Musk's strategic backing for Trump: Securing influence?

"The owner of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and X aspires to shape the future of humanity - a Neuralink chip in the brain, a robot at home, a driverless car for commuting, rockets for colonising Mars. Musk assumes that if Trump wins, he (Musk) will gain significant influence over how the US government treats his companies," the British newspaper assessed.

It noted that Elon Musk has donated at least $75 million to Trump’s election campaign so far and is using his X platform to promote the former president and bizarre conspiracy theories aimed at discrediting his opponent in the elections, Kamala Harris.

On Sunday, Musk announced that by the day of the elections in the USA, he would give away a million dollars a day to one registered voter in key states who signs his political petition. Additionally, he decided to pay an exorbitant rate to volunteers who will mobilise Republican Party supporters to vote in the elections.

The billionaire himself explains his preferences with the necessity of introducing "sensible regulations," arguing that if the current trend of regulating his companies' activities continues, "we'll never get to Mars." The "FT" reminded that many of Musk's initiatives - self-driving cars or rockets - have been targeted by regulators due to safety regulations.

Meanwhile, if Trump wins, SpaceX and Starlink could receive new contracts from the American security apparatus, and Tesla could gain support from Republicans who are sceptical of electric cars. Regulatory agencies may limit proceedings regarding safety parameters for autonomous vehicles. Moreover, under Trump's administration, the government might stop interfering with the "absolutist concept of freedom of speech" that Musk applies to the X platform, forecasts "FT".

Trump himself has announced for now that if he wins the election, he will assign the billionaire to the Department of "Government Efficiency." Musk might count on having influence with the president and his administration to be helpful against threats to his interests, like growing competition from cheaper electric cars from China. According to the valuation by Albert Bridge Capital, the real value of Tesla is $70-100 billion, and the remaining $650 billion of the company's market valuation is "investor optimism about yet unproven technologies," which for now face demanding tests from regulators, highlighted "FT".

However, if Trump wins, Tesla might expect "a more favourable approach from the federal administration." And the revenues of SpaceX - according to Morgan Stanley analysts' forecasts - could triple by 2030 thanks to such an approach by regulators.

"FT" chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman warned in September that Musk, given the scale of power and influence that his position as the world's richest man and control over extremely important technological infrastructure provides him, is a "ungovernable geopolitical missile that can influence developments of global significance."

Rachman noted that Musk's influence is visible from Kyiv to Beijing, and the fact that he controls SpaceX, the Starlink satellite internet system, and Tesla, allows him to play a role in the war against Ukraine, in the economic rivalry between the USA and China, and even - to some extent - in the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, owning the X service gives him "a powerful megaphone to convey his views."

The US administration is concerned about many of the billionaire's moves, but his companies possess capabilities that even the American government does not have. At the beginning of May, the portal Axios wrote that Musk has some degree of control over key global infrastructure, and the billionaire's globally reaching companies are not subject to any oversight.