So why is the tech mogul so interested in politics overseas, and how are the US-European allies meant to respond when Musk is firmly in Trump’s inner circle?
CNN senior political reporter Stephen Collinson told The Front Page Musk has also intervened in the German election, which will take place next month.
“ So, you can see that Musk is intervening, or some would say interfering in European politics, and he’s going to be part of the United States Government. So the question does arise, is this Musk’s foreign policy that he’s freelancing or does Donald Trump, the future President, share his proclivities for pushing far right-wing parties?
“I think we’re gonna see a lot of nervousness and resentment in Europe if Musk continues his behaviour when Trump is president,” he said.
Musk has cemented his position in Trump’s inner circle, leading the new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) once the Government is inaugurated.
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Collinson said it will be a body that Trump says will come up with recommendations to slash wasteful Government spending and regulations — including those that might benefit or constrain Musk’s business interests.
“That’s one of the reasons why a lot of people fear his presence in the centre of the Government will create huge conflicts of interest.
“Musk, has a finger in a lot of pies around the world, not just as the head of Tesla and SpaceX, which has billions of dollars of contracts from the US Government, but he has businesses in many countries, for example, in countries like China, that could see clashes with American foreign policy.
“We’ve never, in the modern era, had someone like this, the world’s richest man, so intimately entwined with an administration. This is a really unprecedented moment,” he said.
The Tesla chief executive’s endgame remains unclear — but Collinson suggests Musk is enjoying the limelight and theatrics of politics, for now.
“He’s been around Trump at Mar a Lago for much of the time since Trump’s election victory. I expect we’ll see him play a prominent role in the inauguration.
“He’s already the richest man in the world, but he seems to very much enjoy wielding the influence that he gets by proximity to the most powerful man in the world.
“Trump can only be in office for four more years, so, does it get to a point where Musk gets bored of politics, where he finds, for example, that the business of trying to cut trillions of dollars from the US budget is a very difficult business and one that’s not that interesting.
“It’s possible he could get bored from politics and find launching rockets and designing electric cars is a much more interesting business.
“But I don’t think we really know exactly what he wants and that’s one of the things we’ll be watching and seeing how prominent a role he does take, not just in cutting the size of Government, but in Trump’s inner circle and whether he gets to wield even more power than he does already,” Collinson said.
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Listen to the full episode
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Publish date : 2025-01-12 08:00:00
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