful private citizen, wielding unprecedented influence in shaping the policies and direction of the incoming administration.
Elon Musk managed to influence Donald Trump, traditionally conservative in his business approach, to embrace progressive ideas like blockchain technology, Cybertrucks, reusable rockets, electric vehicles, and Musk’s ambitious projects such as inhabiting Mars and advancing space travel.
At one of his post-election public rallies, Elon Musk, while delivering a victory speech before the President-Elect, seemed to momentarily forget that it was Mr. Trump who had won the election. During his address, Musk spoke as though he himself had emerged victorious and was preparing to take the oath as the next President of the United States.
His words offered a revealing glimpse into his lofty ambitions and how deeply he envisioned himself as a central figure in the new administration. To truly capture the essence of his vision, let me share his speech verbatim with the readers.
[1]“In the next election, we want the restoration of common sense. We want safe cities, secure borders, sensible spending, freedom of speech, and respect for the Constitution. I am incredibly excited about the future. The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear—winning the popular vote, Congress, the Senate, and an electoral mandate by miles, with a majority of governorships and legislatures going Republican. The people have spoken, and they want change, and we are going to deliver it. They will get what they asked for. “I think this is going to be the most transformative presidency, perhaps since the founding of the country. And President Trump is picking his cabinet to make it happen. You can see it in the choices—people who have actually driven change. This is not going to be business as usual. We are going to shake things up. It’s going to be a revolution. We are headed toward a fantastic future.”
His entry on the public arena complimented with his proven capability as a great strategist, an outstanding visionary, and his unparalleled energy, power of innovation, and ability to accomplish even the most difficult and seemingly impossible tasks with absolute accuracy and precision, has cultivated the ambition to rise to the top of the political arena.
As Musk later put it on X, encapsulating his vision: “America is a nation of builders. Soon, you will be free to build.”
Writer is Press Secretary to the President(Rtd), Former Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France and Former MD, SRBC. He is living in Macomb, Detroit, Michigan
