Federal records show Musk contributed at least $119 million to support Trump’s candidacy, and tirelessly praised the Republican president in the critical final stretch of his campaign.
Musk’s policy reflects a broader strategy to distance his companies from regulation or law enforcement procedures as well as to enhance government support for them, according to interviews conducted by Reuters with six sources in Musk’s companies familiar with his political and business dealings, in addition to government officials who deal extensively with Musk’s companies.
The sources provided a rare insight into the strategy within Musk’s companies to take full advantage of his close relationship with Trump.
Musk’s business interests, from Tesla’s electric cars to SpaceX’s rockets and Neuralink’s brain chips, are largely tied to government regulation, subsidies or policy.
A former senior official said SpaceXasked to remain anonymous,” he said Elon Musk All regulations hinder his business and innovations. He sees the Trump administration as a way to get rid of as much regulation as possible so he can do what he wants, at the speed he wants.”
Musk announced his support for Trump on July 13, the day the president-elect was the subject of an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
Musk’s donations funded extensive efforts to encourage voters to vote after President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July and his vice president, Kamala Harps, ran instead. Musk spent election night with the president-elect at his club in Florida, and Trump said he would appoint Musk responsible for efficiency in his administration.
In a statement to Reuters, the Trump campaign described Musk as an “industrial leader” whose likes are rarely spared and added that “the collapsing federal bureaucracy will certainly benefit from his ideas and competence.”
His increasing involvement in politics may put his industrial empire in a position that current and former employees liken to the Gilded Age, when industrial giants such as JP Morgan and John Davison Rockefeller enjoyed vast influence over government policy in a way that benefited their businesses and fortunes.
Musk’s growing power has enthused his supporters, who view the government as an obstacle to his high-tech operations.
Tesla’s fortunes may rise or fall depending on Trump’s handling of a variety of subsidies, policies and regulatory plans for electric and self-driving cars.
For Tesla, Musk’s goals include convincing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the primary federal safety regulator, to postpone potential enforcement action related to the safety of Tesla’s current driver-assistance systems, called Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. According to a source familiar with the matter.
“Musk’s primary focus over the next four years will be on removing restrictions,” the source added.
There are no national regulations governing how autonomous vehicles are deployed. This means that operators have to deal with different regulations in each state. Musk criticized state-by-state regulatory challenges last month and called for a nationwide federal approval process.
Despite Musk’s complaints about stifling bureaucracy, SpaceX currently leads the world in government-funded rocket launches, and Tesla sells nearly two million heavily subsidized electric cars annually.
At his brain implant startup Neuralink, Musk complains that the US Food and Drug Administration approval process has slowed the company from implanting the device in humans.
A source familiar with the company’s operations believes that Musk may be using his growing influence in the Trump administration to bypass some safety approvals in the process.