The Musk-Trump fight blows up a critical alliance in American politics

Elon Musk claimed Thursday that President Donald Trump couldn’t have won a second term without his help, a claim that can’t be easily proven or disproven. What’s clear is Trump’s campaign counted on him heavily.

Elon Musk said Thursday that President Donald Trump couldn’t have won a second term without his help, a claim that can’t be easily proven or disproven. What’s clear is Trump’s campaign relied on him heavily. Last year, Trump tapped Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, to essentially lead his campaign’s ground operation in key battleground states like Pennsylvania. The more than $290 million that the multibillionaire plowed into the 2024 election to boost both Trump and congressional Republicans made him the largest publicly disclosed donor in federal contests last year. Thursday’s war of words between the two billionaires marked the implosion of a candidate-donor relationship with no precedent in American politics. And it renewed a debate about whether Musk really was as decisive in Trump’s 2024 victory as he said in one post, writing: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.” “It’s incredibly arrogant to say that, but it’s probably true,” said Dennis Lennox, a Republican strategist in the battleground state of Michigan. Musk and Trump capitalized on a 2024 decision by the Federal Election Commission that granted campaigns the ability to coordinate with outside political action committees on paid canvassing. Musk’s America PAC spent more than $97 million on canvassing and field operations alone, federal records show – with tens of millions more going to digital ads, texting and phone calls as Musk’s team worked to turn out voters on Trump’s behalf in the final stretch to Election Day.