Behind his generally genial persona, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has got a sharp tongue on him. He was particularly cutting toward former President Donald Trump on Tuesday when he appeared alongside former President Barack Obama to herald the start of early voting in Wisconsin. But the Democratic vice presidential nominee also had a new target in his sights: chaotic billionaire turned GOP megadonor Elon Musk.
Specifically, Walz took aim at Trump’s promise to appoint Musk to lead a new “government efficiency commission” if he wins. “[Musk] could spend millions to make more than $10 billion on the back end,” Walz told the crowd. “Donald Trump, in front of the eyes of the public, is promising corruption.”
In funneling his fortune into trying to get Trump elected, it is all too clear that the owner of Tesla and SpaceX is hoping to profit handsomely as a result.
It’s a sharp elbow from Walz — and one that Musk deserves to catch. In funneling his fortune into trying to get Trump elected, it is all too clear that the owner of Tesla and SpaceX is hoping to profit handsomely as a result. But in doing so, he’s also made himself a ready-made plutocratic villain for Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris in the closing days of the campaign.
Musk is one of the richest people in the world in no small part thanks to the extremely lucrative government contracts that he holds. Over the last decade, NASA has depended more and more on his SpaceX company to launch rockets into space. Likewise, the Department of Defense has agreements with Musk to launch satellites into orbit. Altogether, according to a New York Times analysis, those contracts are worth more than $15 billion over the last 10 years — and that’s just one of the companies he owns alongside Tesla and X.
Those defense ties have held in place even as Musk has gone off the deep end politically, posting approvingly about racist memes and giving credence to conspiracy theories about election fraud. As part of his ideological transformation from moderate to reactionary, he’s also opted to yoke his cart to Trump in a big way. He hosted an extremely flattering, borderline simpering conversation with the former president on X’s audio platform. And as he’s moved to the right, so too has the clientele of the social media platform, which has helped boost Musk’s most toxic tweets to a captivated audience.
Musk has also already channeled more than $75 million into his America PAC, which has been tapped to handle a large chunk of voter outreach for the GOP ahead of Election Day. (Just how effective that strategy has been will become apparent soon, but the signs aren’t particularly encouraging for longtime Republican strategists.) He appeared at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania last month (spawning one of the most memeable images of this election) and will likely do so again at Madison Square Garden this weekend.
Trump in return has praised Musk during speeches and appearances on Fox News, even as he’s reportedly disparaged the tech titan behind closed doors. Moreover, Trump has taken a shine to Musk’s proposal to essentially audit the federal government looking for programs to cut. But Musk’s statements show that the main goal would be cutting government regulations — the exact kinds of regulations that have made SpaceX, X and Tesla the subject of federal investigations, major recalls, lawsuits and fines. As The New York Times put it: “Instead of entering this new role as a neutral observer, Mr. Musk would be passing judgment on his own customers and regulators.”








