Author: Simon Shuster, Time; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Who did we just elect? There are two names at the top of the Republican ballot: Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. But part of this crazy November left the impression that someone else has taken control of our collective destiny.

We’ve met him in various roles—the man who bought Twitter and laid off more than half its staff, the inventor who brought the space program back to life, whose new truck lets kids Automakers stood and stared on the sidewalk. Suddenly, Elon Musk was in the field, leading rallies, directing appointments, and setting the agenda for the next president of the United States.

For more than three years, he has been one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. Markets surged and fell on his tweets. Astronaut flies in his spaceship. The army used the signals from his satellites to advance. Conspiracy theories became mainstream through his embrace. But it was only in the spotlight of these elections that the full extent of his influence became apparent.

Not since the days of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper tycoon who fueled Roosevelt's rise nearly a century ago, has a The ordinary citizen, so prominent in so many aspects of American life, is now included in the force field of his will. Standing next to him, even Trump seemed almost awed, less a boss than a peer because the planet and its challenges were not big enough for him.

Photo illustration provided by Time magazine (Source image: NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Currently, They are like partners, linked by the benefits they trade and their shared desire to disrupt institutions. They may temporarily use one voice to give commands. But their agendas don’t align on everything. Both are willful, impulsive, and accustomed to being in control. What happens if they start to conflict?

In this kind of battle, Musk may not have the upper hand. History is littered with the remnants of kingmakers who fought wars against their own appointed leaders. No matter how much wealth or influence Musk accumulates, the tools of power will remain in the hands of the president, and things could get messy if he decides to use them against the billionaires who helped him return to the White House.

Ultimately, the durability of their partnership may depend on Musk's motivations: What prompted him to become a MAGA prophet? If it was money he wanted, mission accomplished.

His fortune soared by more than $50 billion in the week after the election, peaking at more than $320 billion as investors frantically chased Tesla shares.But wealth has never been Musk's obsession. That he's betting his fortune on lunar passion projects, like building a greenhouse on Mars, is proof enough that his dreams are different from those of the average Klingon on Trump's starship. (Golden Finance Note: The Klingons are a warlike alien race in the fictional universe of "Star Trek".)

People close to Musk said that since he founded the rocket company SpaceX in 2002, , his ultimate goal has not changed. (The company’s investors include Time magazine owners Marc and Lynne Benioff.) His favorite T-shirt reads: Occupy Mars. “It’s all about this mission,” one member of Musk’s social circle recently told him about his plans. "He just realizes that controlling the U.S. budget, directly or indirectly, will get us to Mars in his lifetime. Doing it privately will be slower."

This doesn't mean U.S. taxpayers will pay for Musk dreams of interstellar travel. But when eccentric dreamers are in charge, the public does tend to pay the price. Millions of Americans, from retired factory workers to debt-ridden graduates and newborns, benefit from the social programs Musk has promised to cut. Although Musk tweets multiple times a day to his 205 million followers, he has declined to answer reporters' questions, including this time, since he became an adviser to the president-elect. He did not explain his engagement with U.S. adversaries ranging from Russia to Iran. He also failed to resolve conflicts of interest arising from his key role in companies being investigated by regulators.

So far, Trump seems happy to play along. In his victory speech on November 6, he spent four minutes praising Musk, a "super genius" who helped launch his campaign on the ground in Pennsylvania and who reportedly paid canvassers to knock down votes. Eleven million doors were opened and vans were hired to take the Amish to the polls. "We have a new star," Trump cheered from the stage in Florida. “A star is born — Musk!” It wasn’t until about 19 minutes into the speech that the president-elect returned to the teleprompter and remembered to thank his constituents.

Musk’s significance to the Trump campaign goes well beyond the $120 million he poured into it, the on-the-ground programs he built or the social media boost he provided. For many young people who flocked to Trump, Musk personified an ideal. He infuses familiar acts of nostalgia with originality and possibility. If Trump excited supporters with his promise to destroy corrupt institutions, Musk represents a commitment to creating new things and solving difficult problems. Trump didn't look that old at the rally, with the Diablo-playing edgelord bouncing around him. While Trump's opponents paint his team as a bunch of fools, the greatest innovator of our time has a knack for pulling off outlandish plansrecord, but promised to cut $2 trillion in spending, making it more difficult for his opponents.

No matter how often Democrats remind us that Trump’s fortune comes from inherited wealth, multiple bankruptcies and decades of corporate shenanigans, they can’t deny Musk’s achievements as a businessman. Even Sen. Bernie Sanders, the scourge of the billionaire class, sidestepped his criticism in a recent podcast: “Elon Musk is a very, very progressive, capable businessman and what he’s accomplished Impressive. He said I could do more in one week than I could in five years, and in some ways he was right." At a time when confidence is at an ebb, many voters want to see a capable outsider, ruthless and independent, who knows how to use a mammoth machine to make it leaner, faster and more efficient. Musk’s commitment to the U.S. bureaucracy has created momentum and cover for cost-cutting on a scale not seen in Washington in years. That agenda didn’t make much progress during Trump’s first term as president. Millions of people rely on jobs and the protections provided by regulators from predatory businesses, such as those that allow us to misuse opioids and cigarettes to treat asthma. But smaller Republicans will be eager to follow Musk's lead and get embroiled in ugly budget battles over federal waste and bloated entitlements. Many Americans will support them.

On the campaign trail, Musk’s most convincing arguments were not on Joe Rogan’s show or on stage at a Trump rally. It was on the launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, where Musk's aerospace company wowed the world by capturing the returning rocket with a pair of robotic arms. If the people who do this support Trump so passionately, can’t Trump accomplish some of the things he promises?

Many voters seem to think so, especially the young men Musk is targeting with his bravado. "The most important factor here is that men need to vote," Musk told Rogan on the eve of the election. The next day, when 60 percent of whites voted for Trump, Musk tweeted: “The cavalry has arrived.” But his appeal extends far beyond the manosphere. Rights-oriented blogs and websites). It also moved a large number of voters who were bored by Trump's character but excited by his . Television experts say these people need a "permission structure"; Musk provides that to suburban women like Betsy Stecz. As she stood in line for his October rally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she said: Well, I can hold my head up and say: I am not ashamed to vote for Donald Trump. "In her mind, the reason was Musk.

Given his role in the victory, Musk was probably expecting something in return. But he reportedlyThe position in the Trump transition makes some in Trump's entourage uneasy. Musk spent much of November camping out at Mar-a-Lago, weighing Cabinet picks and advising Trump on priorities. He played golf with the president-elect, sat courtside with him at an Ultimate Fighting Championship game and posed for photos with the Trump family; one grandson praised Musk on social media for having achieved "uncle status." Musk has coined a different term for his position: "first partner."

On November 16, 2024, US President-elect Donald Trump, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon · Musk and Donald Trump Jr. (right) watch UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Kena Betancur-AFP /Getty Images

Even that would be an understatement. Turkish and Ukrainian leaders asked Musk to monitor their calls with Trump. An Iranian envoy accused of trying to assassinate Trump reportedly met with Musk to discuss easing tensions. (Iran’s foreign ministry denied the meeting.) When House Republicans invited Trump to a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, Musk followed, plastering the words “ GUEST 1” label.

At that time, Trump tapped him to lead a new entity called the Department of Productivity. Its abbreviation, DOGE, is a nod to the dog-themed cryptocurrency that Musk promoted as a joke. But its mission is serious. Trump claimed to "dismantle" the federal bureaucracy and "reorganize" its agencies. "This will send shock waves throughout the system," Musk said.

It could also give Musk influence over the many agencies that oversee his work. Weeks before Election Day, the U.S. Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it was investigating Tesla's self-driving cars after a crash. In June, California regulators ordered Tesla to "correct ongoing air quality violations at its Fremont facility." Tesla says its cars are safe and its facilities meet environmental standards. SpaceX has also clashed with the Federal Aviation Administration, which Musk threatened to sue in September. A New York Times review found that his company faced at least 20 regulatory fights and investigations from "every corner." Musk and multiple representatives declined to comment or respond to questions from TIME for this article, including about potential conflicts of interest.

He has yet to explain what principles will guide his purge of the bureaucracy. DOGE co-director Vivek Ramaswamy ran on a pro-business, liberal stance in the last Republican primary. In contrast, Musk’s tendencies are more difficult to determine. This summer, he called himself a "historically moderate Democrat." He called climate change the defining challenge of our time. When Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, Musk stood in line for six hours to shake his hand.

His relationship with Trump has often been rocky. They have very different views on tariffs, and Musk resigned as a White House adviser in 2017 after less than six months in protest of Trump's climate change. Five years later, Musk sparked a backlash when he said it was time for Trump to "ride off into the sunset." Trump said: "Musk should focus on getting himself out of the chaos on Twitter because he may owe $44 billion for something that may be worthless."

Trump said it Makes sense. Musk's acquisition of Twitter makes no obvious business sense. By 2022, he paid at least twice the company's value, then spent weeks destroying the company's revenue streams and cashing in on its talent. Under his leadership, the company's headcount dropped from 8,000 to about 1,500, he said. Some of his posts on the platform (which he renamed "X") have been viewed as lulls in corporate self-inflicted wounds. Some have called anti-Semitic theories “real truth.” (He later apologized.) Another shared a conspiracy theory about the Hammer attack that hospitalized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband with a fractured skull. In response, dozens of companies, including Microsoft and Coca-Cola, pulled ads from the platform. “Don’t advertise,” he told them on stage at a conference last fall. "If someone wants to blackmail me with advertising and blackmail me with money, then get out." Investment company Fidelity assessed in October that X has lost nearly 80% of its value in the past two years.

Clockwise from upper left: Mark Seliger for Time, Mark Mahaney for Time, Nigel Buchanan illustrates for TIME, Tim O'Brien illustrates for TIME

Musk doesn't seem to care. Even without most of its staff, the platform continues to operate, regularly topping the list of most downloaded news apps on Apple's App Store. Major advertisers are already back. For some observers, all of this is reason enough to applaud Musk's acquisition as a masterwork of corporate efficiency. "What Elon did to Twitter is he went into Twitter, cleaned house, and now it's running better than it was before," said a member of Musk's social circle. "So the sentiment is that hopefully Musk can get along with America does the same thing”

This is a tall order.. Even fiscal hawks are balking at Musk's pledge to eliminate $2 trillion in federal spending. That would require cuts to Medicare, Social Security and other parts of the social safety net. Musk warned the nation to prepare for a period of "temporary hardship" as these cuts take effect. But it's unclear whether he has the ability to make them. DOGE will remain without the authority to fire federal employees. Many budget experts expect it to be like countless blue ribbon panels that try and fail to pressure politicians to cut programs beloved by voters. The U.S. Congress doesn’t need help when it comes to identifying waste, fraud, and abuse: It already has an oversight unit called the Office of Accountability that’s doing the job.

Many early fans of DOGE say they recognized the limitations of its potential but celebrated it nonetheless. Wall Street Journal columnist Andy Kessler wrote on November 17: “Yes, efficiency departments may be a pipe dream and may end up as necessary as Monty Python’s Folly Department.” "But even if Musk's DOGE just cuts some bloat and saves hundreds of billions of dollars, it will be worth it."

During the campaign, Musk repeatedly talked about the necessity of America. Live “honestly” and “within your means.” But if his social media platform is any guide, his goals may have less to do with efficiency and more to do with ideology. His stated goal of acquiring Twitter aligns with one of his favorite reasons for supporting Trump: He says he wants to save free speech in America. "Free speech is the cornerstone of democracy," he told Joe Rogan on the eve of the election. "Once you lose free speech, you lose democracy. Game over. That's why I bought Twitter." Multiple reports and studies have concluded that under his stewardship the platform has become home to hateful and harmful content Haven, in part because he fired its content moderation team.

When asked to explain his shift to the right, Musk often refers to the "work mind virus," his term for the left shift in American society that, in his view, has given rise to identity, cancellation culture and allegedly rampant online censorship. His resentment against these forces is not just personal. During the pandemic, one of his children sought gender-affirming medical care, and Musk said he was tricked into granting it. His transgender daughter, now 20 and estranged from her father, legally changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson in 2022. In a July podcast, Musk said his children "are dead, killed by the awakening virus. I vow to destroy the work mind virus from now on."

Wilson published hers the next day Response: "For a damn bitch, I'm looking pretty good." On November 5, as the election results became clear, Wilson had another message: "Blame it on the damn politicians and oligarchs who made this happen," she wrote. "Tell them yourBe angry. ”

In ancient Greek, the word oligarchy means “rule by the few.” Its earliest critic was Aristotle. In the 4th century BC, the philosopher It is described as a situation of "property in the hands of the propertied". In medieval Venice, the leader of the oligarchy ruled for life, and his title was the same as that given to his new ministry: doge.

Elon Musk speaks at a rally for former US President and presidential candidate Donald Trump. Sasha Raika - Rolling Stone/Getty Images p>

The purest modern manifestation of this system was in Russia in the 1990s, when a handful of businessmen acquired control of the economy during the chaotic transition to capitalism, the Russian term for oligarchs. semibankirshchina - The rule of seven bankers

The most powerful of them is Boris Berezovsky, who used his media assets to help Putin win the 2000 election. The first election saw the new president share the spoils of power. Instead, Russia soon forced Berezovsky into exile and confiscated his television network, leaving the oligarch bankrupt and alone. 2013 He died at his mansion in the British countryside in what authorities ruled a suicide. To this day, his former media channels continue to carry messages from the Kremlin. 1 Alex Goldfarb, who now lives in New Jersey, has followed Musk and Trump’s lead with familiarity and fear. “Oligarchs seem to be forming here, too,” he said. “In the early years under Putin, the oligarchs did their best to fight fight," Goldfarb said. "Here we seem to have two oligarchs, Musk and Trump, working together to take over. ”

The outcome may depend on how this new duopoly treats the institutions they will soon control. If the goal is to hone them into leaner, more effective tools of governance, then the public can to benefit from shaping a system long burdened by bureaucratic weakness. . But Trump also uses these tools as Putin did in Russia—to benefit his friends and sideline his enemies.

Musk has much to gain from this arrangement as long as he persists." First Partner" role, he may expect to be able to easily escape Trump's role throughout His clearest path to Mars therefore runs directly through the Oval Office. But what else will ordinary Americans gain from watching the spectacle of his success?

Providing us with health care, keeping our water clean, and educating our childrenOrganizations are not meant to be run like businesses. They were not built for profit, but that does not make them less valuable, especially to citizens who can least afford to pay. If these institutions are eliminated in Musk's drive for efficiency, the difficulties for those who rely on support will not be temporary. For them, the pain could be devastating, and none of Musk's promises about an interstellar future can help them solve today's problems.