Don’t Be Fooled. Elon Musk Isn’t Going Anywhere.
The same is true for Musk’s other companies. Many, particularly Starlink and SpaceX, are heavily dependent on government contracts. It’s hard to imagine a world in which a Democratic administration were to continue supplying these companies with the kinds of lucrative deals that have kept them afloat for years, given that Musk is now the GOP’s most important donor and has spent the last several years accusing Democrats of importing violent undocumented immigrants for the purpose of rigging elections. Musk’s companies are, to be fair, also reliant on contracts with other countries, but here his close association with Trump is an even bigger problem. In early March, Ontario canceled a $100 million contract with Starlink in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs and threats of making Canada the fifty-first state. It’s not hard to imagine other governments, including ones much larger than Canada’s most populous province, following suit.
X, Musk’s social media platform, is in another category altogether. It might be the very source of his problems, both because it’s a massively unprofitable business and because Musk’s posts on it constantly draw attention to his vile politics. Its value has decreased dramatically since he bought it in 2022, and it has seen a liberal exodus as Musk has turned it into a far-right cesspool, where he fiddles with the controls in order to amplify extremism and suppress voices he disagrees with. Yes, its fortunes have recently stabilized, but much of the turnaround is the result of his close association with Donald Trump—once he leaves power, the company will have many of the same problems. As with Tesla, it’s difficult to imagine its long-term survival with Musk at the helm.
Even if Musk were to shut up about his odious beliefs, which is frankly impossible to imagine, it’s even harder to imagine that the world’s richest person would suddenly stop funding Republicans. He was by far the party’s biggest donor last year, and he will most likely be the biggest donor in the midterms. He has already pledged to support any primary campaign of a Republican deemed disloyal to the administration.
