Elon Musk has never been elected to office. President-elect Donald Trump has not tapped him to serve in any role inside the government. Until the July assassination attempt, he never even publicly supported Trump.
But this week, critics of the world’s richest man say he attained a new title: “shadow president” of the United States.
In a matter of hours on Wednesday, Musk wielded his powerful X account to pressure House Republicans to torpedo a spending bill that would have kept the federal government open for three months. Musk’s rapid-fire messages — which included numerous false claims about the contents of the spending bill — ricocheted through Washington, where some lawmakers reported their phone lines were ringing all day with calls from constituents who saw Musk’s posts. More than 12 hours after Musk’s first post calling lawmakers to not pass the bill, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance also put out a statement opposing the legislation, and House Republicans scrapped the deal….
Musk’s outsize role in sending the federal government careening toward a potential shutdown before Christmas has alarmed Democrats, academics and watchdog groups, while some Republicans said his intervention was uninformed.
The tech billionaire’s swift accumulation of political power has sparked criticism that the incoming Trump administration will function like an oligarchy, with Musk pushing for policies that will further enrich him and his companies. Trump has named Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as co-chairs of an outside group dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which will advocate for vast cuts to federal spending….
Musk’s wealth, online following and political power have exploded since Trump’s November victory, after he emerged as the country’s largest political donor, throwing $277 million into backing Donald Trump and other Republicans. Many watchdog groups have raised concerns that Musk could abuse his access to Trump and role in shaping the Republican agenda at a time when he is the target of multiple government investigations and party to many lucrative government contracts.
Musk has conflicts of interest because of his businesses’ dependency on the government, said Martin Gilens, professor of public policy at UCLA who has studied economic inequality in political influence.
“It’s kind of a perfect storm, in the sense that he’s unelected and in a seemingly very influential position so that’s problematic to begin with,” he said.