Behind the Curtain: The most powerful (unelected) man ever
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Apu Gomes/Getty Images
America just elevated one man to an unfathomable status: the most powerful civilian — ever.
Why it matters: Elon Musk — the most influential backer of President-elect Trump, thanks to his money, time and X factor — now sits at the pinnacle of power in business, government influence and global information (and misinformation) flow.
- Trump has the White House and four short years. Musk has so much more since his influence cuts across government, media, business, the world, space and time.
The big picture: To understand why, you need to understand the reach of Musk's power post-election and the stretch of his galactic ambitions.
- Let's start with power. It's unmatched. As this election showed, politics and influence flow downstream from information control.
- Musk, once seen by many as a fool for buying Twitter, now controls the most powerful information platform for America's ruling party. X makes Fox News seem like a quaint little pamphlet in size, scope and right-wing tilt.
Virtually every powerful voice in the Trump media ecosystem congregates on X — where their reality, whether tethered to facts or fiction, are set. X will be the prosecutor, defender, jury and judge of Trump governance. "You are the media now," he proclaimed on X.
- Musk transcends X, with close friends running the most-listened-to podcasts and every mainstream media platform eager for his appearance. He's the rare figure with global sway.
The much bigger picture: Imagine you wanted to help mold America. You would instantly realize you need information dominance and vast political influence.
- With X and now Trump, Musk has both.
- The guy did a Mar-a-Lago sleepover on election night after throwing himself into the election — donating at least $119 million to Musk's America PAC to help Trump, pushing JD Vance for the presidential ticket, then helping get Trump and Vance onto Joe Rogan's top-rated podcast.
His chef's kiss: his own last-minute appearance on Rogan's show, which won Trump the podcaster's endorsement.
- Musk is helping staff the top ranks of the incoming White House and will run an unregulated entity to recommend ways to cut and reorganize government. Name another American figure with this kind of political juice.
Higher ambitions: Listen to Musk, and he always circles back to his belief in creating a multi-planetary future. He believes the future of our species is wholly dependent on it.
- Well, you get there by controlling space — satellites, space travel and ultimately colonization. He has a virtual global monopoly on satellites and the hottest space company on the globe, Space X — one NASA depends on.
The bottom line: This creates conflicts of interest at an epic scale. But it's hard to see the Trump White House caring, or Musk letting it slow him down. And, when you control a big chunk of the information flow, you get to shape how lots of people view it, anyway.
