Elon Musk has made it clear that he doesn’t like Joe Biden. However since Musk formally endorsed and reportedly financially supported Donald Trump on this yr’s presidential race, Biden is returning the favor. The president is now campaigning straight Musk — and different distinguished and rich Silicon Valley enterprise capitalists — are backing Trump’s candidacy.
“I am sick,” Biden wrote on Musk’s social media web site Rich associates tried to purchase the election.
Hours earlier, Biden’s marketing campaign despatched out a fundraising textual content saying “the richest man on this planet is now on Group MAGA” and accusing Musk of “utilizing his wealth to attempt to management our democracy.”
Biden has centered his marketing campaign on Musk, a notable improve contemplating he spent a lot of his presidency seemingly pretending the billionaire did not exist — as he did in 2021 As he famously mentioned on the Electrical Automotive Summit, to which Tesla was not invited; or when he mentioned that Detroit — not Tesla — “leads the world in electrical automobiles.”
The marketing campaign towards Musk’s involvement is a raffle, given the billionaire’s affect over Silicon Valley and the tech trade as an entire. A slew of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest individuals are reportedly backing Musk’s tremendous PAC, together with Sequoia Capital companions Sean Maguire and Doug Leone. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announce they may financially help Trump marketing campaign, largely as a result of presidential candidate’s help for cryptocurrencies, stance on synthetic intelligence and Biden’s proposal to tax unrealized capital features. Musk’s shut good friend David Sacks, who spoke on the Republican Nationwide Conference this week, has been main the cost to get extra help for Trump, not simply on X however in the true world.
After all, with Biden’s marketing campaign at stake, he could not suppose specializing in Musk’s involvement would have an excessive amount of of a destructive impression. In any case, earlier than Biden made the Tesla CEO a marketing campaign focus, different highly effective figures like Musk, Sachs and Peter Thiel had been already energetic sufficient to immediate Trump to decide on J.D. Vance as his vice presidential candidate. The tremendous PAC, a lot of that are placing cash into, was fashioned in June.
Whether or not Biden despises Musk due to his anti-union stance or due to his embrace of far-right insurance policies is nearly irrelevant. Being ignored clearly bothers Musk—he brings it up typically.
Musk has interacted with the Trump administration in a wide range of methods, together with serving on his Council of Financial Advisers, however he has by no means absolutely endorsed him as a candidate.
Musk, in the meantime, has benefited materially from Biden’s presidency. The Inflation Discount Act gives that Tesla (and its battery companion Panasonic) could have entry to a credit score line of as much as $41 billion via 2032. Highest valuation ever (after Hertz pledged to purchase a whole lot of Musk’s automobiles). SpaceX and its satellite tv for pc enterprise Starlink have repeatedly gained protection and different authorities contracts. He ultimately did meet with Biden on the White Home in September 2023.
However his firm additionally faces a number of federal investigations, a few of which started throughout Biden’s presidency. He’s clearly extra ideologically aligned with Trump and has cause to consider his firm will proceed to learn from one other Trump presidency.
So Biden’s embrace of anti-Musk rhetoric has helped him financially: On Thursday afternoon, Biden marketing campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg wrote on His “Wealthy Associate” publish was Biden’s “second-best social publish.” The exercise lasted for greater than a yr.
