Elon Musk has three essential ingredients to unrivaled political power among CEOs: control of a massive social media platform, astonishing personal wealth — and now former President Trump's open and willing ear.

• Why it matters: That makes Musk arguably the most important business player in modern American politics. He has the power to sway or repel voters — and stands ready to win or lose big, given his companies' deep ties to government.

Musk and Trump have begun speaking several times a month since privately meeting in March at the home of billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, The Wall Street Journal revealed yesterday.

• The two men reportedly have discussed an advisory role for Musk if Trump wins back the White House in November — potentially giving the Tesla CEO influence over economic and border policies.
• Musk, in turn, briefed Trump in March about his plans to invest in a data-driven project devoted to preventing voter fraud, according to the Journal.

Zoom in: As owner of the de facto town square, Musk has made no secret about his distaste for President Biden's policies and the excesses of the "woke" left — without explicitly endorsing a candidate for president, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• With more than 60 posts about Trump and Biden this year, Musk has brought an open ideological tilt to X that few social media executives would dare replicate, according to a New York Times analysis (gift link).

👀 The intrigue: Musk is one of the world's richest men. Yet he appears unwilling to spend money — at least so far — in his mission to defeat Biden.

• Instead of writing checks, Musk and like-minded moguls plan to galvanize America's business elite to oppose Biden through dinner parties and salon-style gatherings, according to the Journal.

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Regardless of whether Donald Trump becomes a convicted felon, the Biden campaign sees its challenge as defining Trump-as-a-potential-president — and selling voters on the threats it says he poses, Axios' Hans Nichols writes.

• Why it matters: A guilty verdict in Trump's New York hush-money trial would be unprecedented in presidential history. But even President Biden's team isn't sure it would matter come November.

Despite everything — weeks of embarrassing trial headlines for Trump, Biden's big swing state push and his onslaught of ads — the race appears to be stuck, with Trump holding a slight lead in most polls.

• Asked before the trial whether Trump did something illegal, some 46% of voters agreed. After closing statements, it was still 46%, CNN's Harry Enten points out.

🔭 What we're watching: Inside the Biden campaign, annoyance with the media's coverage of Trump's trial is bubbling up.

• "The President just spoke to approx 1,000 mostly black voters in Philly about the massive stakes in this election," T.J. Ducklo, a senior adviser for communications for the Biden-Harris campaign, posted yesterday.
• "@MSNBC @CNN & others did not show it. Instead, more coverage about a trial that impacts one person: Trump."
• "Then they'll ask, why isn't your message getting out?"

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Former President Trump is all-in on crypto now — a surprise to anyone who has followed the industry's political fortunes, Axios' Brady Dale writes.

• Why it matters: The cryptocurrency industry — which may not have that many people, but has lots of money — has never been more politically organized.

"Our country must be the leader in the field. There is no second place," Trump, who once said he was "not a fan" of crypto, wrote on Truth Social this week.

• The former president invited people who bought Trump NFTs to Mar-a-Lago, where he committed to easing crypto regulations if elected.
• Then at the Libertarian Party's national convention last week, he vowed to free Ross Ulbricht, who's serving prison time for creating the Silk Road — a Dark Web marketplace that had a Bitcoin-based payment system.

🎨 The big picture: There's been a sudden crypto thaw in Congress. Leaders on both sides of the aisle appear to be following Trump's lead in wooing the industry.

• The Biden administration has been seen as primarily hostile to crypto.

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AI is fueling massive demand for data centers that pose huge energy challenges to a handful of states, Axios' Ben Geman writes from new projections by the Electric Power Research Institute.

• Data centers are projected to make up 36% of all electricity use in Virginia — home to a huge cluster of server farms.

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Mexicans on Sunday are likely to elect their first woman president in a historic election that has centered around surging violence, Axios Latino co-author Marina E. Franco writes.

• Why it matters: The new leader of Mexico, America's biggest trading partner, could make or break programs that have helped stem the flow of migration toward the U.S. border.

The frontrunner: Claudia Sheinbaum, a scientist who formerly led Mexico City's government and was mentored by the popular but term-limited incumbent.

• The opposition candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez, is focusing her ire on the current "hugs not bullets" policy of not confronting the drug cartels and has promised to get tough on organized crime.

🔎 Zoom in: 6 in 10 adults in Mexico consider it unsafe to live in their city, due mostly to fear of theft or armed violence, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.

• Mexico has tallied more than 188,000 murders in the last six years. The murder rate has very slightly fallen from a record high in 2018.
• Extortion from armed groups remains common nationwide. Official data shows reports of forced disappearances increased during the six-year presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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Editor's note: This item was clarified to note that Gálvez is opposed to the current "hugs not bullets" policy of not confronting drug cartels.

McDonald's pushed back against the premise that recent price increases have been unreasonable, after a barrage of bad press and viral social media posts, Axios' Nathan Bomey writes.

• Why it matters: The fast-food industry is under immense pressure from a public frustrated by inflation.

In a rare open letter, McDonald's USA president Joe Erlinger said the assertion the chain has hiked its prices "significantly beyond inflationary rates" is "inaccurate."

• He noted that franchisees set prices in 95% of locations.

The average Big Mac price is $5.29, he said, up 21% from $4.39 in 2019.

• McDonald's said that was driven by the pandemic and "historic rises in supply chain costs, wages and other inflationary pressures in the years that followed."

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Bob Bauer — President Biden's personal lawyer — is publishing a memoir next month that analyzes America's current political environment, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.

• "The Unraveling," out June 18, includes anecdotes from Biden's 2020 campaign, when Bauer led the campaign's legal battles against Donald Trump.

Why it matters: Bauer has been one of the most influential Democratic Party lawyers in the 21st century, and his book will be closely read by allies and adversaries alike.

Bauer, 72, has been a consequential figure in the past three Democratic administrations.

• Bauer is closely involved with Biden's re-election campaign and is married to top White House aide Anita Dunn,

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140 of the nation's top spellers (mapped above) were eliminated from the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Md., yesterday.

• The remaining eight finalists return for tonight's final. The winner will receive a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

Between the lines: AP says the tough competition and rapid elimination process make for "spelling's saddest day."

• "I'm happy to do high school and do other things, but I'm kind of confused what to do now that I'm done with spelling," said Achyut Ethiraj, an eighth-grader from Fort Wayne, Ind.
• "I am in shock and despair," said Dev Shah, the 2023 champion who was also eliminated.

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