Would Donald Trump have won reelection if not for the backing of the world’s richest man? We’ll never know. But that man, Elon Musk, gave Trump more than $130 million via his recently founded America PAC. Now, as Trump begins to staff his administration, Musk has more influence than anyone. It would be hard to argue that it wasn’t money well spent.

Musk’s influence is already apparent. He has hardly left Trump’s side since Election Day. And on Tuesday evening, he was announced as the head of a new government “department”—the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” a reference to a stale internet meme—with a broad, if also vague, remit to cut waste and transform the government.

Musk spent the final month of the campaign appearing constantly with Trump at rallies, where he jumped around onstage, told crowds he was “Dark MAGA” and, later, “Dark Gothic MAGA,” somehow managed to mess up the “USA” chant, and gave away $1 million checks to people who signed a pro-Trump petition. On this last point, Musk may have violated federal campaign finance law; on the others, Musk was—at best—an awkward figure.

“America is not just going to be great,” he announced at Trump’s now-infamous Madison Square Garden rally on October 27. “America is going to reach heights that it has never seen before. The future is gonna be amazing!”

Even before formally endorsing Trump in July 2024, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO purchased Twitter—which he subsequently renamed X—with the express purpose of amplifying right-wing content. He began using his personal account, for which he has over 203 million followers, to share reactionary views about illegal immigration, the declining American birth rate, trans people, and “the woke mind virus,” often dozens of times a day. An April 2024 investigation by NBC News found that, under Musk’s leadership, there were at least 150 “Premium” accounts—i.e., users who were paying a nominal subscription fee to boost their account—making explicitly pro-Nazi posts, many of which racked up millions of views. And a Washington Post analysis in October revealed that Republican-aligned accounts on X were getting far more engagement than Democrat-aligned ones.

Musk was rewarded for his service by spending election night with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, which he has reportedly barely left over the past week. Trump thanked Musk in his victory speech, calling him “a new star”—Musk has been a public figure for more than two decades and is undoubtedly one of the most famous people in the world—and a “super genius.” In the coming months and years, we’re sure to see even more of Musk, as Trump has promised him a possible Cabinet position: “secretary of cost-cutting,” which does not yet exist. Musk says he wants to slash the federal budget by a third and has welcomed as a necessity the economic depression such severe cuts........

© New Republic