Elon Musk says he has “done enough” to help MAGA Republicans win elections, signaling a shift in his kingmaker role as Donald Trump’s top campaign backer.
After months of watching his popularity plummet, the DOGE slasher-in-chief said he plans to cut back on funding political campaigns, a move that could dampen the Republicans’ efforts at next year’s midterm elections and in the lead up to the 2028 presidential election.
“I think, in terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said, when asked at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday if he would continue spending as much as he has in the past.
Like Trump, Musk revealed his personality early on. In the 1990s when Trump was losing his father’s money in casinos, Musk was making his money by using his father’s money to buy profitable dotcom startups and claiming them as his own. Then he sold them before the market crashed.
SpaceX has been kind of a blip in all this; all his other companies are very much run in the traditional Musk style though, with him taking credit where luck and other people’s hard work are responsible.
I’m so glad that people know this. The hero worship for so many years was nauseating if you knew the tiny details.