At a recent Trump rally in Pennsylvania, the world’s richest man bounded onto stage with pogo-like energy, sparking a torrent of memes on social media and driving engagement on X, the platform he owns.
The following day, Musk leaned into his provocative persona during an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, laughing that Vice President Kamala Harris had not faced assassination attempts and expressing concern about his own future.
“If (Trump) loses, I’m fucked,” Musk quipped, still chuckling.
Musk is “all-in” for the former president as the US election enters its final stretch.
He’s poured tens of millions of dollars into the campaign and is positioned for a key role in a second Trump administration, where the former president has said he will be tasked with ripping up government bureaucracy and firing civil servants.
Observers point to various factors behind Musk’s hard turn to the right.
Some highlight his upbringing in apartheid-era South Africa, suggesting it influences his views on immigration and demographic change.
Musk frequently argues, without evidence, that an influx of undocumented immigrants threatens US democracy, echoing the “Great Replacement” theory prevalent among many whites in his childhood South Africa.
“The white South African nightmare in the 1980s, hanging over everything, was that one day Black people would rise up and massacre whites,” wrote essayist Simon Kuper in the Financial Times.
More recent personal experiences also appear to have shaped Musk’s politics.
In 2022, his daughter Vivian, then aged 18, legally changed her name and gender.
Musk later claimed his child was “killed” by the “woke mind virus” instilled at an elite California school, marking a significant hardening of his political stance.
Musk’s business interests may also help explain his allegiance to Trump.
His companies operate in highly regulated industries and have frequently clashed with authorities.
Tech analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group suggests that in a Trump White House, Musk might even “be in charge of his own oversight, giving him the potential power to do anything he wanted.”
The billionaire’s influence extends beyond his wealth.
Musk uses his X account, with more than 200 million followers, to amplify misinformation and controversial narratives that align with Trump’s campaign messaging.
The platform’s light-touch content moderation allows Trump-backed distortions and lies to thrive that might be restricted on other social media sites.
“It’s very different to have a figure like Musk who owns a social media platform, versus him just being out there as his own individual,” said Sophie Bjork-James, assistant professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University.
