For 2 weeks, Donald Trump has welcomed Elon Musk into his world. On Tuesday, it was Musk’s flip to play host to the president-elect.
Trump flew to South Texas to look at as Musk’s SpaceX launched a Starship rocket close to the Mexican border. Trump listened intently because the world’s richest man defined how the check would work and demonstrated with a mannequin. After which Trump squinted into the brilliant sky to look at liftoff.
It didn’t go completely -– the reuseable booster didn’t return to the launch pad because it had carried out on a earlier check final month. As a substitute, the booster was directed to a splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico.
However Trump’s presence on the launch was a outstanding show of intimacy between the 2 males, one with implications for American politics, the federal government, international coverage and even the potential for people reaching Mars.
Musk spent round $200 million to assist Trump beat Democrat Kamala Harris within the presidential race, and he’s been given unparalleled entry. He’s endorsed Trump on nominees for the brand new administration, joined the president-elect’s cellphone name with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and been tapped to co-chair an advisory panel on slicing the dimensions of the federal paperwork.
Along with political affect, Musk may gain advantage personally as nicely. SpaceX, his rocket firm, has billions of {dollars} in authorities contracts and the aim of ultimately beginning a colony on Mars. He’s additionally CEO of Tesla, which manufactures electrical automobiles, and has battled with regulators over security issues involving autonomous driving.
“Trump has the biggest possible regard for people who break the rules and get away with it,” mentioned William Galston, a senior fellow in governance research on the Brookings Establishment, a Washington-based assume tank. “Musk has demonstrated extraordinary accomplishment in doing that.”
To prime if off, Musk owns the social media firm X, formally often known as Twitter, which he has harnessed as an influential perch to advertise Trump and his agenda.
“Stop the Swamp!” he wrote on Tuesday as he shared a warning that entrenched Washington pursuits try to undermine Trump earlier than his inauguration.
Earlier than the election, Musk rejected the concept he was anticipating any favors in return for supporting Trump within the presidential race.
“There is no quid pro quo,” he posted on X in September. “With a Trump administration, we can execute major government reform, remove bureaucratic paperwork that is smothering the country and unlock a new age of prosperity.”
Nonetheless, Trump has not gone anyplace with out Musk within the two weeks since beating Harris. Musk joined Trump at a gathering with Home Republicans in Washington and sat subsequent to him at an Final Combating Championship match in New York. The journey to Texas for the rocket launch was simply Trump’s third time exterior Florida for the reason that election.
A lot of Trump’s exercise is occurring with little public entry for the press. In contrast to his predecessors, he has opted towards commonly making his journey plans or occasions open to journalists.
The connection between Trump and Musk was not all the time so shut.
Two years in the past, Trump was mocking Musk in stump speeches and Musk was saying it was time for Trump to “hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”
“Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Musk wrote on social media.
However Musk swiftly endorsed Trump after the previous president survived an assassination try in July. He rapidly turned a central determine in Trump’s orbit, showing at instances extra like his working mate than Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
Trump began boasting about Musk’s accomplishments at marketing campaign rallies, corresponding to when Starship’s reusable rocket booster returned to the launch tower on a earlier event and was caught by mechanical arms.
“Those arms grab it like you grab your baby, just like you grab your little baby. And it hugged it and just put it down, and there it was,” Trump mentioned.
Musk was with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on election evening and has spent a lot of the 2 weeks since there. Trump’s granddaughter Kai Trump posted a photograph of her with Musk at one among Trump’s golf resorts, writing that Musk was “achieving uncle status.”
Final week, Musk appeared in a golden ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, seated within the heart of the room as a visitor of honor at an occasion. Trump, in his remarks on the black tie occasion, mentioned Musk’s IQ is “about as high as they can get” and praised him as “a really good guy.”
“He launched a rocket three weeks ago and then he went to Pennsylvania to campaign because he considered this more important than launching rockets that cost billions of dollars,” Trump mentioned.
He joked about Musk’s fixed presence at Mar-a-Lago, saying, “He likes this place. I can’t get him out of here.”
He added, “And you know what, I like having him here.”
Musk mentioned of the election outcomes: “The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear.”
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Worth reported from New York.
