① People familiar with the matter said that Trump is considering having Musk take the role of presidential policy adviser — provided he wins this year's election;
② Recently, the relationship between the two has been heating up. In addition to frequent phone calls, Musk has also organized frequent meetings with business leaders, urging them not to support Biden's re-election;
③ It is worth mentioning that some of the policies advocated by Trump are not conducive to Musk's commercial interests.
There are various signs that the friendship between former US President Donald Trump and former world richest man Elon Musk is heating up. In the context of the upcoming US election, the two people who once abused each other are developing increasingly close exchanges.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the conversation between the two, that if Trump takes back control of the White House, he will consider having Musk act as the president's executive adviser. Of course, this matter has not yet reached the stage where it is completely clear; after all, the main premise is that Trump can win the November election this year.
Frequent output to help Trump
As for the two candidates in this year's US election, Musk has made it clear that he does not support Biden's re-election, but the Tesla CEO is still ambivalent about “whether to support Trump,” at least in public.
However, according to reports, the relationship between the two has been heating up in recent months, and they have to make phone calls several times a month to freely discuss topics such as immigration, science and technology, and the US Space Force. As exchanges increased, the views between the two also became “more consistent.” According to people familiar with the matter, Trump told Musk that if he can win the election in November, he hopes to find a way to get Musk more involved (in policy matters).
At the beginning of Trump's last term, he appointed Icahn, a well-known investor, as a special adviser to the president to be responsible for reforming federal regulations. Prior to his public appointment, Icahn had helped Trump review candidates for government management positions such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Since this position isn't an official job, it means Icahn won't get paid, but he won't have to give up his deal either. After a year in office, Icahn announced his resignation because the position and his investments were criticized for a conflict of interest. Musk also served on Trump's White House Business Advisory Group, but he resigned in 2017 because he did not approve the US government's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.
According to reports, at a family party hosted by well-known investor Nielsen Peltz in March of this year, Musk, Peltz, and Trump brought their son together for dinner. Musk and Peltz told Trump that they are promoting a data project to “ensure that votes are calculated fairly,” which also echoes the former president's unilateral accusation of fraud in the 2020 election.
(Musk and Peltz have a very good relationship, source: social media)
The two also told Trump that they have launched an influence campaign in elite circles, holding meetings of business leaders across the US to try to persuade them not to support Biden's re-election.
In April of this year, Musk co-hosted a secret dinner with business leaders in Los Angeles. The venue was David Sachs's Hollywood Hilltop Farm, an old Paypal colleague. Peltz, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch are all on the attendance list as reported by the media.
Trump supporters such as Musk and Peltz plan to continue hosting similar dinners and gatherings in the future. People familiar with the matter revealed that their plan emphasizes Biden's shortcomings in the eyes of Musk and others rather than touting Trump.
People familiar with the matter revealed that Musk's actions were based on “anxiety about America's direction” because he is particularly opposed to liberal policies. In May 2022, he announced on Twitter that he would vote for the Republican Party because the Democratic Party “has become a divided and hateful political party.”
(Source: X)
The two also had a conflict of commercial interest
People familiar with the matter said that in recent conversations between Musk and Trump, Tesla, social media platform X, and rocket and satellite launch company SpaceX were also involved. Topics covered include the US electric vehicle industry and the electric vehicle tax credit policy.
At recent election rallies, Trump repeatedly expressed tough positions on electric vehicles, including criticizing that such cars need to wait to be charged during long trips and calling for tariffs on electric vehicles made in Mexico. Musk, at least, has publicly expressed his opposition to the tariff policy on electric vehicles.
Musk also asked Trump to speak more on the X platform, particularly using the newly launched “Space” audio live streaming feature. However, Trump is now more concerned about his own social media platform Truth Social. Trump Media Technology Group entered the US stock market through a reverse takeover of “Shell” this year. The current market value is close to 9 billion US dollars.
With the launch of Truth Social, Trump's net worth has soared by more than 5 billion US dollars (the latest figure is 8.3 billion US dollars), and he can probably rank more than 300 in the world's richest list.
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