Elon Musk was the surprise interlocutor of the conversation that Donald Trump had with the president of Ukraine last Wednesday, in which Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated the Republican on his victory in the United States presidential elections. This was revealed this Friday by the digital Axiosand other American media have confirmed it. The presence in the conversation of Musk, the richest man on the planet, is a new sign of how influential he can become during Trump’s second term, in which the president-elect is counting on him to undertake a drastic reform of the Administration.
Trump’s position on Ukraine worries NATO allies. As a candidate he even said that he would resolve the war in Ukraine in one day or even before taking office. Many fear that, given the relationship he maintains with Russian President Vladimir Putin, this will come at the cost of forcing him to give up territory under the threat of cutting off military assistance. Trump has repeatedly criticized the aid packages provided by the United States. The Biden Government is looking for a way to get all possible military aid to Ukraine before January 20, when the White House will take over.
In turn, Ukraine is very dependent on the connectivity provided by Starlink, the satellite network of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, which has already been a source of controversy in the past. In addition, it recently emerged that the richest man in the world has been maintaining contact with the Kremlin in recent years. After them, Musk began to disclose positions more aligned with those of Russia. He began complaining that SpaceX was losing money financing terminals in Ukraine, became increasingly critical of aid to kyiv, and defended peace proposals that fulfilled some of Russia’s aspirations, including that Ukraine recognize Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula. .
Last year it emerged that the billionaire rejected a request in 2022 for his Starlink communications satellites to facilitate a Ukrainian attack against the Russian Black Sea military fleet. The tycoon confirmed it on his social network: “We received an urgent request from government authorities to activate Starlink to Sebastopol. The obvious intention was to sink most of the docked Russian fleet,” the businessman wrote. “If I had accepted their request, SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and an escalation of the conflict,” he added.
The sources cited by Axios They claim that Zelensky felt somewhat reassured by what he heard from the president-elect. They also indicate that the call lasted about 25 minutes. In it, without giving details, Trump assured that he will support kyiv, but did not enter into the president-elect’s supposed plans to end the war quickly. Musk also noted that he will continue to provide satellite connectivity service through Starlink, which has been fundamental to his defense.
In September, Trump met with Zelensky in New York, at which time they discussed the war with Russia and a possible diplomatic path to ending it. “I promise you that you will be happy with me,” Trump told Zelensky, according to Axiosduring that meeting, which was attended by former US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, Trump’s possible candidate for Secretary of State or another senior position in his Administration that involves a prominent role in the relationship with Ukraine.
Musk’s role
It is in any case unusual that a businessman participates in a call like Wednesday’s between two heads of state (although Trump has not yet taken office). Musk has been one of the unexpected protagonists of the presidential campaign. Already in May it was learned that Trump was counting on him for his team if he won the elections. Later, the candidate himself confirmed that he would entrust him with a “drastic” reform of the Administration if he were elected. Even at Tesla’s June shareholder meeting, Musk talked about his relationship with the Republican, and how he sometimes called him. “He calls me for no reason. “I don’t know why, but it does,” he said.
The South African-born tycoon donated $75 million (€70 million) in the third quarter to an organization he created, America PAC, to boost Trump’s campaign, although the account later exceeded $120 million. He openly called for a vote for Trump after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. In that same place he participated for the first time in a rally with him a month before the elections and shamelessly joined his hoaxes about immigration, freedom of expression and weapons.
Musk later continued campaigning alone, especially in Pennsylvania, with rallies in which politics was mixed with trips to Mars. In one of them, some supposed million-dollar raffles for registered voters were pulled out of the hat, sparking controversy. The Department of Justice warned him that they could be illegal, but it turned a deaf ear. The Philadelphia prosecutor filed a lawsuit to stop them without success and Musk’s lawyers then recognized that they were not actually random, but rather that the winners were chosen.
He was so active in seeking votes for Trump and in spreading hoaxes that even the president, Joe Biden, referred to his supposed temporary status as an illegal immigrant when he was a student and went to work without a visa to do so. Musk continued campaigning with Trump, including the Madison Square Garden rally in New York, and accompanied the Republican at the party celebrating his electoral victory.
The public spending efficiency commission that the magnate aspires to lead aims to avoid excess regulations. This can benefit it both in the development of its autonomous cars (where it has had clashes with the current authorities) and in the launch of its rockets. In some way, it can become the regulator – or deregulator – of regulators. At a conference with analysts presenting Tesla’s earnings, he made clear that he will benefit himself by creating a simpler path to federal approval of autonomous vehicles instead of the complicated state regulations that exist now. The shares of the electric car company have skyrocketed on the stock market after Trump’s victory and the company has exceeded a trillion dollars in capitalization for the first time since 2022. Meanwhile, its companies will continue to have juicy contracts with the Administration.
