Donald Trump’s name may have been on the ballots when Republicans won the presidential election, but there are already signs that billionaire Elon Musk is asserting ultimate control over the party.
When Trump first accepted the 2016 Republican nomination, he infamously proclaimed, “I alone can fix it.” But eight years later, showing signs of physical and mental decline, Trump is relying on Musk to prop up his political ambitions.
Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, spent a reported $200 million to support Trump in the election. Some of its money was used to prop up X, formerly Twitter, which is owned by Musk. This served a dual purpose of feeding X advertising funds it lost after sponsors left largely due to racist content, but it also aided a social media network that was the center of multiple pro-Trump falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and attacks.
Trump’s own social media network, Truth Social, has effectively been an also-ran in this respect, and other than Trump’s posts there, its content receives almost no mainstream attention.
America PAC is not winding down after the election. Musk has said it will continue to operate, backing Republican candidates, including likely contestants in the 2028 presidential primaries. Before this development, the biggest influence in Republican primaries since 2016 has been Trump. His hand-selected candidates have frequently underperformed, but now Musk’s actions threaten to overshadow Trump’s power base.
