Elon Musk Launches Into American Politics

Summary

Summary of "Elon Musk Launches Into American Politics" Episode of The Daily

---

Introduction

In this episode of The Daily, hosted by Rachel Abrams, the focus is on Elon Musk's unprecedented foray into American politics. Once known primarily for revolutionizing industries like automotive, social media, and aerospace, Musk is now emerging as a significant political influencer, particularly in support of former President Donald Trump. The episode delves into Musk's motivations, his evolving relationship with Trump, and the potential implications of his political ambitions.

---

Elon Musk's Political Transformation

Timestamp: [00:35]

Rachel Abrams introduces Elon Musk as a pivotal figure in the current presidential race, highlighting his shift from a business magnate to a political influencer. Over recent months, Musk has aligned closely with Donald Trump's campaign, culminating in his selection to lead a new government agency under the Trump administration.

Key Quote:

“Elon Musk will be leading up this completely new government department focused on efficiency.” — Kirsten Grind [01:47]

Kirsten Grind, an investigative reporter covering Musk, expresses surprise at this drastic political shift, noting that Musk had previously remained largely apolitical.

---

Catalysts for Musk's Political Engagement

Kirsten Grind outlines several key events that precipitated Musk's entry into politics:

1. COVID-19 Pandemic and California Restrictions Timestamp: [04:33]

   Musk's frustration with California Governor Gavin Newsom's stringent lockdown measures led him to publicly oppose the restrictions, ultimately relocating Tesla's operations out of the state.

   Quote:

   “This was fascist. Give people back their goddamn freedom.” — Donald Trump [05:10]

2. Biden's Electric Vehicle (EV) Summit Timestamp: [05:57]

   Musk was angered when the Biden administration hosted an EV summit that notably excluded Tesla, instead praising traditional automakers like GM and Ford.

   Quote:

   “When they make the first electric Corvette, I get to drive it, right?” — Eric Lipton [06:19]

3. Acquisition of Twitter (Now X) and Free Speech Advocacy Timestamp: [07:19]

   Musk's purchase of Twitter was framed as an effort to promote free speech, particularly for conservative voices he felt were censored. This stance intensified his focus on cultural and political issues, such as opposition to the "woke mind virus."

   Quote:

   “It's very possible for adults to manipulate children who are having a natural identity crisis into believing that they are the wrong gender.” — Donald Trump [08:33]

4. Personal Family Issues Related to Transgender Rights Timestamp: [08:52]

   Musk publicly criticized his daughter's transgender transition, describing it as influenced by societal pressures, which further cemented his stance against progressive social policies.

---

Musk's Active Support for Donald Trump

Timestamp: [11:15]

Musk's alignment with Trump has deepened through significant financial contributions and active participation in Trump's rallies. He established a Super PAC, "America PAC," contributing over $100 million and mobilizing extensive grassroots efforts, such as door-knocking in battleground states.

Quote:

“America is going to reach heights that it has never seen before. The future is going to be amazing.” — Donald Trump [13:12]

At Trump rallies, Musk's presence was marked by his visible support, almost positioning himself as a running mate or presidential contender.

---

Potential Roles and Ambitions in Government

Timestamp: [15:42]

The episode explores Musk's ambition to lead a new government department aimed at drastically improving efficiency by slashing federal regulations and spending. Trump dubbed this envisioned role as overseeing the "Department of Government Efficiency," humorously nicknamed "Doge."

Quote:

“He wants to crush those investigations, and it's likely that many of them will now be shut down.” — Kirsten Grind [24:57]

Musk's track record at Twitter, where he significantly reduced staff and operational costs, has bolstered Trump's confidence in his ability to implement similar strategies within the federal government.

---

Conflicts of Interest and Legal Implications

Timestamp: [24:42]

Eric Lipton discusses the potential conflicts of interest arising from Musk's dual roles as a federal advisor and a heavily regulated business leader. With over $10 billion in federal contracts and multiple ongoing investigations into his companies, Musk's influence could undermine regulatory processes.

Quote:

“This is a very murky arrangement.” — Eric Lipton [26:00]

The episode highlights the unprecedented nature of Musk's political involvement, raising concerns about the blurring lines between private enterprise and government regulation.

---

Implications for the Trump Administration and Future Governance

Timestamp: [27:56]

Eric Lipton emphasizes that Musk's involvement signifies a shift towards greater influence of billionaires in government. This partnership could lead to significant policy changes favoring deregulation and reduced federal oversight across various sectors, including technology, energy, and defense.

Quote:

“We are entering a period where people with immense wealth are interacting with a president who is known and has a history of being extremely transactional.” — Eric Lipton [28:09]

Lipton suggests that the Trump administration may become highly receptive to the interests of wealthy donors, potentially reshaping federal policies to align with their business objectives.

---

Conclusion

The episode concludes by underscoring the profound impact of Elon Musk's political engagement on the American political landscape. Musk's ambitions to overhaul government efficiency and his close alliance with Donald Trump represent a significant convergence of immense wealth and political power, raising critical questions about the future of governance and regulatory integrity in the United States.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Kirsten Grind: “Elon Musk will be leading up this completely new government department focused on efficiency.” [01:47]

• Donald Trump: “This was fascist. Give people back their goddamn freedom.” [05:10]

• Eric Lipton: “When they make the first electric Corvette, I get to drive it, right?” [06:19]

• Donald Trump: “It's very possible for adults to manipulate children who are having a natural identity crisis into believing that they are the wrong gender.” [08:33]

• Donald Trump: “America is going to reach heights that it has never seen before. The future is going to be amazing.” [13:12]

• Kirsten Grind: “He wants to crush those investigations, and it's likely that many of them will now be shut down.” [24:57]

• Eric Lipton: “This is a very murky arrangement.” [26:00]

• Eric Lipton: “We are entering a period where people with immense wealth are interacting with a president who is known and has a history of being extremely transactional.” [28:09]

---

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the episode, providing a clear understanding of Elon Musk's burgeoning role in American politics and its broader implications.

Transcript

[Commercial Voiceover]

With Schwab Investing Themes, it's easy to invest in ideas you believe in, like online music and videos, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and more. Schwab's research process uncovers emerging trends, then their technology curates relevant stocks into themes. Choose from over 40 themes. Buy all the stocks in a theme as is or customize to better fit your investing goals, all in a few clicks. Schwab Investing Themes is not intended to be investment advice or a recommendation of any stock or investment strategy. Learn [e-mail] ThematicinFind Investing.

[Rachel Abrams]

From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams and this is the Daily after single handedly remaking the auto industry, social media and the global space race, Elon Musk is now turning his attention and personal fortune to politics. Over the past few months, he became the single most influential figure in the race for president and now the emerging White House of Donald Trump. Today, my colleagues Kirsten Grind and Eric Lipton on what exactly Musk wants from the new president and why he's so well poised to get it. It's Wednesday, November 13th. Kirsten we spent the last few months watching as Elon Musk really became kind of the face of Donald Trump's campaign for president. And in the days since he won, Musk has only increased his proximity to President Elect Trump. And last night, of course, Trump announced that Musk would lead a new government agency. What will Musk's specific role in the Trump administration be?

[Kirsten Grind]

Late Tuesday evening, Donald Trump announced a bunch of new appointments to his new administration, and included in that was this role for Elon Musk. And what Donald Trump said is that Elon Musk will be leading up this completely new government department focused on efficiency. Efficiency is something that Elon Musk has been obsessed with for years, and basically it's just showing how much power Elon Musk is going to have in this administration and how much Donald Trump respects his opinion.

[Rachel Abrams]

Kirsten, you've covered Musk for years. Did any of this surprise you?

[Kirsten Grind]

So I'm an investigative reporter who has written a lot about Elon Musk, and I have to say I could have never predicted this political transformation that has happened over the last year. For him to become so involved in politics after really staying out of it for most of his life and career, and being in the room with Donald Trump on election night is a metamorphosis I definitely was not prepared for.

[Rachel Abrams]

How did we get from a guy you would never have expected to get into politics to someone who's about to potentially serve the White House.

[Kirsten Grind]

The thing to understand about Elon Musk is that he really believes his goal in life and his mission is to save humanity. He has made it his focus and the focus of all of his companies to save the world. For example, he started SpaceX more than two decades ago with the goal of getting humanity to Mars in case something happened to Earth. He was an early investor in Tesla and became its CEO because he was worried about fossil fuels.

[Rachel Abrams]

And he's become the world's richest man by doing all of these ventures. But how do we go from that and from him wanting to save humanity, possibly by colonizing Mars, to basically becoming a key supporter and really a surrogate for Trump?

[Kirsten Grind]

It's a very unusual and unconventional transformation. For most of his early career, he had leaned Democratic, but really he just wasn't into politics at all. And for the most part, he stayed out of it. But there's a few things that happened in the last four years that really started to shift his outlook. So let's start in 2020, the pandemic.

[Donald Trump]

All of California this morning now under a shelter in place order.

[Kirsten Grind]

Governor Newsom's order and unprecedented action calls. California had tons of stay at home restrictions on residents and businesses, and most of Elon Musk's company operations were in California. And Musk speaks out against what's happening.

[Donald Trump]

Is it right to infringe upon people's rights as what is happening right now?

[Kirsten Grind]

He is extremely anti regulation, hates to have the government or really anyone tell him what to do.

[Donald Trump]

This is fascist.

[Kirsten Grind]

And so the fact that he was going to have to close his Tesla factories because of the pandemic made him so angry.

[Donald Trump]

This was not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.

[Kirsten Grind]

And finally he threatened and then ultimately did move factories out of the state.

[Rachel Abrams]

Wow. So this really pushed him over the edge, what happened in California?

[Kirsten Grind]

It really did. But then something happened the next year in 2021 that was even more angering to him, in which seems like a small thing, but has been something that he's like never been able to get over.

[Eric Lipton]

Please, everybody sit down.

[Donald Trump]

Please, please, please.

[Kirsten Grind]

The Biden administration held this electric vehicle summit.

[Eric Lipton]

And I also want to thank the leaders of the big three companies for being here today.

[Kirsten Grind]

And they invited all the big car makers from all over the country to go.

[Donald Trump]

When they make the first electric Corvette.

[Eric Lipton]

I get to drive it, right? Mary?

[Kirsten Grind]

Except for Tesla and Elon Musk.

[Eric Lipton]

You.

[Donald Trump]

Know, like Biden held this EV summit.

[Kirsten Grind]

Elon was furious, didn't mention Tesla once.

[Donald Trump]

And praised GM and Ford for leading the EV Revolution.

[Kirsten Grind]

So you were pissed.

[Donald Trump]

Does this sound maybe a little biased?

[Kirsten Grind]

And he has never been able to let this go. The snub from the Biden administration, It's.

[Donald Trump]

Not the friendliest administration. Well, I seems to be controlled by the unions, as far as I can tell.

[Kirsten Grind]

And basically it created so much tension between Tesla and the administration that that also kind of set him on his political journey.

[Rachel Abrams]

So it sounds like the Biden administration is on notice at this point that Musk is really upset. And it's not just for business reasons. It's really becoming kind of personal.

[Kirsten Grind]

That's right. But it also becomes ideological, too, because remember around 2022, he buys Twitter, renames it X, and he basically says he buys it to make it a free speech platform. He especially thinks that conservatives had been censored on Twitter. Remember at this Donald Trump had been kicked off Twitter and other conservative voices. And he wants it to be this sort of place for free speech of all kinds. And around this time, you really start to see a shift in what he is posting about on X. And it becomes way more focused on what he's called the woke mind virus. What this basically means is, for example, diversity, equity and inclusion measures, transgender rights, pronoun use. All of that seems to be angering Elon Musk significantly on X and he starts posting about it more and more.

[Donald Trump]

So it's very possible for adults to manipulate children who are having a natural identity crisis into believing that they are the wrong gender.

[Kirsten Grind]

And I want to bring up this other thing that, to me, really shows how far down this rabbit hole he had gone.

[Eric Lipton]

Why are you willing to make this an issue, do you think?

[Donald Trump]

Sort of like the neighbors, it happened.

[Kirsten Grind]

To one of my, which is that his daughter Vivian, who's one of his older children, had come out as transgender.

[Donald Trump]

I was essentially tricked into signing documents.

[Kirsten Grind]

And Musk claimed in an interview that he was tricked into signing these medical forms for Vivian and allowing her to do her transition when she was 16.

[Donald Trump]

This was before I had really any understanding of what was going on. And we had Covid going on. And so there was a lot of.

[Kirsten Grind]

Confusion that he had not been aware of this.

[Donald Trump]

Basically, they call it deadnaming for a reason.

[Eric Lipton]

Yeah.

[Kirsten Grind]

And he said in this interview that she had been killed, killed by the woke mind virus.

[Donald Trump]

So I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that. And we're making some progress.

[Kirsten Grind]

She had some choice words back to him and also said that he was not tricked into signing those forms. But the whole incident just really showed how his thinking has changed and been radicalized over these last few years. Another example of his ideological transformation is immigration. And that's kind of ironic because Elon Musk himself is from South Africa. But over the last couple years, he starts really focusing on illegal immigrants. And he keeps talking about how he feels the Democratic Party is allowing in these illegal immigrants so that they can get a majority and win the election.

[Rachel Abrams]

So he's just espousing this conspiratorial rhetoric right out in the open on his own platform.

[Kirsten Grind]

That's right. And it's really this ideology that is so different from what you saw from him even just a couple years earlier.

[Rachel Abrams]

Okay, so all of that helps me understand how by 2024, Musk is increasingly aligned with right wing ideology. But when do he and Donald Trump actually get together in some meaningful way?

[Kirsten Grind]

So it's a little hard to tell because Musk's world is very insular. But you can kind of see why at this point, he and Trump are so aligned. So the two people are so similar.

[Rachel Abrams]

Really? Like how?

[Kirsten Grind]

I mean, they both have immense wealth and power, but they both act like outsiders and victims. I think this one is maybe the most important, which is that they both sort of think the system is broken, and they both really think that they are the ones to fix it, and they kind of refuse to stick with the status quo. And so we know at one point earlier this year, Musk met with some billionaire friends of his, one of whom was encouraging him to get involved in the campaign and to donate, which would be pretty normal for someone of his stature and wealth. And then we know at some point earlier this year, he did also meet with Trump. And then by June, he had established a super PAC ready to invest in Trump's campaign.

[Rachel Abrams]

So can you just break down for a second? What does that support actually look like?

[Kirsten Grind]

It is above and beyond what a normal donor would do, that's for sure. So his super PAC has donated more than 100 million. That would be kind of normal for a billionaire or another donor, perhaps. But what has been unusual is the Super PAC, which is called America PAC, was in Pennsylvania knocking on doors. They knocked on 11 million doors in battleground.

[Eric Lipton]

Come on up here, Elon.

[Kirsten Grind]

But the most amazing thing to me has been watching him at these rallies.

[Donald Trump]

The energy in this room is incredible.

[Kirsten Grind]

Right up on stage, he was with Trump.

[Donald Trump]

America's just not knock. It's just going to be great. America is going to reach heights that it has never seen before. The future is going to be amazing.

[Kirsten Grind]

He was just right out there. With him, almost like he was running for president.

[Donald Trump]

You guys are awesome. Honestly, this is like.

[Rachel Abrams]

But wasn't this man trying to run like six companies and colonize Mars? How did he have time for all of this?

[Kirsten Grind]

Yes, well, that's a very good question. He has a lot of good people running his companies, but meanwhile, to take it back to his whole life's goal, which is to save humanity, that's actually exactly what he thinks he is doing here. And in fact, he has said recently that he still really did not want to get into politics, but that he had to because civilization was on the line. So that again, is why he is out there. And on election night, there's this big family photo with Trump, their kids, their grandkids, and there's Elon Musk just right beside them. And in the few days since the election, he's basically been camped out at Mar a Lago. He was reportedly on this phone call with the Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky and Trump. He's been advising Trump on cabinet positions. And then, as we know, on Tuesday night he got his own position appointed. And we've just never seen anything like this. This super billionaire Elon Musk, suddenly with all this potential power in the.

[Rachel Abrams]

After the break, I talked to my colleague Eric Lipton about what Musk stands to gain from a Trump White House.

[Commercial Voiceover]

With Schwab Investing Themes, it's easy to invest in ideas you believe in, like online music and videos, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and more. Schwab's research process uncovers emerging trends, then their technology curates relevant stocks into themes. Choose from over 40 themes, buy all the stocks in a theme as is, or customize to better fit your investing goals. All in a few clicks. Schwab Investing Themes is not intended to be investment advice or a recommendation of any stock or investment strategy. Learn [e-mail] Thematic Investing this podcast is supported by Carvana.

[Kirsten Grind]

With Carvana Value Tracker, you can track your car's value anytime, anywhere. If you want to know what your car's worth, Carvana Value Tracker analyzes your.

[Rachel Abrams]

Car'S make, model, condition, market and more.

[Kirsten Grind]

To give you the value for your vehicle. Carvana will even let you know when your car's value changes with update emails so you're always up to date. However you value your car, know its worth with Carvana Value Tracker.

[Rachel Abrams]

So Eric, we just heard from our colleague Kirsten Grind that it has not taken Elon Musk very long to insert himself into this emerging Trump presidency in a way that feels without precedent, frankly. And you've been looking into exactly what Musk could stand to gain from access to a Trump White House. But first, can you just remind us what is Elon Musk's current relationship with the federal government?

[Eric Lipton]

I think it's underappreciated the extent to which Elon Musk has relied on the federal government to help build his own wealth and the size of his companies. He has at least 100 different contracts pending with the federal government with 17 different agencies. The majority of that work is with SpaceX, which has really owed its existence largely to the federal government. NASA kicked it off by giving SpaceX the money that it needed to build the Falcon 9 rocket, which now puts almost all of the world's cargo into orbit each year, more than every other nation in the world combined.

[Rachel Abrams]

Oh, wow.

[Eric Lipton]

And SpaceX alone has gotten $10 billion worth of contracts from the federal government over the last five years to deliver stuff to space. That includes cargo to the space station, astronauts to the space station, spy satellites, missile defense systems, and dozens of other it for the federal government. And it's unlike any other commercial space company in the history of the United States in terms of the extent of its dominance and the money that's going to it to provide those services to the federal government.

[Rachel Abrams]

So government contracts really made Musk, in a way, like, he's clearly been very successful under the status quo. So that sort of begs the question of what more is there for him to gain.

[Eric Lipton]

I mean, Since Musk created SpaceX back in 2002, he's been completely fixated with getting humans to Mars. And one of the things that incredibly frustrates him is when he encounters paperwork requirements and regulatory slowdowns. He often comments about how he can build his rockets faster than federal bureaucrats can move paper from one side of their desk to the other. It just totally burns him up. And that's in part what has motivated him to get more involved in politics. He thinks it might give him the power to help defang them and to limit their power and to reduce what he considers to be redundant or ridiculous requirements to help wipe away some of this slowness that really frustrates him. And Musk was clear during the presidential campaign that he wanted to be named to a position in the future Trump government that would give him the power to help oversee significantly cutting back on federal regulations, federal employees and federal spending. He liked to jokingly call this the Department of Government Efficiency, nicknamed Doge, which is the same name of one of his favorite crypto coins. Musk has a tendency to love Little names like that that he can repeat that are insider jokes. He would be this superpowered czar overseeing the reach of federal government operations and looking for ways to eliminate what he considers redundant federal regulations and cutting as much as $2 trillion in federal spending, which is a crazy and really unachievable goal. But that's what he says he wants.

[Rachel Abrams]

To do, which is basically the position that Trump just announced for him with this new government department that's in charge of making all kinds of cuts across the government. Kind of spiritually similar to what Musk did with Twitter.

[Eric Lipton]

Yeah. Trump likes to tell Musk that he's super impressed with what Musk was able to do at Twitter. He jokingly calls him Qatar in Chief. He sees Musk as having an incredible capacity to find ways to reduce cost and get rid of waste. And in fact, at but Twitter, when he bought it, Musk, of course, cut something like two thirds of its staff. And it's a bit bumpy, but X does function without more than 2/3 of the people that it had when he purchased the company. So Trump has confidence that Musk is the guy that he needs to actually really significantly cut federal regulations and spending.

[Rachel Abrams]

But a tech company works a lot differently, obviously, than a government agency. Like, it doesn't really seem feasible that he could just go in, slash a bunch of jobs overnight, like what he did with Twitter, and have that work the same way.

[Eric Lipton]

Yeah. And a level of reduction in spending and regulations that has never been achieved before in the history of the United States. And when it comes to actually cutting federal regulations and laying off federal employees and cutting federal spending, this is a process that obviously Congress participates in, and it is a very hard thing to do. There's a constituency for every little agency out there. And so it is a lot harder than simply announcing one day that you're laying off thousands of people at a private company that you own.

[Rachel Abrams]

How do you think all of this is actually going to play out?

[Eric Lipton]

We don't know what Elon Musk's first targets would be, but there's a couple of examples that frustrate him in terms of conflicts that he's had with federal regulators. Probably the best example is with SpaceX and what he's trying to do down in Boca Chica, Texas, near the Mexican border, where they're testing out the Starship rocket. And they have repeatedly caused some environmental damage in that area. And it's right on the edge of a national wildlife refuge and a state park. And as they were developing the rocket, they were repeatedly disregarding what the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Interior Department said was the limits on their operations.

[Rachel Abrams]

What exactly were those limits?

[Eric Lipton]

I mean, for example, recently on one of their launches, there's so much power that comes out of these rockets. It sent sand and rocks flying into the nearby state park, and it destroyed a bunch of nest for the local bird population and ripped open the eggs and destroyed the nest of the birds that were there. I saw that right after the launch. I walked out into the area once they cleared it for the public, and the egg yolk was there staining the ground. And that's another matter that's being investigated by Fish and Wildlife Service for potentially harming migratory birds. It's something that frustrates him. And he thought that our coverage of it was so offensive. He said he would restrain from having omelets for several days as he was. So he thought it was so ridiculous that we were even worried about these nests that were destroyed by his launch.

[Rachel Abrams]

So you can imagine that the EPA would be the first target on his efficiency to do list.

[Eric Lipton]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the first places that he goes. And he looks to try to roll back some of the regulatory powers that it has. But that certainly would not be the only agency that he would go after. I mean, all you have to do is look at Tesla, and he is being currently or recently investigated or sued by really an acronym SEWP of federal agencies, the Equal Opportunity, the National Labor Relations Board, the Securities Exchange Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Department of justice, of course, the epa, all of them are looking at Tesla and suggesting that it has overstepped the law. I mean, most importantly, there is concern about the autonomous driving tools on his cars and whether or not they've been involved in fatal accidents. But everything having to do with disrupting union activities, who he hires at his auto factory, and whether or not he's properly treating refugees and people who have asylum. I mean, he is the subject of so many different simultaneous investigations. It really frustrates him. And that's another part of the reason that he's active with Trump, is he wants to crush those investigations, and it's likely that many of them will now be shut down.

[Rachel Abrams]

So everything you've laid out so far, Eric, it helps us understand why Musk's own personal business interests could benefit from the regulatory environment that he's potentially going to be reshaping. But is this all legal? Like, it seems to me that what you've outlined could be a major conflict of interest.

[Eric Lipton]

It's going to create a conflict of interest that really has few precedents in American history. Here's a guy who has $10 billion or more of ongoing federal contracts. He has a couple dozen pending federal investigations and lawsuits that he's targeted in. And of course, there are federal conflict or interest laws that prohib just this kind of mixing of duties and violating them could be a federal offense. So how is it possible that Elon Musk could simultaneously play the role of trying to cut back on federal regulations if he is himself being regulated? And the announcement we saw from Trump on Tuesday night actually sort of hints that they recognize that there's this clash and they're attempting to sidestep it by suggesting that Musk would somehow be the leader of this new federal Department of Government Efficiency, but he would do it while remaining, quote, outside of the government.

[Rachel Abrams]

So basically, he can have the ear of the president, but not have the formal government position and all the conflict of interest headaches that come with it.

[Eric Lipton]

Yeah, it's a lot more attractive. But this is a very murky arrangement. And all of this assumes that, that Trump and Musk are going to stay on good terms. They're two personalities that have a history of exploding with people that they've been close with, with business partners, and even some of their most trusted employees. And so they're guys that also hold grudges and are a bit impulsive. So there's no guarantee that this is a relationship that's going to last.

[Rachel Abrams]

So after all of this, your investigation and how it revealed the various ways that that Musk's potential reshaping of the government could benefit him, what is your big takeaway?

[Eric Lipton]

I think the thing that's really fascinating, and that we at the New York Times are going to be watching closely is the extent to which this new administration is one that's going to be defined by the desires of billionaires. And the first Trump administration was really more focused on things like the oil and gas industry and the Christian right wanting to see more appointments to the Supreme Court. But the array of economic interest being pushed by billionaire donors to Trump in this second term is much broader. And their buddy, buddy relationship with Trump is much tighter. I mean, it's the crypto industry, it's artificial intelligence, it's the tech industry, and the antitrust approach that the government has to the tech industry. There's a bunch of players that have surrounded Trump, and Elon Musk is at the center of this crew. Many of these folks are friends of Musk, and he is sort of the ringleader of the whole group. And I think that they are going to have much more influence in what happens in the White House and across the federal government in the next four years.

[Rachel Abrams]

Right. I mean, billionaires have always had some sort of influence in government, but we just haven't really seen the proximity that you've outlined between this incredibly rich and powerful man, the world's richest man, and the president of the United States.

[Eric Lipton]

Yeah, I think that it's just a different set of players at the table this time around who have such vested interest in so many sectors of the economy that reach, you know, really across the playing field. Oligarchs is too strong of a word. But we are entering a period where people with immense wealth are interacting with a president who is known and has a history of being extremely transactional. And these are folks that now helped Trump get a second term and are expecting to see a return on that investment.

[Rachel Abrams]

Eric, thank you very much.

[Eric Lipton]

Thank you.

[Rachel Abrams]

We'll be right back.

[Commercial Voiceover]

With Schwab Investing Themes. It's easy to invest in ideas you believe in, like online music and videos, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and more. Schwab's research process uncovers emerging trends. Then their technology curates relevant stocks into themes. Choose from over 40 themes. Buy all the stocks in a theme as is or customize to better fit your investing goals, all in a few clicks. Schwab Investing Themes is not intended to be investment advice or a recommendation of any stock or investment strategy. Learn [e-mail] thematic investing nobody does selling better than Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet, and Shop pay that boosts conversion up to 50%. So if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling on the web, in your store, on their feed, and everywhere in between. Businesses that sell more sell on Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.comnyt all lowercase go to shopify.comnyt to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.comnyt.

[Rachel Abrams]

Here'S what else you need to know today. President elect Donald Trump has nominated military veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his defense secretary, but his lack of relevant experience has already generated pushback. Hegseth is one of several political appointees Trump has picked in recent days, including South Dakota Governor Christy Noem for secretary of Homeland Security and House Representative Elise Stefanik for ambassador to the United Nations. Trump is expected to meet with President Biden at the White House later today. It's part of a longstanding tradition of the outgoing president greeting the new one. Today's episode was produced by Ricky Novetsky, Olivia Natt, Rob Zipko and Luke Vanderplij. It was edited by M.J. davis Lynn, Brendan Klinkenberg with help from Chris Haxel, contains original music by Dan Powell and Rowan Nimisto and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. That's it for the Daily I'm Rachel Abrams. See you tomorrow.

[Commercial Voiceover]

At Schwab, how you invest is your choice, not theirs. That's why when it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices. You can invest and trade on your own, plus get advice and more comprehensive wealth solutions to help meet your unique needs. With award winning service, low costs and transparent advice, you can manage your wealth your way at Schwab. Visit schwab.com to learn more.