Despite graduating from Penn nearly 30 years apart, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have formed an unlikely alliance resulting in the business magnate's appointment to revamp the structure of the federal government.
1997 College and Wharton graduate Elon Musk and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump — two of Penn's most prominent alumni — were unlikely allies as recently as two years ago, when Musk wrote that Trump should "hang up his hat & sail into the sunset." But in recent months, the tech mogul has provided personal and financial support to the the third presidential campaign of the former president and president-elect, and his appointment as co-chair of Trump's newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency” epitomize a strengthening relationship between the two.
Though Trump and Musk graduated from Penn nearly 30 years apart, both mentioned their time at the University and their connections to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during this year's campaign.
Though Trump has distanced himself from Penn in recent years and mentioned his alma mater less frequently during this cycle, he has continued to mention Wharton in reference to his proposed economic plans. Musk rarely publicly mentions his connection to the University, but spoke about living in Pennsylvania during college at a rally in Delaware County in October.
“I lived in the city [Philadelphia] for three years, I went to school here,” Musk said. “I know the state — I’m not some just-arrived situation.”
Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, played a key role in the election and Trump's victory. Both Musk and Trump worked hard to secure the state for the Republican ticket, including through the hosting of a joint rally in Butler, Pa. on Oct. 5. Musk has also appeared at other Trump rallies, most recently at the controversial Oct. 27 rally that the Trump campaign held at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Though formerly self-identifying as a “moderate Democrat,” Musk has made a noticeable shift toward the right in recent months and aligned himself with the president-elect.
Musk publicly declared his support for Trump following the first attempted assassination against him in July, , tweeting an endorsement of the former president. From that point on, Musk became deeply involved in the election, even creating his own independent expenditure-only political action committee — the America PAC — to support Trump’s endeavors.
In the weeks leading up to the election, Musk and his super PAC made headlines for the legality surrounding the PAC’s efforts to donate money to Pennsylvania voters. This specific $1 million donation to voters was part of a much larger effort by Musk to increase Republican turnout and efforts in swing states throughout the country.
Musk, because of his ongoing personal and financial support for the Trump campaign has the potential to gain a substantial amount of power from the new administration. Musk, the world's wealthiest person, is the largest shareholder of automobile company Tesla, space technology company SpaceX, and social media company X — formerly known as Twitter.
His companies also have much to gain within a new Trump administration, which could significantly diminish Musk’s regulatory and legal issues. SpaceX could receive a particular benefit from the upcoming Trump administration, primarily through an expedition to Mars that Musk and SpaceX are aiming to achieve.
Legal Studies and Business Ethics professor Brian Feinstein wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian that “Space X and its subsidiary Starlink have deep supplier relationships with the [United States] government,” especially in “national-security matters.”
“Musk also has strong, decades-long interests in interplanetary space travel and artificial intelligence, in ways that appear to go beyond a simple profit motive,” Feinstein wrote. “A role in developing government policy in these areas is clearly attractive to him.”
According to the statement announcing Musk and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's leadership of the new department, it "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government."
“This [department] will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said in the statement.
Prior to Trump’s announcement, Feinstein wrote he was “skeptical that Musk would be interested in spending much of his time on a 'government efficiency commission.'”
“Although such proposals to curb government waste routinely feature in presidential campaigns, executing on them has historically proven to be extremely challenging,” he wrote.
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