Trump has the world’s richest man on his side. What does Musk want?

Zander Mundy was halfway through a typical day at his office when he heard the news: tech billionaire Elon Musk was speaking at a nearby school in the town of Folsom in the US state of Pennsylvania.

“When is the richest guy in the world often in town?” Mr. Mundy remembers thinking to himself.

With a population of just under 9,000 people, Folsom is a quiet place. Residents typically shy away from talking openly about their politics, and political yard signs are few and far between.

Mr Mundy, 21, who works for a leasing agent in an apartment complex, admits he had no plans to vote in the November election.

But when he saw crowds forming — and felt the excitement — he decided to go inside, eager to hear from Musk.

When he left school, he remembers leaning more toward Donald Trump than Kamala Harris.

“[If] someone like that tells you that this is the election that’s going to determine our future, not just who’s president for the next four years, but what the world is going to look like… I think that’s pretty big, he says to BBC. “It matters. It is significant.”

Musk, who previously cultivated an image as an eccentric tech genius who was only on the sidelines of politics, has now pledged full allegiance to Trump.

In full view of the American public, the 53-year-old has invested his time, operational know-how and ample wallets in trying to get the Republican elected – a rarity among the country’s business elite, who traditionally prefer to influence politics from behind. scenes.

It’s an approach that’s markedly different from traditional CEOs, many of whom have been better known for holding expensive, high-end fundraising dinners or hosting potential donors in opulent homes in the Hamptons.

And that is prompting observers to question Mr. Musk’s motives.

The traditional approach by CEOs is “not out in the public eye,” explains Erik Gordon, chairman of the entrepreneurship department at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. But “Musk does it loud and proud, which is why he might turn himself into a lightning rod”.

Musk’s Trump-supporting political action committee – America PAC – has already spent more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle, according to Open Secrets, a non-profit tracker.

In addition, Musk’s own contributions make him one of the largest individual donors in the presidential race and are said to play a crucial role in Trump’s door-knocking and land operation in key swing states where the campaign hopes to mobilize voters.

Steve Davis, a key Musk lieutenant who has worked for his companies including SpaceX, X and the Boring Company, has reportedly been recruited to help in the effort.

Mr. Musk’s personal investment in the campaign is something that was quickly noted by Mr Mundy.

“That alone was shocking to me,” he said. “That someone would really spend that much time and money trying to influence voters. It means he’s doing it for a reason.”

Some Democrats, like Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, have urged their party not to ignore the threat posed by Mr Musk ahead of the election.

Mr. Musk appeals to a demographic of people who see him as “undoubtedly brilliant” and among whom traditional Democratic outreach efforts have proven difficult, Fetterman believes.

Since first endorsing Trump in the wake of the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Mr. Musk has become a regular fixture on the campaign trail, often issuing warnings that only Trump can “save” American democracy.

In the final days of the race, Mr. Musk has been crisscrossing the state of Pennsylvania, a key battleground state that has become a focus for both Trump and Kamala Harris.

America PAC is now distributing 1 million dollars a day until Election Day to a random voter — regardless of their party affiliation — provided they have registered to vote and signed a petition.

At “town hall” events in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh over the weekend, Mr. Musk presented, for example. giant lottery-like checks to winners, with enthusiastic crowds chanting “Elon”. He responded by telling the crowd that their energy “lights a fire” in his soul.

At a rally in Philadelphia on Monday, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Mr Musk “dangled a million dollars to many of us who are struggling to make ends meet if they dance for him”.

“Elon Musk thinks it’s cute to dangle money in front of a working person when the choice of our lives is in front of us because that’s what people and billionaires do,” she added.

However, some observers have questioned his motivations and have suggested that Mr Musk and his companies may benefit from a relationship with Mr Trump.

Among those observers is Matt Teske, CEO of electric vehicle charging platform Chargeway.

According to Mr. Teske, Mr. Musk’s political shift has been difficult for many in the EV industry, but it comes as no surprise after several years of becoming increasingly active in politics.

“I think Musk’s interests are predominantly focused around a handful of things that are important to him in the context of his businesses, [with] regulation is something he has expressed concern about,” says Mr Tesks. He notes that Mr Musk “pushed back strongly” on restrictions implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic in California.

Professor Gordon of the University of Michigan agrees. He says Mr Musk sees himself as someone who has been held back by regulators and feels that government intervention has stifled the development of the technologies he is focused on, such as autonomous driving.

“He wants to be on the border, [a] wild and woolly entrepreneur who can break new ground and not be bound by regulation, which tends to fall five, 10, 20 years behind technological advances,” says Professor Gordon.

“Musk will go the other way,” he adds. “He wants to go to Mars.”

If he wins in November, Donald Trump has suggested Mr Musk could oversee “cost-cutting” in the US government. Even if he doesn’t do the exact job, Mr. Musk would have Trump’s ear thanks to his support during the campaign, observers say, and he could have a strong influence on administration decision-making.

Musk, for his part, has said he would be open to the idea of ​​heading up a “Ministry of Government Efficiency” to stop regulation’s “stranglehold” on the United States.

That stance, Democrats say, could pose a complex conflict of interest given the billions in government contracts Mr. Musk has received for SpaceX and Tesla.

“It’s kind of deeply unethical and illegal,” said Lenny Mendonca, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former economic and business adviser.

Mendonca believes that people with intertwined government and regulatory relationships “can have a voice” but should not be in a position of authority over the same interests.

Lawrence Noble, a former general counsel at the Federal Election Commission, has questioned the legality of Mr. Musk’s giveaways in the election cycle.

Noble believes this kind of campaign should concern Americans who value safe work environments and consumer protections.

“We know what companies do when they’re left to their own devices. They put profit and shareholder value and CEO compensation over safety, and they kind of write off the safety issues as a cost of doing business,” he told the BBC.

“It’s dangerous to have someone who sees business that way, and sees government that way, in charge of security,” he adds.

For Mr Musk – who enjoys being a “disrupter” and renegade – there is no doubt that his lucrative relationship with the US government will continue regardless of the outcome of the November election.

But his brand and his reputation are now tied to Donald Trump’s—and his actions suggest he knows it.

Additional reporting by Pratiksha Ghildial

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher opines on the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can register here. Those outside the UK can register here.