Listen to this note:
Hostile takeover, disinformation and massive socio-digital siege: these are the tactics that Elon Musk is employing to take over democracy in the United States and Europe. For the time being, it is foreseeable that he will also seek to intervene in the rest of America and other continents. And he has made it very clear that he is determined to acquire politicians and parties to bring the extreme right to power.
Not just any extreme right: those who submit to their will.
The neo-Nazis of Alternative for Germany and other candidates for his financial support would do well to look at how he trims the beards of their neighbours and ask themselves whether they really want to put their own beards on the line. With public and direct threats, Musk has put the Republicans in check in order to derail negotiations on the federal budget. And in the United Kingdom, over the promise of millions in donations to the ultra-party Reform UK, he is demanding that the party change its leader.
Although both are hungry for attention, there are fundamental differences:
Donald Trump's return to the White House is a tragedy for his country and the world. But his 78 years, his obesity and the constitutional mandate impose a time limit on his influence, his wealth is "barely" 5.5 billion dollars and he has a habit of seeking to have others pay for his projects; he does not like to open the checkbook.
Elon Musk is only 53 years old, has a fortune 77 times greater than Trump's ($425 billion), the sociodigital network X and the more than proven intention to invest huge sums of their own money to poison democratic systems and take them over.
Buying “America”
Elon Musk made an investment in Trump's election campaign that is unparalleled in the history of the world: $277 million, his 210 million followers on X/Twitter and the darkness of his social-digital network to amplify the speeches in favor of his candidate.
Although it has not been statistically proven, it is possible that Trump owes his victory to his ally, who focused his resources on the seven swing states that define the contest: at least in the three northern states, which would have reversed the result if Kamala Harris had won them, Trump's advantage was so small that it can be argued that the Musk factor was the key: Wisconsin (0.9%), Michigan (1.4%) and Pennsylvania (1.7%). In Georgia, it was 2.2%.
He immediately turned his input into direct and indirect political influence: He got the president-elect to create a custom-made toy for him to intervene in his administration (whimsically called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, after his favorite cryptocurrency); to allow him to have a hand in foreign policy, involving him in dealings with foreign leaders; and, most significantly, to validate him, rather than restrain or reprimand him for launching an assault on an already-closed federal budget deal necessary for both the outgoing and incoming presidents, by trying to save face by declaring that he acted with his approval.
Even more shocking is that no one stood up to him when he used X to provoke mass harassment of Republican lawmakers who refused to submit to his demands, and above all, when he threatened to cause them to lose their seats next year by financing their rivals in the party's primary elections.
Has Trumpism become Trumpomuskism?
Not many believe it. Democrats have taken pleasure in poking at Trump’s most vulnerable spot – his ego – by talking about a “President Musk” and bets are being exchanged on how long it will take the new president to limit, confine or weaken his powerful ally, and whether he will succeed (“When Elon tweets something and then Trump tweets something, Republicans don’t know which one of them is their daddy,” Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocked in a video).
But no one imagines Musk will stay put. In the Republicans' calculations, for the present and the future, his inevitable and risky interaction with Muskism already occupies a central place.
For Democrats, too.
Take over Europe
As it should be for the Western Hemisphere, at least.
At the heart of the European Union, Musk has gone straight to trying to unbalance the political game board on the eve of the February elections, first with a tweet in which he stated that “only AfD (Alternative for Germany) can save Germany”, and then with a full article in its support, which he had published in none other than the daily Die Welt and its Sunday edition Welt am Sonntag, owned by the powerful media group Axel Springer.
He also called Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “incompetent fool” (labeling him “Olaf Schitz,” playing on the word “shit”) and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier an “undemocratic tyrant.”
That country is central to the EU. And if Musk's desire to impact the 27-nation community was not already clear, he had already made it manifest when he called its executive body - the European Commission - "undemocratic" and openly demanded reform of the balance of power between the institutions of the community's political system.
On the other side of the English Channel, he has been equally active: on the one hand, demanding that King Charles III dissolve parliament and call elections, along with
with the resignation of Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, mixing it up with an old case that he describes as “the worst mass murder in British history”. It is a lie but Musk has amply demonstrated his fondness for fake news, as well as his hatred of prestigious media: he is also calling for the BBC to be defunded.
And until a few days ago, he was a supporter of Nigel Farage, founder of the ultra-nationalist party Reform UK, to the point of promising him a hundred million dollars. But when Musk demanded the release of Tommy Robinson, an extremist agitator so poisonous that not even Farage could validate his demand, the owner of X used the network to disqualify him and demand that he be replaced.
Alarm bells are ringing in Europe (which is also facing Russian interference in its electoral processes in various areas).
So close to Musk and the United States
In the south and north of the United States, Musk has not yet made any systematic interventions. But he does not hide his desire.
The most scandalous thing was, without a doubt, when in July 2020, in reference to Bolivia, he proclaimed that “We are going to carry out coups against whoever we want. Accept it!”
And the most consequential was his attempt to subjugate the Brazilian judiciary so that his companies would not pay taxes, which was successfully confronted and stopped by President Lula.
In addition to being upset by comments unfavorable to Trump by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he called him “insufferable,” predicted that “he will not be in power much longer,” and then praised Pierre Poilievre, a populist agitator who leads the Conservative Party of Canada.
But through Trumpism, Musk is in contact with the operations of the American and European far right to promote political figures and parties of that line in Latin America, particularly through the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) meetings and the Atlas Network organization (in public alliance with the Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who is in financial trouble but owns the three Televisión Azteca networks and many subsidiaries in other countries).
Trump, just a warning
By inheritance or hostile takeover - as he likes - Trumpism is susceptible to becoming Muskism. Or more likely, to becoming one more piece of global Muskism.
The vulnerability that Trump himself feels towards his ally was jokingly revealed on December 22, when, despite speaking before an audience of young far-right supporters totally devoted to him, he was unable to argue his personal authority to rule out Musk replacing him, but instead took refuge in an accidental situation: “No, he is not going to be president, I can assure you of that. And I am safe. Do you know why he can’t be? He was not born in this country” (but in South Africa).
In memes on social media, they replicated Tywyn Lannister's phrase in the series "Game of Thrones": "Any man who has to say 'I am the king' is in no way a true king."
Would Musk want to be president? Only he knows, but I highly doubt it. Why would he agree to lock himself into a job that demands so much time and attention, with a scope that he will find limited and exposed to accountability, when he can impose and manage behind the scenes not only future presidents and legislators of the United States, but of several other countries, while continuing to conquer the automotive industry, the skies of the planet and outer space?
Musk is a monster of capitalism that was bound to emerge sooner or later, representing the worst of this system in terms of exploitation of people and the environment, arrogance and excessive ambition. Add to this a degree of madness. And a fortune never seen before.
And Muskism affected us: Trump was only the warning.
You may be interested in: Musk now attacks the German president: “He is a democratic tyrant”
