Donald Trump and Elon Musk may not be best friends for long

Just before dawn on November 6 over the East Coast, Donald Trump had won the 270 electoral votes needed to secure a second four-year term as President of the United States. He had given his victory speech hours earlier, when it became clear that his path to the White House was clear and clear.

In a speech that lasted just over 25 minutes, Trump spoke about uniting America. He thanked several people, including his family, campaign officials and voters. The presumptive president-elect also singled out one person for special praise. “Let me tell you, we have a new star. A star is born… Elon” he said about a billionaire businessman Elon Musk. Trump also spent the next four minutes talking about the spectacle of robots from Musk’s SpaceX successfully catching a rocket returning from space. “He is a super genius and we need to protect our super geniuses. We don’t have that many,” Trump said.

Still sinking

Musk has reportedly spent He earned $132 million and actively campaigned for Donald Trump in the elections. Trump has swam the idea of ​​entrusting him with bureaucratic cleanup. He wants Musk to head an efficiency commission whose main goal will be to cut government spending, including by potentially firing thousands of career bureaucrats. Trump wants to rid the US government of what he sees as a cabal of federal employees, a deep state that pursues its own agenda. One of his allies, Kash Patel, who is helping with regime change, screening people for potential positions in the Trump administration. Patel, who wrote the book Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy They say that he himself claims to be Trump’s chief spy.

Musk reacted to Trump’s victory in typical style; a photograph of him carrying a kitchen sink in front of the Oval Office and the lines: “Let it sink in!” It was a throwback to the moment he bought Twitter and walked into its headquarters with a sink.

Biden’s Battle with Big Tech

Trump’s victory may be the most remarkable comeback in US political history. The sideline of a landmark story is the culmination of a not-so-quiet battle that big tech companies have waged with Washington throughout Joe Biden’s administration. The President’s trusted lieutenant, Lina Khan, head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has relentlessly pursued companies like Facebook, Google and Apple, using antitrust laws like an electric whip. Billionaire executives sat shuddering before congressional committees as bellicose members dragged them over the coals. Republican-led House Judiciary Committee accused Khan using the agency as a weapon and promoting a far-left agenda. Khan and the Federal Trade Commission figured prominently in the minds of the final stages of the presidential campaign. She will be fired soon, Musk wrote on X the day before the vote.

Musk’s arrival, along with Vice President J.D. Vance, signals Silicon Valley’s deepest incursion into US national politics. Vance, who once called him mockingly Trump’s “cultural heroin” was selectedgroomed and financed to become first governor of Ohio and then Trump’s running mate, libertarian founder of payments company PayPal and data analytics company Palantir Technologies Peter Thiel.

Kingdom of the Unpredictable

Of course, Trump has no love for entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerburg. His friends, Musk and Thiel, long ago left Woke California. Trump reversed his move to ban Chinese social media app TikTok, a competitor to Meta, allegedly after being persuaded by investor Jeffrey Yass, who owns a juicy piece of its parent company Bytedance. Libertarian billionaire donated more $46 billion for Republicans. With the Senate and House of Representatives also packed tightly with dozens of elected lawmakers backed by billionaires, tech entrepreneurs and investors, the shift in power is all too clear.

While Trump has been seen as an out-of-control wrecking ball, Musk has proven to be even more unpredictable. As countries around the world brace for Trump’s influence, whether through tariffs, talent movements, technology transfers or military deployments, Musk’s impact if he joins the administration remains even more unknown. As the richest man on earth with a net worth of $286 billion as of Election Day and business interests around the world, Musk has close ties to many leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier this year he suddenly canceled the visit to India at the last minute only to head to Beijing for talks with the Chinese leadership. This stay cleared the way for Tesla in this country.

India has rejected Tesla and Starlink’s requests for lower entry barriers and requests for special treatment. Trump is known to interfere in the affairs of other countries on behalf of American businesses. In his previous term, he sought concessions from India on Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Best friends, but probably not for long

However, Musk also poses a danger to Trump because his business interests could conflict with US foreign policy. For example, Tesla’s largest plant is located in Shanghai, and another one is in Berlin. Both countries are preparing to raise tariff barriers under Trump. Musk was also reported had a secret relationship with Putin, who is said to have lobbied on behalf of his friend Xi to cut off Taiwan’s access to Starlink. Musk has also made statements that are contrary to US interests and his publicly stated position on Taiwan.

Trump’s antipathy to green initiatives and continued faith in oil may not bode well for Tesla’s electric vehicles, but some believe Musk may already be moving away from electric vehicles. According to them, his future fortune and power depend on his other businesses.

Given the contradictions, one being the President of the United States and the other the founder of a half-dozen futuristic businesses, it’s hard to imagine Trump and Musk’s interests remaining aligned for much longer. Both are people who do not tolerate any obstacles to their personal plans, and both are known to wear their opinions on their X-shaped handles.

(Dinesh Narayanan is a Delhi-based journalist and author of RSS And The Making Of The Deep Nation.)

Disclaimer: This is the personal opinion of the author.