Surrounded by billionaires and politicians, the world’s richest man delivered a Nazi salute from the stage at Trump’s second inauguration. Call it a sign of the times. Extreme capitalist crisis and decay have opened the door for cretins like Elon Musk to gain unprecedented political power as the ruling class moves decisively to the right. Musk, a rabidly anti-union billionaire, poses a unique danger to working people as Trump’s right-hand man. First and foremost, his goal is to extend the influence of his corporations and increase his profits. Since the election, his personal wealth has increased by $150 billion—a tidy return on his $277 million donation to the Trump campaign.
Musk sat shoulder-to-shoulder at Trump’s inauguration with some of the most powerful tech bosses. Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and the CEOs of Google, Apple, TikTok and other corporations had prime seats, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had to watch from an overflow room. Big Tech CEOs aren’t capitulating to Trump—they see Trump as an opportunity to liquidate regulations, bust unions and crush their rivals, particularly in China, where competitors have been keeping pace with or even exceeding U.S. technology. For example, DeepSeek, the AI chatbot that wiped $1 trillion from the U.S. stock market, is now being restricted by Trump. The Trump administration, more than any previous government, will intervene nakedly on the side of Big Tech because of its decisive role in carrying out U.S. imperialism’s agenda.
“You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war”
Musk’s role in politics echoes that of the Gilded Age tycoons. The robber barons of the late 19th century bought and sold politicians with impunity. These capitalists manipulated world events directly from the halls of power to fill their own pockets. William Randolph Hearst, owner of the New York Journal, infamously manufactured the pretext for the Spanish-American War by instructing a photographer stationed in Cuba: “You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war.”
The railroads were the most critical industry for American capitalism in Hearst’s day, and as a result, were the center of corruption. Today, that role in the U.S. economy is played by the tech and defense industries—so it’s no surprise that Elon Musk, of all billionaires, is playing the main role in Trump’s administration.
Musk’s SpaceX is one of the most critical links in U.S. imperialism’s arsenal. Today, SpaceX provides internet access to the Ukrainian military in U.S. imperialism’s ongoing proxy war with Russian imperialism. The U.S. military also relies on SpaceX to launch nearly all its combat satellites and has awarded the corporation over $2.5 billion in government contracts. Trump has quickly moved to dismantle all regulation over SpaceX since entering office. Now Musk, a man more known for blowing up rockets than his commitment to safety, wields de facto control over the Federal Aviation Administration after forcing out its former head. In an age of deepening imperialist war, Musk and SpaceX stand to make record profits under Trump.
Tesla, Musk’s electric car company, is also a decisive part of U.S. imperialism’s broader agenda. To effectively confront Chinese imperialism, U.S. capitalists must dominate the production and distribution of key commodities that are central to high-tech manufacturing. These include lithium, rare earth metals and semiconductors. Tesla is a key player in all these industries. Tesla’s role in the fight between U.S. and Chinese imperialism for global dominance is complicated, however, by the reality of its dependence on China for manufacturing and a large part of its sales. But at the end of the day, Tesla and Musk will be brought to heel to serve the long-term aims of U.S. imperialism, even at a high price.
Make Germany Great Again?
Ahead of elections in Germany this month, Elon Musk is busy stumping for the neo-Nazi, anti-immigrant AfD party. Musk spoke at the party’s campaign launch, calling on it to “protect the German people” and for Germany to “move on” from the remembrance of the Holocaust. This was on the very same day that Auschwitz was liberated, 80 years ago.
Beyond his own personal bigotry, there’s a reason Musk flirts with far-right ideas. Germany is a crucial country for Musk. It is home to his $5.5 billion Tesla “gigafactory” that employs 12,000 workers who have fought for union recognition for two years. Musk wants to expand this factory over the fierce opposition of locals. Should an AfD government come to power, Musk hopes to use it to force through the factory expansion and break the back of the union—just as he will use his influence in Trump’s government to threaten the U.S. labor movement.
Europe, and Germany in particular, is a crucial market for electric vehicles, and Musk is determined to grab every inch of it. In 2024, Tesla sales fell by 13% in the EU, largely because of the end of EV subsidies and tariffs on Tesla vehicles manufactured in China. Musk hopes that an EV-hostile AfD regime will make it easier for him to crush his competition and monopolize the market, just as he hopes to do in the U.S. But above all, he wants to use the AfD to slash taxes, regulations and worker protections.
No More Billionaires!
There is no world where an ideology that serves the needs of Elon Musk can benefit the rest of us. All of Musk’s political projects—whether it’s his union-busting, hate-mongering anti-trans attacks or his ruthless calls for mass deportations—serve one aim: growing his own wealth and power. Unlike white supremacists like Steve Bannon, he supports issuing more H1-B visas for highly skilled, but precariously employed, tech worker immigrants who are paid less than native-born workers. But this is based on Musk’s assessment of what is necessary to win the technological war against Chinese imperialism, not out of a rejection of nationalism or xenophobia. By fomenting toxic nationalist ideas and a rigid conception of gender that supports them, Musk accelerates the drive towards war which workers will pay for with our lives.
The working class must stand against divide-and-rule attacks that scapegoat trans people, immigrants and other oppressed groups to make the rich richer. We need to rip the populist cloak off these poisonous right-wing ideas which primarily serve to justify and reinforce the drive to war of the ruling class. Unions and working people internationally have the same enemy. The labor movement needs to join forces with the oppressed to decisively halt Musk’s attacks. We need a new party of our own that isn’t backed by billionaires and corporations. And, ultimately we need mass struggle against the system that continually brings billionaires to power—capitalism.