Elon Musk spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Donald Trump win November’s presidential election, according to new filings, underscoring the influence one of the world’s wealthiest people had on this year’s White House race.
The billionaire owner of electric car maker Tesla and SpaceX gave $259 million to groups supporting Trump’s 2024 campaign, according to new Federal Election Commission filings released late on Thursday.
The huge donations made Musk one of the biggest underwriters of a presidential campaign in U.S. history, helping him to become a powerful political ally of Trump and someone who now plays a key role in shaping the incoming Republican administration’s policy agenda.
And it’s a fraction of what his corporations received from the federal government in various grants, contracts and subsidies. I’m sure he’ll earn all of that back when his government efficiency office privatises everything to companies he runs.