Elon Musk has allocated millions of dollars to support Donald Trump not only because he agrees with his vision of America. He needs simplified legislation for his space exploration project and could benefit from billions of dollars in tax breaks.
Elon Musk could get a job in the Trump administration. PHOTO: CNBC
Elon Musk is the best-known supporter of Donald Trump in his bid to regain the US presidency. He has given millions of dollars to a pro-Trump “political action committee” (PAC) and appeared alongside Donald Trump at some of his rallies.
While Musk has increasingly spoken out about politics over the years, he hasn’t fully sided with a candidate in this way.
The publication “The Conversation” analyzed how the outcome of the US election could affect Musk.
SpaceX and Tesla are facing a number of legal challenges on issues ranging from employee safety to environmental challenges.
Environmental challenges apply to both the development of Space X’s Starship rocket and its Starlink satellite system. Musk also complained that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is too slow and too cautious in authorizing SpaceX launches.
“Voting for Trump you vote for Mars”
Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election seems closely linked to his desire for significant deregulation, particularly in space exploration, Newsweek reports.
Musk has repeatedly argued that excessive regulation stifles innovation and impedes progress toward turning humans into a multiplanetary species — a central goal of his company, SpaceX.
In a series of posts on X, Musk expressed concern about the impact of overregulation on America’s future in space. “Voting for Trump is voting for Mars! If we don’t stop the slow strangulation by overregulation that is happening in America, we will never become a multiplanetary civilizationhe said.
Musk’s posts on the issue seem to stem from the regulatory hurdles SpaceX has had to overcome. These include delays in launch approvals and restrictions imposed by various federal agencies.
He believes many of these regulations are outdated or unnecessarily burdensome, slowing innovation within his companies and elsewhere. “Unless there is significant government reform, laws and regulations will continue to get worse every year until every major endeavor, from high-speed rail between our cities to making multiplanetary life possible, is effectively illegal.”Musk claimed.
Trump’s platform of reducing government surveillance appears to align with Musk’s vision.
Musk proposed the creation of a “Department of Government Efficiency.” He suggested that such a department would audit federal agencies to identify and eliminate redundant regulations. Musk’s potential role in this initiative could give him the leverage to reshape the regulatory frameworks currently affecting SpaceX.
“With Trump in office, Musk could expect a more favorable regulatory environment for his ventures, including Tesla and SpaceX. Like many Silicon Valley billionaires, Musk resists any limitations on what he perceives as his personal freedom“, Dr. Michael Breen, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law and Government at Dublin City University, Ireland, claimed for Newsweek.
Billions of dollars in tax cuts
The alignment between Musk’s ambitions and Trump’s policy proposals is further highlighted by Trump’s suggestion of naming Musk as “Minister of Cost Reduction.” “He really wants to do this,” Trump said during a recent appearance on Fox News.
Such a role could make Musk eligible for a special tax break worth tens of billions of dollars. According to a report by Rolling Stone, a provision buried in the tax code could allow Musk to benefit from one of the largest personal tax breaks in American history if Trump appoints Musk to this proposed government post.
According to tax and ethics experts who spoke to the media, a little-known provision in the tax code could allow Musk to indefinitely defer capital gains taxes on any assets he would have to divest to comply with the rules of government ethics.
This special tax break, available only to federal officials, would come on top of the significant tax cuts Musk could get if a new Trump administration further cuts taxes and other taxes on billionaires.
So Musk, currently the world’s richest person with a net worth of $243.4 billion, could get billions more if he took a government position in a Trump administration.
The Chevron Doctrine
Beyond SpaceX, Musk has had no shortage of run-ins with US federal government regulatory agencies. Many right-wing entrepreneurs have spent decades trying to dismantle the American “administrative state.” This agenda was supported by a June 2024 decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn the “Chevron doctrine”.
This doctrine was named after the case from which it arose, the 1984 decision of the Natural Resources Defense Council v. Chevron. The Chevron doctrine means that courts must uphold the interpretation that government administrative agencies give to regulations and laws.
The recent Supreme Court ruling drastically reduces the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer. Instead, it ruled that courts should rely on their own interpretations where laws are open to interpretation.
Talks with Putin
In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk had conversations with Vladimir Putin and would have been in regular contact with him since late 2022.
Defense sources have raised questions about the alleged conversations. The SpaceX founder holds a security clearance and, through SpaceX, numerous US defense contracts. Musk has previously denied regular calls with the Russian president. In 2022, Musk said he only spoke to Putin once.
When the Wall Street Journal allegations were published, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the only communication with Musk was a single phone call in which he and Putin discussed “space as well as current and future technologies”. According to The Guardian, Peskov denied that Putin or other Kremlin officials had frequent conversations with Musk.
Saving humanity?
Musk sees state bureaucracy not just as a challenge to his business interests, but as a threat to humanity. He posted on his social media site X (formerly Twitter) that he feels that the current bureaucracy “suffocate America to death” and that a Democratic administration would essentially end any hope of sending humans to Mars and “doom humanity”.
Musk said he believes colonizing other planets is essential for humans to avoid extinction, for example, by a large asteroid colliding with Earth.
Musk has garnered a number of supporters on the American right, many of whom have long advocated expansion into outer space.
They see an opportunity in a second Trump administration to “make space big again” and thus, in accordance with the logic of spatial expansionism of a “save humanity”.
Elon Musk has very clearly chosen a camp in this election. The reasons for this are myriad, with him having many clashes with the US administration.
A second Trump administration, even before the Chevron ruling is overturned, promises to undertake a rollback of federal regulations and the agencies that enforce them. Donald Trump even proposed making Elon Musk responsible for it.
