Yoopya with The Conversation
Elon Musk is supporting Donald Trump in his quest to regain the American presidency. He has committed millions of dollars to a pro-Trump “political action committee” (PAC) and has appeared alongside Donald Trump at some of his rallies.
While Musk has been increasingly vocal about politics over the years he has not previously gone “all in” for a candidate in this way. Let’s look at how the outcome of the US election could affect Musk.
SpaceX and Tesla face a raft of legal challenges on issues ranging from worker safety to environmental protection challenges.
The environmental challenges apply to both the development of Space X’s Starship rocket and its Starlink satellite system. Musk has also complained that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is too slow and too cautious in its authorisation of SpaceX launches.
Beyond SpaceX, Musk has had no shortage of run-ins with the US federal government’s regulatory agencies. Many on the right have spent decades trying to dismantle the US “administrative state”. This agenda has been bolstered by a decision in June 2024 by the US Supreme Court to overturn the “Chevron doctrine”.
This doctrine was named for the case from which it arose, the 1984 ruling Chevron v Natural Resources Defence Council. It means courts have to give deference to the interpretation of legal statutes taken by the government’s administrative agencies.
The recent Supreme Court ruling cuts back sharply on the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer. Instead, it ruled that courts should rely on their own interpretations, where laws are open to interpretation.
In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk has been having conversations with Vladimir Putin and has allegedly been in regular contact with him since late 2022.
Some in the defence sphere have reportedly raised questions about the alleged conversations. The SpaceX founder holds a security clearance and, through SpaceX, numerous US defence contracts. Musk has previously denied regular calls with the Russian president. In 2022, Musk said he had spoken to Putin just once.
When the Wall Street Journal allegations were published, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the only communication with Musk was a single phone call in which he and Putin had discussed “space, as well as current and future technologies”. According to the Guardian, Peskov denied that Putin or other Kremlin officials were holding frequent conversations with Musk.
Saving humanity?
Musk views the regulatory state not just as a challenge to his business interests but as a threat to humanity. He has posted on his social media site X (formerly Twitter) that he feels that the current bureaucracy is “choking America to death” and that a Democrat administration would essentially end any hope of sending humans to Mars and “doom humanity”.
Musk has said that he believes settling other planets is essential if humans are to avoid extinction through, for example, a large asteroid colliding with Earth.
Musk has garnered a number of supporters on the American right, many of whom have long espoused an extension of “manifest destiny” to outer space.
They see an opportunity in a second Trump administration to “make space great again” and thus, in accordance with the logic of space expansionism, “save humanity”.
Elon Musk has very clearly picked a side in this election. The reasons for this are myriad, but he has long butted heads with the US administrative state.
A second Trump administration, even before the overturning of the Chevron ruling, promises to undertake a gutting of federal regulations and the agencies that enforce them. Donald Trump has even proposed making Elon Musk responsible for that.
Regardless of what happens on 5 November, Musk’s decision to back Donald Trump is likely to have continued consequences, even if his fears of retaliation under a Harris presidency are overblown.
But the “America First” slogan that Trump has promoted could be an uneasy fit for a billionaire who has frequently said he wants to save humanity.
Author:
Thomas Cheney | Vice Chancellors Research Fellow, Northumbria Law School, Northumbria University, Newcastle