Washington DC:
It isn’t unthinkable that the world’s richest person can pull more than just a few strings with top politicians, but Elon Musk seems to be investing himself in the political world with such intensity that analysts now wonder if there is a larger plan.
Last week Elon Musk created history by breaking his own previous record and becoming the first person to have a net worth of more than 400 billion dollars. In just six days, he has added nearly another 100 billion ($86 billion) and is knocking on the 500-billion-dollar mark. In the last one year, Musk has added $257 billion to his net worth – $7 billion more than the entire net worth of Jeff Bezos – the second-most richest person globally.
Image and Data Credit: Bloomberg
But Musk is not just riding the high wave when it comes to business, he is now doing the same in geopolitics. Having being included in the Trump Administration 2.0, Elon Musk finds himself immersed in the world of politics. Though he was deeply involved with Donald Trump’s campaign and is partially credited for the latter’s win in the US elections, he now seems to be backing – or rather, influencing – leaders from beyond the United States.
US DONE, MUSK SETS EYES ON UK
From supporting one firebrand leader to now backing another one – this time in the UK – Elon Musk has held extensive talks with anti-immigration hardliner Nigel Farage. The discussions between the two were largely focused on Musk funding Farage’s hard-right party ‘Reform UK’.
Elon Musk, who now freely uses Donald Trump’s Florida resort estate-cum-residence, Mar-a-Lago, as his political office, invited Nigel Farage for a meeting earlier this week.
Writing about it in British daily The Telegraph, Mr Farage confirmed that “the issue of money was discussed”, though the two could not agree on the amount in question by the end of that meeting. “There will be ongoing negotiations on that score,” Mr Farage added.
Sharing details about the meeting, that will most certainly raise eyebrows in the UK’s two main political party offices – The Labour Party, now in government and the Conservative Party, currently the opposition – Mr Farage mentioned about Elon Musk’s disdain for both parties. He stated that Musk “described the Labour and Conservative parties as the uniparty, and left us (Reform Party) in no doubt that he is right behind us.”
In his article Mr Farage also mentioned that he aims to learn from Elon Musk’s cash incentives for people to be encouraged to vote – a strategy that worked for Donald Trump’s Republican party during the US elections. Mr Farage stated that “I have come home with copious notes on how they increased turnout, voter registration, and so much more, and all of this I intend to implement as part of the professionalisation of our party.”
Elon Musk is reportedly considering an initial donation of $100 million to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Farage said, “He wants to help us, he’s not opposed to the idea of giving us money provided we can do it legally through UK companies.”
It will be a steep ask for Mr Farage’s party to even think of winning the UK election. In the most recent elections held this year, the Reform Party won just five seats in the 650-seat UK Parliament. However, it scores impressively in terms of vote share, accounting for 14 per cent of all the votes cast. Mr Farage hopes that with Musk’s support – moral and financial – his party might just do the unthinkable.
Concluding his article, Mr Farage wrote, “It is heartening to listen to Elon speak about UK politics with such deep care. He regards the mother country of the English-speaking world as being in very deep trouble.”
After their meeting, Mr Farage wrote on Musk’s social media platform X that “”Britain needs reform”, to which Elon Musk promptly replied “Absolutely”.
Absolutely
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2024
ELON MUSK’S CALL WITH UKRAINE’S ZELENSKY
Last month Elon Musk was with Donald Trump at the President-elect’s residence and luxury resort Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida when Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone.
During the phone call, Donald Trump reportedly handed the phone over to Elon Musk and supposedly asked the SpaceX founder to join the call with President Zelensky.
Elon Musk then reassured President Zelensky that he will continue to help Ukraine via his Starlink satellite constellation. Since the Russian invasion in 2022, Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system has provided Ukraine with significant frontline advantage by allowing its armed forces to share real-time drone coordinates, data and footage between units. It also gave Ukraine’s military communications support in areas where mobile phone networks were destroyed.
FRIENDSHIP WITH ARGENTINA’S JAVIER MILEI
Argentinian President Javier Milei was reportedly one of the few world leaders to have been invited for Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony on January 20th. Elon Musk has been a strong supporter of President Milei.
In fact, as per a report in the New York Times, in a video uploaded on social media platform X by Elon Musk himself, the tech billionaire claimed that watching President Milei’s speech was “better than having sex”.
Elon Musk had even met President Milei when news of his electoral victory was confirmed. In a post on X before that meeting, Musk had written “Prosperity is ahead for Argentina”.
It must be noted that Argentina has large deposits of Lithium, which is crucial for Elon Musk’s EV company Tesla.
According to a report by CNN, Elon Musk is in talks with at least a dozen other world leaders – for geopolitical reasons as well as for business.
Only time will unravel whether Elon Musk’s political outreach be restricted to just pulling a few strings, or will it result in him holding on to the very reins that might restructure global politics.
