Washington [US], December 24: With huge assets, many influential companies and a position in the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk is building unprecedented power in the land of the stars and stripes.
At the annual gathering organized by the conservative group Turning Point in Phoenix (Arizona, USA) on December 22, referring to the role of billionaire Musk (owner of Tesla, SpaceX, owner of social network X...), President-elect Trump emphasized: "No, he (Musk - NV ) will not take on the presidency. I can assure you that he will not become president." Mr. Trump also affirmed that he is still a true president.
Politically powerful billionaire
Speaking to Business Insider last week, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Donald Trump-JD Vance transition team, also emphasized: "President-elect Trump is the leader of the Republican Party ." The answer was given in explaining Mr. Musk's role in the budget bill that caused tension last week.
Thus, in just a few days, Mr. Trump and the Republicans have spoken out to affirm that billionaire Musk is not "regent". The reason for such continuous speaking out is because the American public opinion, as well as pressure from the Democratic Party, has raised the question of whether billionaire Elon Musk is really the one controlling the policies of the Republican Party and President-elect Trump. Some Democratic congressmen even compared Mr. Musk to the "prime minister" in Mr. Trump's government.
After Mr. Trump won the election and appointed billionaire Musk to the position of head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an unofficial body in the cabinet structure, the Tesla car company boss has increasingly demonstrated his power. In a recent poll by the Eurasia Group (USA), the world's leading political risk consulting and research unit , billionaire Musk is second only to Mr. Trump in the list of "political game changers" in the world.
Not only directly expressing opinions and criticizing policies that are contrary to his own, billionaire Elon Musk recently did not hesitate to "threaten" Republican congressmen if they voted for the budget bill in the House of Representatives. He implied that these congressmen would have difficulty being re-elected in the next election. In fact, after taking over the social network Twitter and changing its name to X, billionaire Elon Musk is considered to have enough power to influence public opinion. This makes many politicians apprehensive.
Changing US policy?
One of the topics that Mr. Musk has recently mentioned is the US aid to other countries. In an analysis sent to Thanh Nien , Eurasia Group commented: "When the regime of Mr. Bashar al-Assad collapsed in Syria, President-elect Trump declared: "This is not our war." Trump's unwillingness to intervene from abroad and his US-centric views are not new. This is also a stance that many Americans support. But billionaire Musk has gone further."
Specifically, he expressed support for the views of former US congressman Rol Paul. Posting on X not long ago, Mr. Ron Paul stated his opinion: "Drop foreign aid! This aid is taking money from the poor and middle class in America and giving it to the rich in poor countries - with a portion going to the middlemen in the middle! Americans do not want their government to borrow more money to spend on foreign aid." The former congressman also said that cutting foreign aid is something that Mr. Musk's Government Efficiency Board can easily do. Responding immediately on X afterwards, billionaire Musk stated: "Mr. Ron is not wrong."
With Musk's current power and views, analysts believe that the US in the upcoming Trump term may significantly cut aid to other countries. This will create a major change in Washington's foreign policy over the past many years.
However, there are also comments that with Mr. Trump's personality, billionaire Musk's increasing prominence could be a challenge to the close relationship between the two.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper