How Elon Musk is Trying to Buy Influence Across Americas

The world’s richest people tend to keep low profiles away from the cameras and microphones. This strategy has not only hid them from public opinion, which can quickly find culprits for economic crises and geopolitical disasters, but also kept them away from judicial retaliation. However, in the last several years, some of the richest people in the world understood that their image is a commodity that is valued as it can gain significant traction and influence in public opinion. Many have sought to cash in on this.

Why? The answer is not very complicated: to personally influence politics. Many rich people indeed prefer to have political figureheads on their payroll to do the “dirty work” of pressuring for certain policies, blocking  any initiatives which would threaten their bottom line (profit) while they pull the strings behind the scenes. However, watching a rich man like Elon Musk, who has become a celebrity appearing on TV series like The Big Bang Theory or Rick and Morty, as well as countless talk shows, in addition to his voice resonating all over his social media platform X, has paved the way for him to become a political voice that is listened to.

This strategy allows him to feed a powerful ideology that increasingly permeates among young people and that conveniently benefits the wealthy: the most successful businessman must necessarily be an expert voice on politics because if he is successful in business (which for many is the alpha and omega of human existence) he would surely be successful in all the other supposedly lesser aspects of life.

Isn’t Trump the best example of this successful media and political strategy? Elon Musk seems to want to emulate Trump in this respect, albeit through new media technologies. If Trump used paid television and reality shows, Elon Musk had the audacity (and, it must be said, the intelligence) to become an influencer who bought his social network (Twitter, now X, the most “political” of the social networks) and to comment whenever he can on politics in the United States and other countries. It is not unreasonable to think, then, that Musk could have among his dreams and future projects to have direct access to an oval-shaped office in Washington and finally become the most important “influencer” in the world.

Musk and the US election campaign

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has not only donated 75 million dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign in three months but has appeared at several Republican campaign rallies, most importantly in Pennsylvania, one of the most important “swing states” and where Trump was recently attacked. He has also put the social network X to work around the clock in favor of the candidate of his choice. In addition, he is currently handing out money to people who sign a petition for which they must be registered voters in a bid to win their votes over for Trump.

In a recent article for Liberation News, Walter Smolarek explains how this method works: “Musk presents his vote-buying scheme as a petition in support of free speech and gun rights. If you sign the petition and live in a swing state, you get USD 47 – or USD 100 if you live in the especially important swing state of Pennsylvania. If you refer a friend to sign the petition, then you get paid too. And then one lucky Pennsylvanian who signed the petition will win a daily lottery and receive USD 1 million! To sign the petition, you have to be a registered voter… The ‘petition’ essentially pays people who lean towards right-wing ideas to register to vote. And then petition signers’ personal information is fed into Musk’s lavishly-funded turnout operation, which bombards the newly-registered voters with non-stop messages to get them to actually cast a ballot on election day.”

In this way, Musk is not only leveraging his political clout to convince Americans that Trump embodies salvation and that Harris will necessarily lead the country to ruin, but he is also subverting electoral laws and using his fortune to get the candidate of his choice elected.

Musk in Latin America

Before he was paying voters in the US, the billionaire was attempted to influence leaders and events in Latin America.

The world’s richest man has met with the radical neoliberal and far-right president of Argentina, Javier Milei, on multiple occasions to promise high levels of investment in the lithium-rich South American country and to cement their relationship of mutual admiration. In September, the South African business magnate wrote on X, “President Javier Milei is doing an incredible job restoring Argentina to greatness!” adding “The example you are setting with Argentina will be a helpful model for the rest of the world.”After they met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Musk wrote on his platform X, “My companies are actively looking for ways to invest in and support Argentina.” Their relationship reveals something evident to so many: economic investments do have a clear ideological hue, including those that come from companies that are supposedly not interested in politics. However, Musk’s case is different: he cares about politics, and he does so publicly.

Así fue el reencuentro entre Elon Musk y Javier Milei.

Argentina volverá a ser grande otra vez. pic.twitter.com/Tddga9EYrV

— El Peluca Milei (@ElPelucaMilei) September 23, 2024

This was more than obvious in Venezuela’s recent presidential elections, where Musk and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had several heated exchanges on social media. In a video, Musk, elevating himself to the category of “orchestra conductor”, told Venezuelans: “When you get freedom, don’t repeat the same mistakes. Value democracy and freedom. It will be a gift from me and your great leaders to free yourselves from this dictatorship. And the only thing I ask in return is that you never again allow a communist and dictatorial government to rule you. Don’t make that mistake again. That’s all I ask.”  On several occasions Maduro has responded directly to Musk stating that Musk is scared but Maduro is willing to face off against the businessman. Following this spat, X was suspended in Venezuela for 10 days and many high-ranking members of the government and PSUV have not returned to the platform. Musk has continued to use his platform to condemn Maduro and socialism and call for the “return of democracy”.

Musk also recently faced off with Brazilian authorities in a legal dispute. After he had failed to follow through on the request from Judge Alexandre de Moraes to assign a legal representative of the company in the country after several X employees were fired and to block accounts that, according to Moraes, spread hate messages and fake news, Moraes ordered the suspension of X in Brazil. Musk quickly claimed that it was due to an act of censorship and took the opportunity to accuse the Brazilian government (including President Lula Da Silva) of being anti-democratic: “The oppressive regime in Brazil is so afraid of the people knowing the truth that it will ruin anyone who tries…Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.” For his part, Judge Moraes said about the accounts (which mostly defended former President Jair Bolsonaro and the people who invaded the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court on January 8): “Freedom of expression should not be confused with permission to disrespect laws or promote anti-democratic ideals”. X was reinstated in Brazil over a month later on October 9 after Musk agreed to pay its pending fines, block the accounts, and assign a legal representative.

In 2020, after a Twitter user accused Musk of backing the coup in Bolivia against Evo Morales, Musk famously wrote on X (now deleted) “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.”

These are just some of the cases in which Musk has expressed his opinion on politics and justice in Latin America (always in favor of right-wing politicians and against left-wing ones), a territory that, due to its economic resources, is of significant importance for the richest person in the world. Whether through political alliances (as in Argentina), media disputes (as in Venezuela), or accusations against the justice system of other countries (as in Brazil), Musk is becoming a character that is not only in the US public eye but also a political element that Latin American governments must now consider to carry out their governance.