How Elon Musk Eclipsed JD Vance to Become Trump’s Real Vice President

Elon Musk has spent so much time at Mar-a-Lago since the election that Donald Trump’s 17-year-old granddaughter, Kia, posted on TikTok a photo of herself with Musk and his 4-year-old son with the caption: “Elon reaches the status of uncle.”

Even before last week, the tech billionaire was a prominent attraction at Trump rallies, pouring at least $200 million into voter turnout and promising to allocate another million a day to random Trump supporters. Cameras captured the 53-year-old jumping for joy as he shared the stage with the man who would become president-elect.

“Novus Ord Seclorum,” he wrote on X, which is Latin for New World Order. More than anyone else, Musk has the ability to shape that new order because of Trump’s fascination with wealth and celebrity.

Because he is unlikely to join Trump’s administration — he has too many conflicts of interest — he proposed that Trump create an efficiency commission to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. He has agreed to head such a panel, warning voters to brace for hardships.

As Trump assembles his team for a second bid for president, proximity is power — and it’s not his official vice president, JD Vance, who is on the ground weighing the choices. It is Musk who was on the phone when Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the President of Russia. Musk’s Starlink internet satellite service is an integral part of both war-torn countries.

Meanwhile, Vance is back home in Ohio, adjusting to his meteoric rise from Silicon Valley tech investor to vice president in just two years. He said in a clip that aired on Fox News that he and his wife, Usha, lost friends because of his alliance with Trump.

His sponsor is Donald Trump Jr., who advocated Vance’s candidacy and knows better than anyone how his father can run people under his feet. Musk is a naturalized citizen of South Africa and cannot run for president.

Vance is the heir apparent and like any vice president, he knows his place and must bide his time. His role is undefined at this point, but his office will likely become the center of the New Tech Right as it builds political power.

While Vance figures out his job, Musk is a crucial player in American national security, whether there’s a Democrat or a Republican in the White House. “Starlink wasn’t supposed to be involved in wars,” Musk told author Walter Isaacson for his 2023 biography of Musk. “It was so people could watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things.” do, no drone attacks.”

Last year, Musk threatened for some time to withdraw Star Link from Ukraine, which he had supplied for free. He then said the US government would have to pass the bill before withdrawing both demands.

Jockeying exposes the problems when the government is dependent on an external financier for national security. Now the outside financier is on the inside, and he brings with him an extraordinary intellect that—when he wants to—understands the complexities of the world in a way that eludes Trump, a master of instant gratification.

The COP 29 climate conference, just starting in Baku, Azerbaijan, exposes the challenge ahead if Trump withdraws again, as expected under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

In 2017, Musk resigned in protest at two presidential advisory panels, saying: “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America and the world.”

This time, Musk is our only hope to salvage some sanity on this issue. He got into the EV business because of his concerns about fossil fuels, and Space X because he wanted a backup planet in case efforts to combat climate change fail.

Musk’s latest obsession is population growth, which puts him at odds with those more concerned about an overpopulated planet and not enough resources. He believes smart people should have more babies, and thinks IVF is an efficient way to achieve that goal. Trump proclaimed himself the “father of IVF” at a Fox town hall with Republican women in the battleground state of Georgia.

It is Musk who is Trump’s real partner, not Vance, who we haven’t heard much from, as Trump gets the rarest of opportunities: a “do-over” presidency. Voters remembered his first term as a time of prosperity and peace. The pandemic was never discussed during the campaign. It was a national trauma that we have collectively forgotten and never held Trump accountable for his lies and lack of leadership in confronting what he knew was coming. Biden did the cleanup and paid the price for the inflation that was its aftermath.

That was then, and this is now, and the new alliances forming around Trump – with Musk as the most fascinating figure at their center – hold promises we cannot afford to miss. Forget “one president at a time.” The new world order is here.