Of all those celebrating the re-election of former President Donald Trump, few have as much reason to celebrate as Elon Musk. Less than a week after November 5, his fortune had increased by 70 billion dollars (about 66 billion euros), a monstrous return on an investment in the Republican campaign that already seemed disproportionate: 120 million dollars in a few months.
Because the conversion of the richest man in the world into a Trumpist activist is recent. In 2020, this former Democrat, who praised the merits of his company, Tesla, in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, and financed both Democrats and Republicans (but abstained from presidential campaigns), responded to the journalist from New York Times Kara Swisher who questioned him about his political ideas: “I am socially very liberal. And economically, maybe you are in the center or on the right. I don’t know. » I was simply asking for one “normal person with common sense”of which “values hit right in the center of the country”.
This Musk has become unrecognizable. Now, day and night, he shares his dark musings on invading immigrants, transgender people and “the virus woke up” that threatens human civilization. With the zeal of a convert, he worked for Trump’s reelection, putting his immense fortune, his global communication platform, and his aura of entrepreneurial genius at his service. The president-elect was not wrong: “A star is born: Elon!”he delivered enthusiastically in a long eulogy the day after his re-election. He is a super genius, we need to protect them, we don’t have that many. »
Elon Musk’s political transformation is the thunderous version of a broader shift by Silicon Valley—which traditionally leans Democratic—toward the far right. Various industry moguls have embraced, to varying degrees, this same political shift.
However, in 2016, Trump’s election was a “moral shock” for the world of technology, recalls Olivier Alexandre, sociologist at the CNRS and author of Technology. When Silicon Valley remakes the world (Threshold, 2023). Former donors to the Democratic Party such as investor David Sacks, the founders of the largest investment fund in the world – which bears his name – Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, or even the twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss – famous for the film – The Social Network (by David Fincher, 2010) for not having created Facebook – followed the same trajectory. Along with others, they joined Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, filthy rich thanks to his investment in Facebook. The first of them to support Donald Trump, he is at the heart of this new political galaxy in formation.
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