Our fixation on two leaders – Joe Biden and Donald Trump – each vying to be elected American president a second time is so great we cannot focus on the issues. I do not mean policy issues such as abortion and immigration. I mean systemic ones. Especially those that corrupt the political process.
High on this list I put money. Specifically, the astonishing ability of a few of the world’s wealthiest people to influence the outcome of an ostensibly democratic election. Such as Elon Musk. He is the quintessential example of a single individual with so much money and, in consequence, so much power that he is shaping not just the political conversation but the presidential campaign.
Musk’s money and power are of course entwined. The second is a consequence of the first, for without his having more money than God he would have little or no power.
Musk’s power comes from two sources. The first is X, the social media platform that he owns and that, though weakened in comparison to what it was in the heyday of Twitter (its previous name), still packs a punch. Musk uses X as his personal political platform. He says whatever he wants on the social media outlet, easily and instantly reaching his nearly 190 million followers. He uses X to push and promote people and positions he prefers, and to demean and denigrate those he does not. Musk has already done what no other leader of a social media outlet has done up to now: come out guns blazing for a particular presidential candidate and vowing to help him how he can.
But that’s not the only way that Musk has promised to provide his preference – Trump – with assistance. He has also committed to donating to Trump’s cause a considerable chunk of change. Between now (July) and October Musk will pour $45 million each month into the presidential campaign. This $180 million will be given to American PAC, a political action committee dedicated to reelecting Trump.
To be clear: Musk is not alone in his munificence. For instance, earlier this year billionaire George Soros donated $60 million to Democracy PAC, another political action committee, this one dedicated to helping candidates who are Democrats. Republican candidate for vice-president, J. D. Vance, is another example. He owes his newly elevated status in good part to tech mega mogul, Peter Thiel. In 2022 Thiel saw a young, like-minded politican running for the Senate in Ohio; he decided to support his candidacy to the tune of $15 million. Musk is alone though in that he combines his fortune with his fame to ensure his voice will be heard.
I don’t blame Musk for his behavior for the simple reason that he is an addict. He is a leader who lusts, who is insatiable, who cannot control his cravings for money and power.* This means that for Musk having more money and more power will never suffice. He will always want more of each than he already has. As Churchill warned of Hitler, “His appetite will grow with eating.”
Churchill’s point was of course that Hitler would not – I would claim that he could not – stop of his own volition. If by the late 1930s England and France wanted Hitler to change his aggressive ways, they would have had to compel him to do so. Preferably before Germany invaded Poland, not after.
For Musk’s behavior then I blame not him but us – we the American people. We the American people who have done nearly nothing to rein in social media platforms. We the American people who have done nearly nothing to rein in spending on political campaigns. Leaders like Musk are doing what comes naturally – to them. If we don’t like it, it’s up to us to stop it.
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For more on leaders who lust see my book of the same title, coauthored with Todd Pittinsky. (Leaders Who Lust: Power, Money, Sex, Success, Legitimacy, Legacy, Cambridge University Press, 2021.)