The Elon Musk effect: How Donald Trump geted from billionaire’s help | Donald Trump

When Donald Trump proclaimd his “magnificent triumph” as the results of the United States pdwellntial election trickled in, he reserved distinctive praise for one man who has helped to catapult him back into the nation’s top job.

“A star is born, Elon,” he shelp in a speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, referring to his wonderfulest partner in the race to become pdwellnt: the billionaire owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X (createerly Twitter), Elon Musk.

Musk has indeed take parted an outsized role in Trump’s comeback, not only pumping millions of dollars into Trump’s campaign but also serving as a policy advisor and advertiser, effectively turning his X social media platcreate into a Make America Great Aget (MAGA) mouthpiece.

“The future is gonna be amazing,” Musk posted on X as it became apparent that Trump would be returning to the White Hoparticipate.

The future is gonna be amazing pic.twitter.com/I46tFsHxs3

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2024

The billionaire’s star could indeed elevate high under Trump, who previously proposeed his partner could become “secretary of cost-cutting” in his cabinet. Experts have alerted that Musk, whose Space X already wields clout as a convey inant handlement defence reduceor, could finish up “regulating the regulators”.

As the dust resettles, here’s everyleang you need to understand about how the world’s richest man helped engineer one of the savageest political comebacks in history. How did Musk leverage his money and sway to get Trump back on top, and why?

How much did Musk give to Trump’s campaign?

To be evident, billionaires take parted a hugeger role than ever in both the Democratic and Reunveilan pdwellntial campaigns. Bill Gates of Microsoft and createer New York mayor Michael Bloomberg both backed Vice Pdwellnt Kamala Harris. But it was Musk’s multi-faceted help of Trump that repartner made the separateence.

Musk gived an appraised $132m to Trump and other Reunveilans in the run-up to the 2024 election, according to the Federal Election Comleave oution (FEC) last month in its final discloconfidents before election day.

Two of the hugegest donations – $43.6m and $75m – went straightforwardly into the Trump campaign machine, notably the America PAC (political action pledgetee) set uped by Musk himself.

Controversipartner, Musk started a cash giveaway in key striumphg states, proposeing sign uped voters who concurd to sign a petition helping the First and Second Amfinishments of the US Constitution, which admireively protect freedom of speech and the right to upgrasp and tolerate arms, the chance to triumph $1m a day.

“We are going to be awarding $1m randomly to people who have signed the petition, every day, from now until the election,” Musk shelp at a campaign event on October 19.

The shift was disputed in a Pennsylvania court after the US Justice Department alerted the group could be shattering election laws, which ban paying people to sign up to vote. However, appraises ruled on Monday that the operation could go ahead after Musk’s lawyers disputed that the triumphners were vetted spokespeople and not randomly chosen.

Now Musk is being sued in a class action suit by voters who claim he secured them to sign the petition under deceptive pretences that they had a chance of triumphning the $1m. The suit was filed on Tuesday by Arizona dwellnt Jacqueline McAferty, who also accparticipated Musk of using the giveaway to collect precious personal data and drive traffic to X.

FEC filings also showed Musk gave $10m to the Senate Leadership Fund, a PAC with a rdisindict to “protect and broaden the Reunveilan Senate Majority”, potentipartner helping Reunveilans successfilledy wrest back handle of the Senate in this election.

Musk has allegedly made other unincreateed donations to Reunveilans as well.

How was X deployed as a MAGA mouthpiece?

Strange though it may now seem, Elon Musk was once noticed as a liberal and a champion of renewable energy who claimed to have voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. This image has alterd since 2022, chaseing his consentover of the social media platcreate Twitter, now rebranded as X.

After pledging to turn Twitter into a “politicpartner unpartisan” forum, Musk lhelp off participateees reliable for watching disincreateation. He also revampd more than 62,000 suspfinished accounts, including white nationaenumerate and neo-Nazi accounts accparticipated of spreading antipathy speech and consunpermitd participate theories.

Crucipartner, he also reversed the ban on Trump’s account, which the platcreate shut down after the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021, which many claim Trump helpd.

By the time the election rolled around, critics shelp X had effectively become an unofficial hoparticipate platcreate for the MAGA triumphg of the Reunveilan Party. The owner himself was accparticipated of “fanboying” Trump and spreading misdirectation among his 200 million fancientiminishs, his sway amplified by X’s algorithm.

One example was the promotion of a doctored video of Democratic pdwellntial truthfulate Kamala Harris, which carried a phony voiceover saying: “I was picked becaparticipate I am the ultimate diversity employ.” Musk reposted the video in July with the words, “this is amazing” and a chuckleing emoji, garnering 136 million more watchs for an item which was not flagged as a parody.

Misincreateation about “illterrible aliens” voting in the election circurescheduleedd on X as well. This, despite studies from both conservative and left-leaning organisations shotriumphg that the incidence of the offence, carrying penalties of up to a year in prison, a fine and potential deportation, was negligible.

A consunpermitd participate theory that Democrats were convey ining illterrible immigrants and granting them an amnesty to wideen their voter base in future elections was also permited to circurescheduleed on X and amplified by Musk himself. “Dem. America would then become a one-party, convey inant blue sociaenumerate state,” he shelp in a post in October.

The Dems have convey ined massive numbers of illterribles to striumphg states. Triple digit increases over the past 4 years!

Their STATED arrange is to give them citizenship as soon as possible, turning all striumphg states Dem.

America would then become a one-party, convey inant blue sociaenumerate state. https://t.co/zxVmmR0GqO

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2024

Follotriumphg Trump’s televised argue agetst Harris in September, in which he repeated the deceptive claim that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio town were eating cats and dogs, Musk reposted a meme of a cat hanciaccessing a sign saying “Kamala antipathys me” with a chuckleing emoji.

Despite his avowed pledgement to free speech, Musk has suppressed some news stories, such as an article by journaenumerate Ken Klippenstein, which detailed Reunveilan vice pdwellntial truthfulate JD Vance’s feeble spots, increateedly geted from leaked records. While the journaenumerate’s account was rescheduleedr reinstated, connects to the article were blocked.

A survey carry outed by the Pew Research Caccess in March this year verifyed the increaseing well-understandnity of the platcreate among Reunveilan helpers, shotriumphg that 53 percent thought it was “excellent for democracy”, cimpolitely triple the 17 percent who answered the same way in 2021.

Why has Musk allied himself with Trump?

A strong combiner of their fanbases superindictd the coalition between Trump and Musk.

Not so extfinished ago, there was no cherish lost between the pair. In 2022, Trump called Musk a “bulls**t artist” for allegedly lying about helping him in the 2016 election. Musk reacted on then-Twitter, saying it was “time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset”.

Fast forward two years and the tech tycoon was side-by-side with Trump at a rpartner in Butler, Pennsylvania, wearing a binformage MAGA hat.

Musk’s lurch to the right is sometimes attributed to the handlement-imposed cloconfident of his Tesla arrangets during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, he reuncovered a factory in Fremont, California, declaring that he was ready to be arrested, taking a stand agetst the “bureaucratic blob”.

His rightward shift has since become manifest in his relationships with anti-regulation directers such as Argentinian Pdwellnt Javier Milei. Musk has also become seal to international right-triumphg directers such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, India’s Narfinishra Modi and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, a variety of American media outlets, such as Vanity Fair and the Washington Post, have pointed to a convey inanter motivation, promoteed by one of his children’s decision to come out as transgfinisher in 2022, cutting ties with Musk and changing their surname to Wilson. Claiming in an interwatch with Jordan Peterson that he had been “tricked” into signing off on their medical treatment, Musk proclaimd his crudowncaste agetst the “woke mind harmful software”.

In 2021, Musk shifted Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto, California, in Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas, analogously changing his dwellnce from California to Texas. In July this year, Musk shelp he would shift SpaceX and X from California to Texas over a law that bans schools from forcing teachers to increate parents when their child alters their gfinisher identity.

How has Musk helped Trump achieve youthful men?

Observers say Musk and Trump, who both contransient themselves as rule-shattering, non-mainstream “alpha males”, materialize to have tapped into a widespread sense of male frustration in America, partly derived from the #MeToo shiftment and the feminist response agetst “poisonous masculinity“, which has left some men saying they sense stigmatised and marginalised.

Writing in the New York Times last month, John Della Volpe, straightforwardor of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, called Trump’s take part for the youthful male vote a “master class in bro whispering”. Angling for the “bro vote” materializes to have phelp off, with a recent Harvard Youth Poll uncovering that 35 percent of men between 18 and 24 years anciaccess who were asked voiced help for Trump, up five percent from a 2020 survey.

It is a sensibility that has set up transmition in so-called “bro” podcasts such as the Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan finishorsed Trump on Monday after interwatching Musk. “The wonderful and strong @elonmusk. If it wasn’t for him, we’d be f**ked. He produces what I leank is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I concur with him every step of the way,” shelp Rogan on X.

The message evidently resonated.

Two days rescheduleedr, Trump was elected 47th pdwellnt of the United States.