President-elect Donald Trump spent several minutes during his victory speech praising his billionaire backer and high-profile ally Elon Musk, stating that "a star is born".
"We have a new star. A star is born: Elon," Trump said to a roaring crowd of supporters early on Wednesday at the Palm Beach County Convention Centre.
The richest man in the world emerged in the back end of 2024 as one of Donald Trump's most high-profile and powerful allies in his election campaign.
Musk attended rallies alongside the incoming president, conducted his own speaking tour, used his social media site X to amplify pro-Trump messaging and pumped some $US120 million ($182.8 million) into backing Trump's campaign — most notably his giveaways offering $1 million every day to people in swing states who sign an online petition in support of the US Constitution.
Now, Trump has said he will appoint Musk to lead a government efficiency commission.
It seems like a match made in heaven — for each other, at least.
But how did they get here? Was Musk really the "star" Donald Trump needed to help him to take victory, and what role will he play in a Trump administration?
Trump and Musk not always bros
It certainly wasn't love at first sight between the two.
At a campaign rally in Alaska in 2022, Trump called the CEO of Tesla and Space X and the owner of X, formally Twitter, a "bullshit artist" for previously supporting the president's former opponents.
Musk donated to Hilary Clinton's 2016 campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission.
"I don't hate the man," Musk responded in July 2022, "but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset."
Just one day later, Trump said Musk would have "begged" him for government subsidies, in a message on his own social media app, Truth Social.
"When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help... without which subsidies he'd be worthless and tell me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it," Trump wrote.
Two and half years later, Musk spent election night with the Trumps at Mar-a-Largo, and Trump singled him out in his victory speech for being a "super genius".
"Let me tell you, we have a new star. He's a super genius. We have to protect our geniuses. We don't have that many of them," Trump said.
So what changed?
How did this relationship develop?
Some may argue that the bromance between Trump and Musk began after Musk's acquisition of then-Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion, now known as X.
Whilst Musk was not necessarily Team Trump yet (he used the platform to launch the failed presidential bid of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was challenging Trump for the Republican nomination), he had begun to make clear he was moving away from the Democratic Party.
In a post on X in May that same year, Musk said in the past he had voted Democrat "because they were (mostly) the kindness party" but they had become "the party of division & hate".
"I can no longer support them and will vote Republican," he wrote.
In November, Musk reinstated Trump's twitter account after more than 15 million accounts responded to a poll, reversing a ban that had kept the Republican off the social media site following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Then in 2024, at a Tesla shareholder meeting, Musk said that the two men had "some conversations" and Trump is a "huge fan" of Tesla's electric pick-up trucks.
Trump has reiterated his pledge to immediately abandon the Biden administration's "mandate" to support the electric vehicle industry.
How did Musk help Trump?
Musk, who has over 203 million followers on X, has used the social media platform to amplify right-wing conspiracy theories, spread misinformation and promote the Republican candidate.
In July, for example, he shared a video, generated with artificial intelligence and manipulating Vice President Harris' voice, in which Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, described herself as the "ultimate diversity hire" and criticised President Joe Biden.
By May of 2024, Musk had launched a political action committee (PAC) to support Trump's re-election bid.
Just two months later, after Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennslyvania, Musk formally endorsed Trump for the president of the United States.
And it didn't take long for Musk to emerge as a key player — and key funding — in the president's election efforts.
Musk's America PAC has been giving away $US1 million ($1.5 million) per day to registered voters in key swing states who sign a petition in support of the first and second amendments of the US constitution.
Some election experts have argued it violates federal prohibitions on people being paid to either register to vote or cast a ballot, and questions were raised after four of the 12 winners were residents of the crucial swing state Pennsylvania.
ABC's John Lyons said the lottery was "clearly a stunt" to try to help Trump, speaking to ABC's Gemma Veness.
"Elon Musk and Donald Trump are joined at the hip at the moment," he said.
Lyons said the pair "clearly see their interests as coinciding at the moment".
"There are questions though about why they are just in the swing state."
On Tuesday, Musk was sued by registered voters who signed his petition to win his lottery — saying it was fraud.
The complaint filed in a court in the city of Austin says the Tesla boss falsely induced voters to sign by claiming they would choose winners randomly, though they were predetermined.
A judge in Philadelphia dismissed a request by prosecutors to end Musk's giveaway, which they called an "illegal lottery".
What role will Elon Musk play?
After some nudging from the world's wealthiest person, Trump has said he would tap Elon Musk to lead a new government efficiency commission.
Musk has said at least $2 trillion could be cut from the $6.75 trillion federal budget.
And how that works could be a key to the next Trump administration.
Does efficiency mean fewer rules and regulators?
Musk has been a vocal critic, for instance, of federal review of his SpaceX rocket business.
That could mean less oversight of self-driving cars (a Tesla business) or rocket launches and much more.
The two men, however, are not completely in sync: Trump has said he won't let California require all vehicles in the state go electric in a decade, but Musk runs the world's most valuable EV company.
"A rising tide raises all boats. So to the extent that Elon is able to hamper the vilification of EVs by a potential Trump administration, all the better," said James Chen, former head of policy for Rivian and Tesla.
How Musk would address conflicts of interest between his interests in autos, space, health, construction and artificial intelligence is not clear.
Trump has pledged to be a "crypto president", a plan that may start with replacing industry opponent Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission chair who has sued most of the industry – including Coinbase COIN.N, Binance and Kraken.
Gensler's replacement is expected to review — and potentially tear up — accounting guidance and create industry exemptions from SEC rules.
Musk, too is a crypto supporter, as is Silicon Valley Trump supporter Marc Andreessen and incoming Vice President J.D. Vance.
Musk is also a big proponent of carbon-free energy, with Tesla being a major supplier of solar systems and batteries.
Trump has promised to kill the offshore wind industry and rescind all unspent funds under the Inflation Reduction Act – Biden's signature climate law.
But Trump faces dissent in his ranks: Republican lawmakers, oil companies and others see massive red state gains from the law.
Musk has played into that, building his second US electric vehicle factory in Texas, for instance.
ABC/wires
