Supporting Trump’s election as President of the United States, what does Musk actually want? When people think of Musk, they often first perceive him as “crazy,” but in reality, he is a highly rational person with immense courage. Most people, even if they are rational, remain silent due to a lack of courage. However, Musk has both rationality and the courage to express it and pursue it, which is why he sometimes appears a bit crazy.
Recently, Musk once again astonished people by successfully supporting Trump’s election as President. Musk has kept a certain distance from politics for a long time, so why did he suddenly change his attitude and begin to deeply engage in politics, fully supporting Trump? What is his thought process behind this? After systematically reading Musk's public speeches supporting Trump’s election, I gained a deeper understanding of the core reasons for his actions. In Musk's speeches, there are a few firm beliefs: First, he supports the U.S. Constitution, with freedom of speech and the right to bear arms at its core; second, he supports border security; third, he supports reducing the size of government and lowering various administrative regulations. His thoughts are extremely clear and resolute.
Musk believes that these principles are crucial to America’s future development, which reflects his rationality. Because he believes Harris would not support these principles, while Trump would help achieve them, he chose to fully support Trump for President, demonstrating his courage.
Furthermore, this U.S. election has a historically significant meaning that has been somewhat overlooked: traditional political elites were completely defeated by non-traditional political figures from the business world. Whether we like Trump or Musk, the underlying significance of this election is inspiring. It shows that business elites from the civilian sector have triumphed over traditional political elites, who are steeped in bureaucratic ways. This is a major progress in global political history and serves as a great example for governments of other countries around the world.
To help readers better understand Musk’s thinking behind his political involvement, I have summarized some key points from his public speeches, hoping to provide valuable insights.
Here are the highlights of Musk's speeches:
If Trump loses, our cities will become more unsafe, the borders will be wide open, government spending will skyrocket, inflation will worsen, and things will get very bad.
We want secure borders. We want safe cities. We want reasonable spending so that we don't experience rampant inflation. We want freedom of speech, and we want the Constitution to be protected. These basic values are what have made America what it is today. Anyone who opposes these values is, fundamentally, anti-American.
If you don’t put serious criminals in jail, they will kill people. That’s the crux of the problem. Unfortunately, the Democrats won’t put serious criminals in jail. As a result, they roam free, harming you, your children, family, and friends. It’s crazy. We should be able to walk safely in American cities. This challenge is not just in Philadelphia, it’s in New York, and in every major city in America.
Our borders look like something out of World War Z, it’s crazy. Without a real border, there is no real country. As an immigrant, I support immigration policies. I just want to ensure that people coming here can become assets to society and raise our standard of living. I think the "sports team" is a great analogy. For example, if you are a professional sports team, you want to win a championship, and obviously, you want your team to have star players who can help the team win. Immigration is the same. If we have players who are on the level of Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, or LeBron James, and they want to join the team, they are welcome. Do you want to win? Yes. But if they can’t play basketball, they shouldn’t be on the team. This is very important.
The federal government’s excessive spending is driving America toward bankruptcy, and this hasn’t received much attention. This is crazy, and it is the real cause of inflation. When government spending exceeds income, it leads to inflation. It’s a form of pernicious taxation. We must drastically reduce government spending so that we don’t accumulate unpayable debt, leading the country to bankruptcy.
Many people are attacking free speech, and they have been attacking my advocacy for free speech, but this is the First Amendment of the Constitution. This means it’s a highly prioritized issue. The reason for the First Amendment is that in the people’s original countries, if you spoke your mind, you would be imprisoned or killed. That’s why the First Amendment is so important. Similarly, the right to bear arms is extremely important. The Second Amendment exists to protect the First Amendment. Once the government can disarm the people, they can do whatever they want. This has played out in many countries where they confiscate people’s guns and then hold fraudulent elections. When people try to protest, they are suppressed. This recently happened in Venezuela, where they held a fake election. Maduro lost by a landslide, losing 70% of the votes. Then he said, "No, I won." Everyone said, "No, you didn’t." There were mass protests in the streets. But the problem is, after Chavez came to power, he confiscated everyone’s guns. So now, you’re facing soldiers with assault rifles. Are you going to throw sticks at them or point your fingers as if they’re guns? That’s useless. So even though Maduro lost the election, he still held onto power. This is the risk we face. So, we must do everything possible to protect the Constitution. Yes.
I wasn’t active in politics before. I’m now involved because I think the future of America and the future of civilization are at stake.
Fundamentally, if we don’t reverse America’s current trend of overregulation, we will never reach Mars. It will be illegal. We will just be a single-planet civilization, and there won’t be an interstellar fleet. But we want the interstellar fleet to be a reality. I believe America is great. We want to make it even greater, and we want to do amazing things. We don’t want the Apollo program to be our benchmark in history. We want to do great things in America.
I think we also want to preserve the basic characteristics that made America great, like freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. These things specified in the Constitution are very important. You might ask, why did they add these amendments to the Constitution? Because in people’s original countries, if you spoke your mind, you would be imprisoned or killed. And they confiscated everyone’s guns so that people couldn’t resist government oppression. This is the reason behind gun confiscation. I firmly believe in the Constitution, and I firmly believe in these qualities that make America great.
We need real, secure borders. Without borders, there is no country. If that’s the case, what’s the point of being a country? I’ve been to the border, and I just wanted to see it with my own eyes. The border looks like World War Z. I said, “This is crazy, man.”
Crazy government spending is leading this country toward bankruptcy. Just like an individual, if you spend too much, you will eventually go bankrupt. The federal debt increases by a trillion dollars every three months. Our defense budget is huge, at a trillion dollars. But the interest on our debt is now higher than the defense budget, exceeding a trillion dollars and still growing. This is unsustainable. We must do something about it, or the country will go bankrupt. This is also crucial. That’s why we need a “Government Efficiency Department.”
America needs to continue being the land of opportunity. Here, your success is a function of how hard you work and your talent. If you have talent and work hard, those should be the only two factors that determine your success. That’s it. At the same time, America should be a free country. This means individual freedom; the government shouldn’t impose all these rules on people. Government overreach is wrong. Freedom, freedom, yes.
People don’t understand the degree to which the government is involved in the media, and the extent of the government’s influence over the media. It’s crazy. Whoever is manipulating the media should mix it up a bit because they are performing terribly.
Why am I involved in politics now, when I wasn’t so active in the past? The reason is that I believe we are at a crossroads. This time, I think we are at a crossroads, a crossroads of destiny. I believe that under Biden and Kamala's leadership, the overreach and manipulation by the government are unsettling.
I also see a deliberate attempt by the Democrats to bring as many people as possible into swing states like Pennsylvania, to ensure that America becomes a permanent one-party state. These numbers are truly shocking, and the fake traditional media has not reported on it. People only know about it on X platforms. It’s crazy. You can see the numbers growing. By the way, this data comes from government websites managed by Democrats. In some states, those swing states, illegal immigration has increased by 700% in the past three and a half years. They (the Democrats) are importing voters. I think this is obvious to anyone. Then, we will end up like California, where one party dominates. California is a state where the Democrats have an overwhelming majority, and it’s a one-party system. One-party systems are not democratic. I believe action must be taken now. Kamala is just a puppet of a larger machine, and if this machine—I call it the machine—continues for another four years, future elections will become meaningless, like California. The whole U.S. will become Californicated, and it will go in a bad direction. Yes, Californicated. We don’t want to see such a bad situation. In fact, things will be far worse than California. The reason it will be worse is that there is one thing stopping California from becoming even worse, and that’s the ability for people to leave California but remain in the U.S. Now, what happens if there’s nowhere to go? It will be worse than California.
What we observe with SpaceX and Tesla is an increasing burden of regulation and oppression year after year. New regulatory agencies are established annually, and rules accumulate until everything eventually becomes illegal. Our rocket sat on the launchpad for two months, ready to launch at any moment. SpaceX builds giant rockets faster than the government moves paperwork from one desk to another! If this trend continues, without a conscious effort to ease regulations and establish reasonable rules, humanity will never reach Mars and will forever remain trapped on Earth. I absolutely find this unacceptable—being so regulated that we’re forever stuck on Earth. That would be a sad epitaph. If future aliens see us, they might say, "They were so close, but they regulated themselves out of success. They had rockets and all the technology they needed." In short, I think this is extremely important. Ironically, many Democrats claim Trump is a threat to democracy. I believe, in fact, they are the threat to democracy.
I’m not worried that supporting Trump will harm Tesla’s brand or sales. Tesla’s sales are, in fact, quite good, and we’re breaking records. I think people care about the quality of the product, not whether they agree with the CEO’s views. Every CEO has their own political opinions, but ultimately, what matters is that Tesla produces excellent products. People like buying great products—it's that simple.
One thing I’ve always been concerned about, especially this year, is the increasing attacks on the Constitution, particularly on freedom of speech. The right to bear arms is also under attack. Without the right to bear arms—the Second Amendment exists to protect the First Amendment. You have to ask why the First and Second Amendments exist. It’s because in the countries people came from, speaking your mind could get you imprisoned or killed. That’s why they said, "We must ensure freedom of speech." And how do you ensure freedom of speech? By having the right to bear arms. The Constitution’s framers must have thought, "This country is going to be awesome!"
One of our goals is to mobilize over a million, maybe even two million, voters in swing states to sign petitions supporting the First and Second Amendments. We truly need to go all out to protect the Constitution. It exists for a reason, containing profound wisdom. If something ever goes wrong, it will save us from tyranny.
I think what we fundamentally want is pretty straightforward and sensible: safe cities, secure borders, and obviously to uphold the Constitution. We want to reduce government overreach. Frankly, I think we want to restore people’s freedom. This way, personal liberty is valued, and you can do what you want, rather than being regulated to death as we are now. Shockingly, there are about 428 federal agencies. That means nearly two new agencies have been created every year since the country was founded. And more agencies are being established. So I call it “strangled by overregulation,” and it’s insane. I believe if Trump takes office, we have a real chance to shrink the government, institute sensible regulation, and truly liberate the American people to do what they want to do. I’m not sure these are necessarily right-wing values—they seem like common-sense values, things that should obviously happen.
I’ve had several conversations with President Trump. He strongly agrees that we need to reform the government significantly. We need to get the government out of people’s lives and make America the land of freedom again. A land of freedom and opportunity—that’s what once made America great. Maximizing individual liberty and ensuring success is based on effort and talent, with consistent hard work every day. That’s the real and only reason people succeed.
Frankly, I expected to fail. I just wanted to do something as useful as possible. I hoped what I was doing would be useful, and that was it. I didn’t even initially plan to start a company. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I tried to get a job at Netscape. Marc Andreessen is my friend, but they never responded to the résumé I mailed. So I thought, "Alright, I’ll write software myself." I started programming as a child. I decided to develop some internet software to see if I could create something useful. In 1995, I created the first map and navigation system for the internet. This was simply because no one wanted to give me a job on the internet—nothing more. If they had given me a job, I’d probably have worked at Netscape or some other company.
My best advice is to work hard and try to be as useful to your fellow humans as possible. Strive to give more than you take. I deeply respect those who work hard—that’s what really matters.
Children in schools are exposed to a lot of political propaganda, which I think only confuses them. Everyone goes through an identity crisis during adolescence—it’s normal. I think we should tell kids, "If you feel confused, it’s okay; that’s part of growing up." We shouldn’t steer them in any specific direction or make them believe things they don’t actually believe. Identity crises are normal; everyone experiences them. But in schools, kids are often pushed down a path they wouldn’t choose themselves, pressured by teachers and school propaganda. So we need to tell kids that uncertainty is okay, and it’s normal to have doubts. Over time, that uncertainty will fade. Don’t make any permanent, irreversible decisions. For example, we shouldn’t sterilize kids under 18—there’s no benefit to it. The age of consent exists for a reason. We don’t allow kids under 18 to get tattoos. Technically, it’s illegal for people under 21 to drink, though that’s often ignored. We just want people to avoid making decisions in their youth that they’ll regret as adults—that’s the real issue. I believe we should prioritize people’s long-term happiness, which means ensuring kids don’t undergo irreversible changes while growing up. When kids have identity crises—every kid does—it’s perfectly fine. So, my point is, we should tell kids, "When you’re going through adolescence and facing identity crises, it’s normal. Don’t worry too much; it will all be okay." That’s the right approach.
Rapid, fully reusable rockets will open space for humanity, enabling us to build bases on the Moon, cities on Mars, and become a spacefaring civilization. Many people don’t realize the difference between expendable rockets and reusable rockets is at least 10,000%. Imagine the cost difference between refueling a car and buying a new one every trip—it’s the same with rockets. If a new rocket is needed for every launch, it’s prohibitively expensive and difficult. But if you only need to refuel, costs drop significantly, much like cars or airplanes.
Reducing the strangulation of overregulation is crucial. Take our rockets—they sat on the launchpad for two months, waiting for paperwork approval. SpaceX builds giant rockets faster than the government transfers documents between desks. It’s insane. The problem worsens every year. At this rate, everything will become illegal, and nothing will get done. Excessive regulation is escalating, with new agencies forming every year. The difficulty of accomplishing anything increases exponentially with the number of agencies involved. If there’s only one agency, the difficulty is one. With three agencies, the difficulty is nine times greater because they all need to meet.
We face absurd situations. For example, SpaceX was fined $140,000 for pouring drinking water onto the ground to cool the launchpad during a rocket launch. We chose drinking water out of caution to ensure safety. We didn’t know a permit was needed. The area receives heavy tropical rainstorms, flooding roads. Why are we fined for spilling a bit of water? But the EPA said they wouldn’t process any launch applications until we paid. Essentially, we were extorted. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I have plenty of crazy stories—some are even funny. SpaceX once had to study whether Starship might hit sharks. I said, "This is a vast ocean with many sharks; it’s improbable but not impossible." They insisted. So we asked for shark data. They refused, citing distrust within their team. Eventually, we got the data, analyzed it, and concluded sharks would be fine. Then they asked about whales! Honestly, if a rocket hits a whale, it’s the whale’s fault—the odds are that low. Yet we had to analyze it. Once again, bureaucracy hindered progress. We need to stop this madness or nothing will get done.
Since the Department of Education was established, Americans’ academic performance has declined. Why are we spending so much money only to achieve worse results? Much of the funding is used for political propaganda instead of teaching kids practical knowledge. We need to stop political indoctrination in schools and teach children useful skills—I’m convinced of this.
I think federal regulations mandating autonomous driving would be good. The real threshold should be statistically significant evidence proving autonomous driving is safer than manual driving, such as being 50% or 100% better over a billion miles. If data supports this, autonomous driving should be allowed—it’s that simple.
I generally believe there shouldn’t be “government mandates.” I oppose incentives or tax breaks for any industry, including oil and gas. We should let the market decide. I’m generally against government mandates.
Once we create the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), we will be able to save at least $2 trillion from the $6.5 trillion wasted by the Harris-Biden administration. Ultimately, we are all taxed. All government spending is a form of taxation, whether it is direct taxation or... All government spending either results in inflation or direct taxation. Our money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency will address this issue. We need to make the government disappear from your shoulders and pockets. Not only will America become great, but it will reach unprecedented heights. The future will be astonishing!
My philosophy is that if you’re going to get involved, you need to give it your all. You can’t just be half-hearted. I spend every day with my team, seven days a week, focusing on encouraging early voting in Pennsylvania and other swing states. The first priority is voter registration—if people aren’t registered, they can’t vote. The initial focus is to maximize the number of registrations. Once the registration deadline passes, we start pushing for early voting.
I believe X is the only place where you can find the truth.
Many Democrats want to imprison me, cancel all my company’s government contracts, nationalize my company, deport me as an illegal immigrant, and then arrest me—because I am obviously Putin’s best friend—other than that, there’s nothing else.
I think Trump is a very interesting and humorous person, and clearly, the media has smeared him a lot. He has been through many trials. As you mentioned, when he was shot, I immediately supported him. You can see how someone reacts when they’re shot. Because you can instantly tell if a person is brave or cowardly. He was hit by a bullet, and blood was flowing down his face. There could have been a second shooter, but he yelled: fight, fight, fight! This is real courage, it cannot be faked. America is the home of freedom, the land of the brave. This is the kind of president we want. We want a strong, brave person to be president, and he is that person.
I am more than happy to help improve the efficiency of the government. The Department of Government Efficiency, I believe, is a much-needed department. We have a massive government bureaucracy, excessive regulation, and agencies with overlapping responsibilities. There are about 450 federal agencies, and almost every year since the founding of the U.S., two new agencies have been created. We are constantly creating new agencies. Now, it has reached the point where almost everything is illegal, and nothing gets done. For people, these become real costs. They are hidden costs, but they are substantial. If you’re burdened with unreasonable demands, it’s hard to build new housing. This drives up housing costs and slows down the construction of new homes. Therefore, we need to get America’s builders back to work.
