- Elon Musk used to try and stay out of politics, but that's all changed this election.
- He posts about politics on X significantly more now than he did just a few years ago.
In 2015, Elon Musk said that he gets "involved in politics as little as possible." Tonight, he has plans to interview former President Donald Trump, whom he has endorsed for president.
Musk's public persona had more to do with his tech companies than his politics as recently as 2021. As of November of that year, Musk tweeted a great deal about Tesla and SpaceX, his most valuable companies at the time. Approximately ⅓ of his posts on what was then Twitter related to those ventures, the Washington Post reported.
Since buying the social media platform and turning it into X in October of 2022, Musk has transformed his posting habits. Now, political tweets comprise 17% of his feed, compared to 2% in 2021, according to the Post. He espouses right-wing policies and theories, particularly those pertaining to immigration, anti-woke ideology, and the 2024 election.
On July 13, the same day a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump, Musk endorsed the former president in a post on X, crystallizing his political affiliations this election cycle.
Musk's foray into politics is not unique amongst his peers in Silicon Valley — this election, the tech world has publicly, at times bitterly divided itself into partisan camps. As figures like Reid Hoffman and Ron Conway throw their support behind Kamala Harris, others, like Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, are firmly backing Trump.
In the spring, Musk turned his ideology into action and formed the America PAC, which is supporting Trump's reelection campaign. Musk has dumped millions into the PAC and inspired other like-minded Silicon Valley figures to do the same, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Despite initial organizing chaos, the PAC has recently regrouped under new leadership, with the goal of organizing hundreds of thousands of voters in swing states. The group has relied on digital ads to reach potential Trump voters and spent nearly $900,000 on such ads between July 8 and July 23 alone, per the Journal's reporting.
At first, Musk didn't want to be seen as the face of the PAC and kept his involvement somewhat private. But as the most-followed person on X, his political actions and statements have broad implications. He boasts 193 million followers on his own social media site, which at times purposefully boosts his posts. What's more, X says that 35 million swing voters use the platform each month.
When he begins to live-stream his interview with Trump at 8 pm EST, the tech mogul will only further lodge himself into the political world and, potentially, reach the voters who will decide this election.