Elon Musk has quickly become one of the main players in the 2024 United States presidential election. His ownership of X, formerly known as Twitter, and his increasing support for former President Trump has positioned him as one of the most influential voices of this electoral period. This, however, might backfire for Elon Musk if Kamala Harris wins the 2024 elections, especially in the context of his company, SpaceX.
In a recent interview with former Fox News anchor, Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk had quite a bit to say about this upcoming election, but what is relevant for us is that Musk seems to be well aware of how a Kamala Harris victory might not be great for him.
Carlson jokingly said to Musk: “If he [Trump] loses man…you’re f-, dude” to which Musk replied, “I’m f-. If he loses, I’m f-.” He also asked Carlson, “How long do you think my prison sentence is going to be? Will I see my children, I don’t know.”
Elon Musk is all in.
(0:00) Elon Musk Is All in on Donald Trump
(6:35) Providing Starlink to Victims of Hurricane Helene
(9:22) If Trump Loses, This Is the Last Election
(21:49) The Epstein and Diddy Client List
(33:38) Vaccines
(35:49) The Movement to Decriminalize Crime… pic.twitter.com/jNqB1ThqQz— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 7, 2024
But do these jokes have a very real sense of looming threat if Donald Trump were to lose?
Why is Elon Musk endorsing Trump in this election, and what might this mean for SpaceX?
At first glance, it might seem counterintuitive for a businessman such as Musk to align himself with a specific party, especially considering the amount of subsidies he has taken from local, state, and federal governments.
However, Musk has said on repeated occasions that he is currently fighting the “woke mind virus” that “killed” his child. The billionaire and SpaceX owner seems to be on a crusade to end “wokeness” and has presented himself as a right-wing warrior. This is what led him to support Trump in the first place and landed him a possible place at the hypothetical government efficiency agency Trump would create in his second term.
All of the things that were previously described are major talking points in the so-called “culture wars” of the United States of America, but the question once again remains, what would this all mean for SpaceX?
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has filed many lawsuits against the federal government. In 2005, the company alleged Boeing and Lockheed Martin conducted themselves in anti-competitive ways that kept SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from competing for government contracts.
In 2014, Elon Musk sued the United States Airforce for an $11 billion sole-source contract that was awarded to the United Launch Alliance. SpaceX did get concessions for this suit but eventually dropped it after the military allowed SpaceX to launch military satellites.
SpaceX has benefited from government contracts, and that is unlikely to change
All of those suits had one thing in common, the Falcon rockets that would’ve been used by SpaceX if they had won the contracts, were not ready for launch in 2005 or 2014. For instance, the Falcon 9, would only launch in 2010, five years after the lawsuit, and the Falcon Heavy would not launch until 2018.
These lawsuits did not allow SpaceX to follow through with the military missions, but they did win more contracts with the government, thus ensuring them more funds for their projects.
An example of how SpaceX has benefitted from Elon Musk’s relationship with Trump is the subsidies the company received in 2020. In 2020, SpaceX received almost $900 million in rural broadband subsidies from the FCC. In 2022, these were terminated by the FCC under the Biden administration after “the applicant had failed to meet its burden.”
But is Elon Musk really putting SpaceX on the line in the 2024 election? The truth is, not really. NASA has become reliant on SpaceX because the agency does not have in-house rockets to carry out its activities. They are reliant on outsourcing them to companies such as SpaceX, Boeing, and the United Launch Alliance (that also includes Boeing).
To say that Boeing has had its fair share of controversies in the last few years would be an understatement, so that leaves SpaceX as almost the sole candidate for NASA’s contracts.