Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president in 2024, has said that he would be open to giving Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, a big job in his government if he wins in November. In a recent interview with Reuters, Trump said that he “certainly would” think about putting Musk in the Cabinet or as an adviser starting in January 2025, if Musk is willing.
Even though Trump didn’t say which of Musk’s 15 executive offices he might be in charge of, the fact that they might work together shows that Trump and Musk are becoming more and more friendly. This comes after a chat Musk held on X (formerly Twitter) on August 12 that had to be put on hold because of a “massive DDoS attack” on the site. Even though there were some technical problems, the conversation was an important part of how their relationship was changing.
In recent years, Musk’s backing for Trump has changed. Musk didn’t back Trump in the 2020 race, and Trump lost to Joe Biden. Musk’s views changed in July 2022, when he wrote that he didn’t “hate” Trump but thought the former president should think about leaving politics. Even so, Musk’s support for Trump became stronger after an attempt to kill Trump in July. This led Musk to criticize Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies in a number of posts.
Later that month, at an event, Trump mentioned Musk’s support by saying, “I’m for electric cars.” I have to be because Elon gave me a lot of help. According to some reports, Musk could give up to $45 million a month to Trump’s re-election campaign. However, Musk later said that any payments would be “much lower.”
The thought that Musk will play a big part in a possible Trump presidency is backed up by the fact that Trump has a history of giving loyal supporters important jobs in his government. The Trump campaign recently said that Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and Linda McMahon, co-founder of WWE, would co-chair his transition team if he wins in November.
Musk has worked as a consultant for Trump in the past. After winning the election in 2016, Trump put Musk on two advisory boards. However, Musk quit in 2017 because Trump decided to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate deal. Even though they have had disagreements in the past, Musk and Trump have kept in touch and recently talked about ideas like a “government efficiency commission” during their X Spaces chat.
As November gets closer, polls show that Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a close fight. There are still a few months until the election, so the result is still uncertain. The idea that Musk might join Trump’s government adds an interesting twist to the campaign.
