Warum will Musk unbedingt in die Politik einsteigen?
As long as you've received compulsory education, you probably know that American politics is a "Donkey vs. Elephant" battle:
The United States operates under a "two - party system," where the Democratic Party (represented by the donkey) and the Republican Party (represented by the elephant) take turns in power. For example, the current President Trump is a Republican, and the previous President Biden was a Democrat.
However, after more than 170 years of the "Donkey vs. Elephant" battle, a "horse" might be barging in:
Elon Musk announced that he will establish a new political party: the America Party.
The world's richest man has officially declared war on the two - party system in the United States.
Although the new party hasn't completed its formalities and has little publicity, according to polls, 14% of people said they would vote for the "America Party," which shows its considerable influence!
Many people are shocked: Why does a tech mogul who builds rockets and electric vehicles, and is the richest man with a fortune of $400 billion, want to get involved in the muddy waters of politics?
But if you carefully examine the relationship between Musk's business empire and the US government, you'll discover a cruel truth:
Musk's entry into politics is not due to the inflation of ambition but rather a "king's helplessness."
When business is deeply tied to policies, politics is no longer an option but a necessity.
01 A "Surprising Turn" at the White House
Almost everyone on Earth knows that Musk was a major financial backer for Trump's presidential campaign this time and had high hopes for him.
Musk really put his money where his mouth was to support Trump's campaign, shelling out nearly $300 million at once!
He established a special team to raise funds, accompanied Trump on his speaking tours, and on his own social platform X (formerly Twitter), he shouted to his more than 200 million followers, "Support Trump!"
Trump reciprocated and was very generous.
On his first day in office, he signed an executive order to establish the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), granting Musk great power to conduct audits, lay off employees, and reorganize the old guard on a grand scale.
Whether at the White House or his Mar - a - Lago estate, Trump openly kept Musk by his side without any hesitation, as if officially announcing: This is my buddy!
But who could have imagined that the relationship between these two bigwigs would go from the "honeymoon period" to a "break - up" in less than three months. It's more exciting than a roller - coaster ride.
Musk was repeatedly warned not to steal the President's thunder.
On April 2nd, Trump launched so - called "reciprocal tariffs" against more than 100 trading partners. Musk cursed Navarro, the mastermind behind the policy, on X, saying he was "dumber than a brick." He also had a shouting match with Treasury Secretary Besent at the White House and even had a physical altercation.
As for the Department of Government Efficiency, instead of getting credit, it became the "scapegoat" for the government's problems.
According to the DOGE's own website, it saved US taxpayers $175 billion. But what was the result?
The obstacles were much greater than expected. The few federal agencies targeted by DOGE only cut about $19 billion in spending year - on - year, accounting for only 0.5% of the total federal spending, far below the initial target of $2 trillion.
Musk's efforts to recommend his wealthy friend Isaacman to be the head of NASA also came to nothing.
On May 30th, Musk and Trump officially "broke up" at the White House. Then, while fiercely criticizing the "big and beautiful" bill that Trump supported, Musk watched helplessly as it "ran counter to the goals that DOGE had been promoting."
Trump threatened to review all of Musk's government contracts, cancel orders, and even "deport" Musk.
Finally, Musk decided to start his own party - the "America Party."
Why does Musk insist on getting involved in politics?
02 From "Uninvolved" to "Deeply Involved"
In his early years, Musk's political attitude was different. He generally experienced four key turning points.
The first turning point (2003 - 2013): The naive idealist
Early on, Musk was a typical Silicon Valley tech liberal.
From 2003 to 2004, he donated $2,000 each to the Republican and Democratic parties, acting like an "amateur" who didn't want to offend either side.
In 2008 and 2011, he clearly supported Obama and donated more than $60,000 to the Democratic Party.
At that time, Musk believed that the government could drive positive change. The Obama administration's support for clean energy and technological innovation gave him hope.
The second turning point (2014 - 2020): The confused centrist
Since 2014, Musk began to call himself a "moderate Democrat."
In 2016, he voted for Hillary Clinton. In 2020, he voted for Joe Biden.
But these two votes were more out of disgust for Trump than an endorsement of the Democratic Party.
During this period, Musk kept a cautious distance from politics. He once publicly said, "I want to stay away from politics."
Unfortunately, reality didn't allow him to stay out of it.
The third turning point (2021 - 2024): Deep political involvement
Around 2021, after his eldest son changed his gender and name without telling him, Musk developed a strong aversion to the Democratic Party's "woke culture."
The left - wing going too far has made the former centrists become the right - wing. The picture is from Musk's own analysis
In Musk's view, after Obama, the Democratic Party's political agenda has become more and more "left - wing," being hijacked by wokeness. The Democratic Party itself has become more and more extreme, forcing him reluctantly to stand on the right side of the political spectrum.
In 2021, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion and renamed it "X." Musk gained powerful political communication capabilities. His tweets can affect the stock market, sway public opinion, and change the course of elections.
Finally, in 2024, Musk fully sided with Trump, contributing money, people, and efforts.
During the honeymoon period with Trump, he thought he had finally found the balance between politics and business.
The fourth turning point (2025 to present): Political leader
With the introduction of the "reciprocal tariffs" and the "big and beautiful" bill, the balance was completely broken.
Musk found that after getting rid of one problem, he created another. So he made a bold decision: to get involved in politics himself.
A new political party was established on X, without a political platform, a representative congress, or a grand display. It's unprecedented.
Musk realized that politics never believes in tears, let alone feelings. In front of politics, even the biggest entrepreneurs are just pawns.
He's not the kind of person who hasn't tried to ignore politics, but if you ignore politics, politics will definitely come after you.
If you don't want to be a pawn in someone else's game, you have to be the player. After all, Musk has become so influential that the US political society can't ignore him.
03 A Big Tree Always Attracts the Wind
As the Chinese saying goes, a big tree always attracts the wind.
When Bill Gates, the former geek, became the richest man, he was politically inactive, didn't get close to politics, and didn't take sides. But in the late 1990s, the US Department of Justice launched an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. The case lasted for many years, and at one point, Microsoft was ordered to be split up.
After being criticized repeatedly at the hearings, Gates quickly realized that focusing only on technology and products couldn't protect the company's interests.
He began to testify in Congress on issues such as technology, education, and public health. He also made Microsoft and its political action committee significantly increase their donations to candidates from both parties.
Gates participated in the US Congress antitrust hearing in 1998
From 1997 - 1998 alone, Microsoft donated nearly $400,000 to the Republican National Committee, state parties, and related organizations, almost doubling the amount compared to the same period in history. Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he established a "soft political influence" network and took big steps towards "policy influence."
The same principle applies to Elon Musk.
According to real - time statistics from Bloomberg and Forbes, his net worth was about $363 billion in mid - 2025, fluctuating around $400 billion, firmly making him the world's richest man.
His tech empire spans social media, energy, space, AI, transportation, medicine, and other fields. He can no longer stay out of the political storm in Washington.
First of all, any bill, policy, or presidential order could precisely cut a large piece of his cake.
At the beginning of this year, The Washington Post found that in the past 20 years, Musk's companies have received a total of $38 billion in government support through government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits. Nearly two - thirds of this amount was received in the past five years.
Just last year, the federal and local governments injected $6.3 billion into his companies, setting a new record.
According to calculations by several US financial media and analysts, the "big and beautiful" bill ended the $7,500 federal tax credit for consumers buying electric vehicles, which could reduce Tesla's annual profit by about $1.2 billion.
The bill also abolished the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) fine mechanism. Traditional automakers (such as General Motors and Ford) will probably lose the incentive to buy carbon - emission credits.
In 2024, Tesla earned $2.76 billion by selling credits (accounting for 39% of its net profit), and this income might disappear.
Left: Musk's two companies have received nearly $20 billion in government contracts in the past decade
Right: Musk's companies are facing more and more regulatory disputes (red) and overlapping federal investigations (yellow) from various government agencies (as of October 2024)
Furthermore, hardcore tech businesses represented by SpaceX are highly dependent on government contracts, and only the government is willing to pay for these services.
SpaceX was founded in 2002 and was basically nurtured with the support of NASA and the Pentagon.
These agencies funded rocket development. Even before the first successful launch, NASA awarded SpaceX a $278 million contract in 2006.
According to Bloomberg, since 2000, SpaceX, which holds two major projects, commercial spaceflight and "Starlink," has received more than $22 billion in non - classified contracts from the US Department of Defense and NASA. In 2024 alone, at least 25% of SpaceX's revenue came from federal contracts worth $3.4 billion.
But as the White House's governance becomes more and more unpredictable, Musk has to be involved in various interest - related tests.
Musk has a long - standing and controversial relationship with the agencies that regulate his companies. He once called the US Securities and Exchange Commission a "jerk." SpaceX also sued the National Labor Relations Board, claiming its actions were "unconstitutional" after the agency accused the company of mistreating and illegally firing some employees.
In July 2023, SpaceX successfully launched the largest satellite in history and put it into geosynchronous orbit. However, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $280,000 fine, accusing the new fuel - filling facility of not passing the safety inspection.
Facing Musk's rage, on the last day of the Biden administration, Michael Whitaker, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, had to step down.
At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in October 2024, Musk joked that the previous year they were asked to study whether the Starship would hit sharks when it splashed down in the sea. After they finished the study, the fishery regulatory agency threw a new question: "What about the whales?"
Musk also told a story about how SpaceX was "forced by the government to kidnap seals, put headphones on them, and play sonic booms to see if they looked unhappy."
All these kinds of nonsense made Musk both angry and amused!
Artificial intelligence company xAI, tunnel - building company The Boring Co, brain - computer interface company Neuralink, and X (formerly Twitter) are all closely related to the government and face various forms of regulation.
Some people in the Democratic Party say that in US history, there has never been an individual like Musk who faces so many regulatory problems and has such a great influence on government operations.
04 From the Backstage to the Front Stage
The feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk
When Musk's business interests conflicted with Trump's political agenda, their former alliance instantly turned into enmity.
The policy direction completely deviated from expectations, and the Department of Government Efficiency ended up in a complete mess. Musk's efforts became the biggest investment failure in 2025.
In a fit of anger, Musk dared to mention a "bombshell" on X, saying, "Donald Trump is in Epstein's files." This made him feel a sense of "