Though Elon Musk has by no means held any form of political place and didn’t assist President-elect Donald Trump publicly till July, he was nonetheless tapped by to be part of Trump’s Cupboard: Musk was labeled co-chair of a bunch referred to as the “Division of Authorities Effectivity” alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.
Nonetheless, some critics are actually contemplating Musk as Trump’s “Co-President.”
Musk — who, with a web price simply shy of a half-trillion {dollars} is the world’s richest individual — has made it clear that he’s searching for pursuits of the wealthy. He will probably be instrumental in serving to Trump execute his plans as soon as he’s formally again in workplace.
From abolishing range, fairness and inclusion to dismantling the U.S. Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division, Black individuals face a harmful actuality underneath Trump’s second time period. Listed below are 5 causes Musk has been labeled “Co-President”—a lot to the detriment of Black America.
1) Elon Musk is wielding his energy on X to affect Republicans on laws
On Wednesday (Dec. 18), Musk used his X account (which boasts over 200 million followers) to encourage Home Republicans to cease a spending invoice that might have stored the federal authorities afloat for 3 months. “This invoice mustn’t go,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said. He additionally posted a number of false claims concerning the invoice, stating that the laws would give members of Congress a 40 p.c increase.
Nonetheless, the utmost attainable increase in 2025 would have been 3.8 p.c underneath the laws. In accordance with the Washington Put up, lawmakers have been contacted by constituents who mentioned they noticed Musk’s put up. Hours later, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance shared their lack of assist for the invoice and Home Republicans determined to not go it.
2) Musk helped Trump choose his Cupboard picks
Musk used X to not solely specific assist for a few of Trump’s Cupboard picks, however he additionally used it to share a few of his personal solutions per Reuters. In accordance with the information outlet, Musk posted or reposted about Trump’s cupboard picks greater than 70 occasions between Nov. 7 and Nov. 20.
In lots of cases, he gave consideration to Trump’s extra controversial selections like Tulsi Gabbard being chosen for U.S. intelligence chief and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. main the highest U.S. well being company.
3) Musk has given lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} to Republicans
After Trump received the presidential election in November, Musk grew to become America’s largest political donor. He donated $277 million to again Donald Trump in addition to different Republicans, per CBS Information. Watchdog teams are apprehensive that this has elevated Musk’s entry to Trump and can affect the Republican get together agenda as Musk is at the moment the main focus of a number of authorities investigations.
4) Notable Republican figures are standing behind Musk
In accordance with the Washington Put up, Rep. Michael Lawler (R-New York) mentioned that Musk being part of Trump’s Cupboard is okay so long as the transparency of his actions have been “correct.” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) referred to as Musk “a member of the general public that has a voice” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) mentioned that she can be open to supporting Musk main the Home.
5) Democrats are warning the general public about Musk’s energy and affect
The Democratic Social gathering is up in arms over Musk’s affect on Republicans—and have expressed their outrage on X. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) shared an AI-generated picture that confirmed Musk dealing with Trump’s puppet strings. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla) said that “an unelected billionaire was topped co-president by the Republican Social gathering.” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) insisted that Trump has a “Billionaire First” agenda.