Elon Musk Launches Into American Politics

from The New York Times I'm Rachel. Abrams and this is the. [Music]. daily after single-handedly remaking the. Auto industry social media and the. global Space Race Elon Musk is now. turning his attention and personal. Fortune to politics over the past few. months he became the single most. influential figure in the race for. president and now the emerging White. House of Donald Trump today my.

colleagues Kirsten grind and Eric lipt. in on what exactly musk wants from the. new president and why he's so well. poised to get. it it's Wednesday November. [Music]. 13th Kirsten we spent the last few. months watching as Elon Musk really. became kind of the face of Donald. Trump's campaign for president and in. the days since he won.

musk has only increased his proximity to. president-elect Trump and last night of. course Trump announced that musk would. lead a new government agency what will. musk's specific role in the Trump. Administration be late Tuesday evening. Donald Trump announced a bunch of new. appointments to his new Administration. and included in that was this role for. Elon Musk and what Donald Trump said is. that Elon Musk will be leading up this.

completely new government Department. focused on efficiency efficiency is. something that Elon Musk has been. obsessed with for years and basically. it's just showing how much power Elon. Musk is going to have in this. Administration and how much Donald Trump. respects his. opinion Kirsten you've covered musk for. years did any of this surprise you so.

I'm an investigative reporter who has. written a lot about Elon Musk and I have. to say I could have never predicted this. political transformation that has. happened over the last year for him to. become so involved in politics after. really staying out of it for most of his. life and career and being in the room. with Donald Trump on Election night is a. metamorphosis I definitely was not.

prepared for how did we get from a guy. you would never have expected to get. into politics to someone who's about to. potentially serve the White House the. thing to understand about Elon Musk is. that he really believes his goal in life. and his mission is to save. Humanity he has made it his focus and. the focus of all of his companies to. save the world for example he started. space as act more than two decades ago.

with the goal of getting Humanity to. Mars in case something happened to Earth. he was an early investor in Tesla and. became its CEO because he was worried. about fossil fuels and he's become the. world's richest man by doing all of. these Ventures but how do we go from. that and from him wanting to save. Humanity possibly by colonizing Mars to. basically becoming a key supporter and. really a surrogate for Trump it's a very. very unusual and unconventional.

transformation for most of his early. career he had leaned Democratic but. really he just wasn't into politics at. all and for the most part he stayed out. of it but there's a few things that. happened in the last four years that. really started to shift his. [Music]. Outlook so let's start in 2020 the. pandemic all of California this morning.

now under a shelter in place order. Governor nome's order an unprecedented. action calls California had tons of. stay-at-home restrictions on residents. and businesses and most of Elon musk's. company operations were in California. and musk speaks out against what's. happening is it right to infringe upon. people's rights as as what is what is. happening right now um I think he is. extremely anti-regulation.

hates or anyone tell what to do this is. this this is this is. fascist and so the fact that he was. going to have to close his Tesla. factories because of the pandemic made. him so angry this was not. Freedom give people back the goddamn. freedom and finally he threatened and. then ultimately did move factories out. of the.

[Music]. state wow so this really pushed him over. the edge what happened in California it. really did but then something happened. the next year in 2021 that was even more. angering to him in which seems like a. small thing but has been something that. he's like never been able to get over. please everybody sit down please please. please the Biden Administration held. this electric vehicle Summit and I also.

want to thank the leaders of the big. three companies for being here. today and they invited all the big car. makers from all over the country to go. when they make the first electric. Corvette I get to drive it right Mar. except for Tesla and Elon. Musk you know like Biden held this uh e. Summit Elon was Furious didn't mention. Tesla once and praised G Ford for.

leading the EV. Revolution so you were pissed does this. sound does this sound maybe a little. biased and he has never been able to let. this go this snub from the Biden. Administration it's not the friendliest. Administration. I seems to be controlled by the unions. as far as I can know and basically it. created so much tension between Tesla. and the administration that that also.

kind of set him on his political Journey. so it sounds like the Biden. Administration is on notice at this. point uh that musk is really upset and. it's not just for business reasons it's. really becoming kind of personal that's. right but it also becomes ideological. too because remember around 2022 he buys. Twitter renames it X and he basically. says he buys it to make it a Free Speech.

platform he especially thinks that. conservatives had been censored on. Twitter remember at this point Donald. Trump had been kicked off Twitter and. other conservative voices and he wants. it to be the sort of place for free. speech of all kinds and around this time. he really start to see a shift in what. he is posting about on X and it becomes. way more focused on what he's called the.

woke mind virus what this basically. means is for example diversity equity. and inclusion measures transgender. rights pronoun use all of that seems to. be angering Elon Musk significantly on X. and he starts posting about it more and. more so it's it's very possible for.

adults to manipulate children who have. are having a natural identity crisis. into believing that they are the wrong. gender and I want to bring up this other. thing that to me really shows how far. down this Rabbit Hole he had gone why. are you willing to make this an. issue do you think uh well it one of my. it happened to one of my which is that. his daughter viven who's one of his old. children had come out as transgender I.

was essentially tricked into uh signing. documents uh and mus claimed in an. interview that he was tricked into. signing these medical forms for Vivien. and allowing her to do her transition. when she was 16 this is before I had. really any understanding of what was. going on and we had co co going on and. so there was a lot of confusion that he. had not been aware of this basically. they call it deadnaming for a reason.

yeah and he said in this interview that. she had been killed killed by the woke. mind virus so I about to destroy the the. woke mind virus after that and we're. making some. progress she had some Choice words back. to him and also said that he was not. tricked into signing those forms but the. whole incident just really showed how. his thinking has changed and been.

radicalized over these last few. [Music]. years another example of his ideological. transformation is immigration and that's. kind of ironic because Elon Musk himself. is from South Africa but over the last. couple years he starts really focusing. on illegal immigrants and and he keeps.

talking about how he feels the. Democratic party is allowing in these. illegal immigrants so that they can get. a majority and win the election so he's. just espousing this conspiratorial. rhetoric right out in the open on his. own platform that's right and it's. really this ideology that is so. different from what you saw from him. even just a couple years earlier okay so. all of that helps me understand and how.

by 2024 musk is increasingly aligned. with right-wing ideology but when do he. and Donald Trump actually get together. in some meaningful way so it's a little. hard to tell because musk's world is. very insular but you can kind of see why. at this point he and Trump are so. aligned so the two people are so similar. really like how I mean they both have.

immense wealth and power but they both. act like Outsiders and victims I think. this one is maybe the most important. which is that they both sort of think. the system is broken and they both. really think that they are the ones to. fix it and they kind of refuse to stick. with the status quo and so we know at. one point earlier this year musk met. with some billionaire friends of his one. of whom was encouraging him to get.

involved in the campaign and to donate. which would be pretty normal for someone. of his stature and wealth and then we. know at some point earlier this year he. did also meet with. Trump and then by June he had. established a super pack ready to invest. in Trump's campaign so can you just. break down for a second what does that. support actually look like it is above. and beyond what a normal owner would do.

that's for sure so his super pack has. donated more than 100 million that would. be kind of normal for a billionaire or. another donor perhaps but what has been. unusual is the super pack which is. called America pack was in Pennsylvania. knocking on doors they knocked on 11. million doors in Battleground States. come on up here El but the most amazing. thing to me has been watching him at.

these rallies the energy in this room is. incredible right up on stage he was with. Trump America's just not not just going. to be great America is going to reach. Heights that it has never seen before. the future is going to be. amazing he was just right out there with. him almost like he was running for. president you guys are awesome honestly. this is.

like but wasn't this man trying to run. like six companies and colonized Mars. how did he have time for all of this yes. well that's a very good question he has. a lot of good people running his. companies but meanwhile to take it back. to his whole life's goal which is to. save Humanity that's actually exactly. what he thinks he is doing here and in. fact he has said recently that he still.

really did not want to get into politics. but that he had to because civilization. was on the line so that again is why he. is out there and on Election night. there's this big family photo with Trump. and Melania their kids their grandkids. and there's Elon Musk just right beside. them and in the few days since the. election and he's basically been camped.

out at maral Lago he was reportedly on. this phone call with the Ukrainian. President Vladimir zalinski and Trump. he's been advising Trump on cabinet. positions and then as we know on Tuesday. night he got his own position. [Music]. appointed and we've just never seen. anything like this this. super billionaire Elon Musk suddenly.

with all this potential power in the. Federal. Government after the break I talked to. my colleague Eric Lipton about what musk. stands to gain from a trump White House. [Music].

so Eric we just heard from our colleague. Kirsten grind that it has not taken Elon. Musk very long to insert himself into. this emerging Trump presidency in a way. that feels without precedent frankly and. you've been looking into exactly what. musk could stand to gain from access to. a trump white house but first can you.

just remind us what is Elon musk's. current relationship with the federal. government I think it's underappreciated. the extent to which Elon Musk has relied. on the federal government to help build. his own wealth and the size of his. companies he has at least a 100. different contracts pending with the. federal government with 17 different. agencies the majority of that work is. with SpaceX which has really owed its.

existence largely to the federal. government NASA kicked it off by giving. SpaceX the money that it needed to build. the Falcon 9 rocket which now puts. almost all of the world's cargo into. orbit each year more than every other. nation in the world combined oh wow and. SpaceX alone has gotten $1 billion worth. of contracts from the federal government. over the last 5 years to deliver stuff. to space that includes cargo to the. space station astronauts at the space.

station spy satellites missile defense. systems and dozens of other items for. the federal government and it's unlike. any other commercial space company in. the history of the United States in. terms of the extent of its dominance and. the money that's going to it to provide. those services to the federal government. so government contracts really made musk. in a way like he's clearly been very. successful under the status quo so that. sort of makes the question of what more. is there for him to gain I mean since. musk created SpaceX back in 2002 he's.

been completely fixated with getting. humans to Mars and one of the things. that incredibly frustrates him is when. he encounters paperwork requirements and. Regulatory slowdowns he often comments. about how he can build his Rockets. faster than Federal bureaucrats can move. paper from one side of their desk to the. other it just totally Burns him up and. that's in part what has motivated him to. get more involved in politics he thinks. might give him the power to help defang.

them and to limit their power and to. reduce what he considers to be redundant. or ridiculous requirements to help wipe. away some of this slowness that really. frustrates him and musk was clear during. the presidential campaign that he wanted. to be named to a position in the future. Trump government that would give him the. power to help oversee significantly. cutting back on Federal Regulations.

federal employees and federal spending. he like to jokingly call this the. department of government efficiency. nicknamed Doge which is the same name of. one of his favorite crypto coins musk. has a tendency to love little names like. that that he can repeat that are Insider. jokes and he would be sort of this. superpowered Zar overseeing the reach of. federal government operations and. looking for ways to eliminate what he. considers redundant federal regulations.

and cutting as much as $2 trillion in. federal spending which is a crazy and. really unachievable goal but that's what. he says he wants to do which is. basically the position that Trump just. announced for him with this new. government Department that's in charge. of making all kinds of cuts across the. government kind of spiritually similar. to what musk did with Twitter yeah Trump. likes to tell musk that he's super. impressed with what musk was able to do. at Twitter he jokingly calls him cutter. in Chief he sees musk as having a.

incredible capacity to find ways to. reduce cost and get rid of waste and in. fact at Twitter when he bought it musk. of course cut something like 2third of. its staff and it's a bit bumpy but X. does function without more than 2third. of the people that it had when he. purchased the company so Trump has. confidence that musk is the guy that he. needs to actually really significantly. cut federal regulations and spending but.

a tech company works a lot differently. obviously than a government agency like. it doesn't really seem feasible that he. could just go in slash a bunch of jobs. overnight like what he did with Twitter. and have that work the same way yeah and. a level of reduction in spending and. regulations that has never been achieved. before in the history of the United. States and when it comes to actually. cutting federal regulations and laying. off federal employees and cutting. federal spending this is a process that. obviously Congress participates in and.

it is a very hard thing to do there's a. constituency for every little agency out. there and so it is a lot harder than. simply announcing one day that you're. laying off thousands of people at a. private company that you own how do you. think all of this is actually going to. play out we don't know what Elon musk's. first targets would be but there's a. couple of examples that frustrate him in. terms of conflicts that he's had with. Federal Regulators probably the best. example is with SpaceX and what he's.

trying to do down in Bach chica Texas. near the Mexican border where they're. testing out the Starship rocket and they. have repeatedly caused some. environmental damage in that area and. it's right on the edge of a National. Wildlife Refuge and a state park and as. they were developing the rocket they. were repeatedly disregarding what the. fish and wildlife service and the. Interior Department said was the limits. on their operations what exact were. those limits I mean for example recently.

on one of their launches there's so much. power that comes out of these Rockets it. sent sand and rocks flying into the. nearby State Park and it destroyed a. bunch of nesting areas for the local. bird population and ripped open the eggs. and destroyed the nest of the birds that. were there I saw that right after the. launch I walked out into the area once. they cleared it for the public and the. egg yolk was there staining the ground. and that's another matter that's being.

investigated by fish and wildlife. service for potentially harming. migratory Birds it's something that. frustrates him and he thought that our. coverage of it was so offensive he said. he would restrain from having omelets. for several days as he was so he thought. it was so ridiculous that we were even. worried about these nests that were. destroyed by his launch so you can. imagine that the EPA would be the first. Target on his efficiency to-do list I. wouldn't be surprised if that's one of. the first places that he goes and he. looks to try to roll back some of the.

regulatory powers that it has but that. certainly would not be the only agency. that he would go after I mean all you. have to do is look at Tesla and he is. being currently or recently investigated. or sued by really an acronym soup of. federal agencies the equal opportunity. commission the National Labor Relations. Board the Securities Exchange Commission. the national highway traffic safety. administration the Department of Justice. of course the EPA all of them are are. looking at Tesla and suggesting that it.

has overstepped the law I mean most. importantly there's concern about the. autonomous driving tools on his cars and. whether or not they've been involved in. fatal accidents but you know there. everything having to do with you know. disrupting Union activities who he hires. at his Auto factories and whether or not. he's properly treating refugees and. people who have Asylum I mean he is the. subject of so many different. simultaneous investigations it really. frustrates him and that's another part.

of the reason that he's active with. Trump is he wants to crush those. investigations and it's likely that many. of them will now be shut down so. everything you've laid out so far Eric. it helps us understand why musk's own. personal business interest could benefit. from the regulatory environment that. he's potentially going to be reshaping. but is this all legal like it seems to. me that what you've outlined could be a. major conflict of interest it's going to. create a conflict of interest that. really has few precedents in American.

history here's a guy who has $10 billion. or more of ongoing Federal contracts he. has a couple dozen pending Federal. investigations and lawsuits that he's. targeted in and of course there are. federal conflict of interest laws that. prohibit just this kind of mixing of. Duties and violating them could be a. federal offense so how is it possible. that Elon Musk could. simultaneously play the role of trying.

to cut back on Federal Regulations if he. is himself being regulated and the. announcement we saw from Trump on. Tuesday night actually sort of hints. that they recognized that there's this. clash and they're attempting to sidestep. it by suggesting that musk would somehow. be the leader of this new federal. department of government efficiency but. he would do it while remaining quote. outside of the government so basically. he can have the ear of the president but. not have the formal government position.

and all the conflict of interest. headaches that come with it yeah it's a. lot more attractive but this is a very. murky Arrangement and all of this. assumes that Trump and musk are going to. stay on good terms they're two. personalities that have a history of. exploding with people that they've been. close with with business partners and. and even some of their most trusted. employees and so they're guys that also. hold grudges and are a bit impulsive. so there's no guarantee that this is a.

relationship that's going to last so. after all of this your investigation and. how it revealed the various ways that. musk's potential reshaping of the. government could benefit him what is. your big. takeaway I think the thing that's really. fascinating and that we at the New York. Times are going to be watching closely. is the extent to which this new. Administration is one that's going to be. defined by the desires of billionaires. and the first Trump Administration was.

really more focused on things like the. oil and gas industry and the Christian. wri wanting to see more appointments to. the Supreme Court but the array of. economic interest being pushed by. billionaire donors to Trump in this. second term is much broader and their. buddy buddy relationship with Trump is. much tighter I mean it's the crypto. industry it's artificial intelligence. it's the tech industry and the anti. trust approach that the government has.

to the tech. industry there's a bunch of players that. have surrounded Trump and Elon Musk is. at the center of This Crew many of these. folks are friends of musk and he is sort. of the ring leader of the whole group. and I think that they are going to have. much more influence in what happens in. the White House and across the federal. government in the next four years right. I mean billionaires have always had some. sort of influence in Government but we. just haven't really seen the Pro imity. that you've outlined between this.

incredibly rich and powerful man the. world's richest man and the president of. the United States yeah I I think that uh. it's just a different set of players at. the table this time around who have such. vested interest in so many sectors of. the economy that reach you know really. across the playing field oligarchs is. too strong of a word but we are entering. a period where people with immense. wealth are interacting with a president.

who is known and has a history of being. extremely transactional and these are. folks that now helped Trump get a second. term and are expecting to see a return. on that. [Music]. investment Eric thank you very much. thank. you we'll be right back. here's what else you need to know today.

president-elect Donald Trump has. nominated military veteran and Fox News. host Pete Heth as his defense secretary. but his lack of relevant experience has. already generated push back hegseth is. one of several political appointees. Trump has picked in recent days. including South Dakota governor chrisy. Nome for Secretary of Homeland Security. and house representative Elise stonic. for ambassador to the United Nations. Trump is expected to meet with President. Biden at the White House later today. it's part of a long-standing tradition.

of the outgoing president greeting the. new. one today's episode was produced by. Ricky nety Olivia Nat Rob zipco and Luke. Vander plug it was edited by MJ Davis. Lynn Brendan clink BG with help from. Chris haxel contains original music by. Dan Powell and Rowan Neo and was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim brunberg and Ben lansburg of. wonderly.

[Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Rachel. Abrams see you tomorrow. [Music].