New York
“Time TV”
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Let’s simply get this out of the best way: Elon Musk is nearly definitely not going to work for a Donald Trump administration.
Something’s attainable, in fact, in a Trump 2.0 White Home. However to tackle any main function in that administration, Musk would have a mountain of conflicts of curiosity to climb.
By regulation (and by widespread sense), you’ll be able to’t work on authorities issues that might have an effect on your individual private funds. That’s a giant drawback for somebody like Musk, whose $245 billion fortune is essentially tied up in shares of Tesla, SpaceX and X (previously Twitter), alongside along with his holdings within the fields of biotech, synthetic intelligence, satellite tv for pc communications and highway infrastructure tasks.
Sometimes, folks getting into public workplace treatment that drawback by divesting their shares and different holdings or by placing them in a blind belief. However Musk, the CEO and single largest shareholder of Tesla, can’t simply promote his stake with out inflicting the worth to break down. And given the scope of his enterprise pursuits, it’s laborious to see the place he may serve with out having to recuse himself usually.
“A lot would rely on what the job is and the way it pertains to his financial curiosity,” stated Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Regulation College. “Is there something that wouldn’t relate to his financial pursuits? I’m undecided what that might be.”
Nonetheless, the MAGA odd couple of Musk and Trump is clearly having enjoyable teasing on the thought of a Secretary Musk. On Monday, Trump instructed Reuters that he would contemplate naming Musk to an advisory or Cupboard function if reelected in November.
“He’s a really good man. I definitely would, if he would do it, I definitely would. He’s an excellent man,” Trump stated.
Musk didn’t reply on to that remark, however he posted on X that he’s “prepared to serve.” That assertion was posted in Muskian trend, over a doctored picture of himself standing at a lectern labeled “D.O.G.E. Division of Authorities Effectivity,” a reference to the crypto meme token. So make of that what you’ll.
Musk, who hardly ever speaks on to the press, didn’t instantly reply to “Time TV”’s request for remark. The Trump marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to “Time TV”’s request for remark.
The chatter about Musk taking a DC gig intensified final month after he publicly endorsed Trump, and once more after the 2 alluded to the likelihood throughout a glitchy, rambling interview on X final week.
There are lots of causes to take all of this hypothesis with a grain of salt. Not least: They each are likely to lie and exaggerate to maintain their names within the headlines.
However simply as a thought experiment, let’s say they have been critical and that Musk would truly wish to serve in public workplace.
“The most important hurdle for Musk could be to acquire Senate approval, as all Cupboard officers should do,” stated Alan Morrison, a professor at George Washington College Regulation College. “Relying on the place, the Senate would possibly effectively insist that he divest himself of particular securities” — together with however not restricted to Tesla, if he went to the Transportation Division, or SpaceX if he went to the Protection Division.
He wouldn’t be the primary govt to undergo that course of.
Earlier than turning into George W. Bush’s Treasury secretary in 2006, former Goldman Sachs president Henry Paulson offered greater than 3 million shares of the financial institution, valued at almost $500 million, and vowed to recuse himself from any substantive points referring to the establishment or its executives with out an express waiver from the federal government. (That obtained fairly laborious to do when the monetary system almost collapsed two years later, in fact.)
Past the authorized and moral quagmire Musk would face in DC, the larger opposition would possibly come from Wall Road.
Musk would be the wealthiest individual on the planet, but when there’s one factor he can’t afford, it’s one other job title.
Tesla shareholders are already relatively irritated by the CEO’s extracurricular actions, particularly on a regular basis he spends tweeting memes and conspiracy theories on X, the platform he spent $44 billion on two years in the past and which is now price lower than half of that (by Musk’s personal estimation).
“Musk probably being provided a Cupboard place in a Trump White Home could be a catastrophe state of affairs Tesla buyers wouldn’t wish to see,” stated Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush Securities. “Musk must be centered on Tesla … The very last thing the Road needs to see is Elon facet by facet with Trump within the Oval Workplace.”
Requested about how possible such he thinks such a state of affairs could be, Ives stated the concept “feels far-fetched. Nevertheless it’s Trump and Musk, so something is feasible.”
