As Musk's big Trump bet pays off, the US government faces “tough” reform

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is poised to gain sweeping powers in the second Trump administration as his second-in-command is tasked with restructuring government operations using his aggressive business approach.

The next chapter in the South African-born tycoon's life begins after he provided unprecedented support to Trump's campaign and emerged a big winner from his first deep dive into politics.

He invested over $100 million and used his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to amplify the former president's anti-immigrant and right-wing messages.

His America PAC (Political Action Committee) distributed $1 million in gifts to registered voters in key states and funded ground operations that expanded Trump's support in crucial voting districts.

But he appeared to have already paid the money back, and more: Tesla shares soared in the hours after Trump's victory, earning Musk around $15 billion as of Wednesday morning, Forbes reported.

Musk shared a photo on Wednesday

It's not yet clear how the two bubbly, larger-than-life characters, who barely knew each other months ago, will come together when they get down to business.

Some expect the relationship to end acrimoniously given the strong personalities involved, while others see Musk's immense wealth and talents as objects of admiration for Trump that will remain constant.

– 'Immersion' –

“America is a nation of builders. Soon you will be able to build freely,” Musk posted on X.

He also posted a photoshopped image of him carrying a sink into the White House with the line “Let that sink.”

This was a reference to his stunt on the day of his takeover of Twitter in 2022, when he engineered a real sinkhole, signaling that he was about to cause major disruption at the company, including laying off two-thirds of its 7,000 employees.

The mass layoffs decimated Twitter's content moderation teams and ushered in Musk's reign over the platform, leading to a rise in misinformation and hate speech and an exodus of advertisers.

Musk is expected to lead a new Ministry of Government Efficiency that will seek $2 trillion in cuts from the federal government's $7 trillion budget.

He has vowed to bring the same “tough” leadership style to Washington while promising “fair and humane” transitions for affected federal employees, including up to two years of severance pay.

“We need to significantly cut government spending and move people who are working into more productive roles in the private sector,” Musk said on X, hours before Trump won the vote.

His ties to the next US president also raised questions about possible impacts on his business interests, particularly Tesla's development of self-driving technology.

Federal safety regulators are currently investigating Tesla's driver assistance features after several accidents, although Musk has assured that the technology is ready.

The appointment could also impact SpaceX's relationship with NASA, where Musk's company has become a dominant partner in space exploration.

During his victory speech, Trump praised SpaceX's technological achievements, particularly highlighting its recent achievement of landing a launch vehicle back on the launch pad.

“It went down and down and you saw the fire burning and I said to myself it has to be Elon's, only Elon can do this.”

Arp/St