Yedioth Ahronoth: Elon Musk is America’s shadow president
Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper spoke in an article by Tzippy Shmilovitz, about billionaire Elon Musk’s foray into politics and influence in the United States.
Shmilovitz wrote that when Musk bought Twitter (which later became X) two years ago, for a whopping $44 billion, it seemed like a whim for a man who had nothing more than money and narcissism.
Shmilovitz doubts that Musk planned to use this platform to become the most influential citizen in the history of American politics, and even if he planned to do so, it’s not certain whether he believed at the time that he would become so effective, as his relationship with Trump was very cold.
The meeting between Elon Musk and Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, which the Iranians deny took place, was truly surprising.
According to Shmilovitz, this meeting shouldn’t be surprising; Musk worked hard and invested his resources to help Trump win, and nothing comes for free.
Musk brought Trump back to X platform, which he now owns, and held regular meetings with him and gained influence throughout the past periods.
Trump chose J.D. Vance as his vice president, under pressure from Musk (and another influential billionaire, Peter Thiel), explaining that the US president who won the election would not have chosen – without this pressure – someone who was called “the American Hitler” a few years ago.
Musk invested tens of millions of dollars in Trump’s campaign, making the biggest deal of his life.
Musk’s constant presence with Trump, “He sat next to Trump in every meeting he held, and no appointment took place without Musk’s approval”.
The most important fact, according to Shmilovitz, is that he participated in the first conversations Trump held with foreign leaders, including Volodymyr Zelensky.
Shmilovitz recounts a scene from a dinner party at Mar-a-Lago last week: Musk entered the dining room after Trump, and the audience rose to their feet and applauded him with the same intensity with which they had greeted Trump 30 minutes earlier.
And you wonder if Trump’s fragile ego will tolerate more such scenes?
