Elon Musk © Angela Weiss, AFP
Billionaire Elon Musk's relationship with Donald Trump — former president, convicted felon and Republican presidential nominee — is more akin to that of a Russian oligarch's with a dictator than an American businessman's with a political candidate, a former White House staffer said Tuesday.
Van Jones, a onetime official in former President Barack Obama's administration, warned of the effect that Musks' millions might have after the Wall Street Journal reported the Tesla CEO and X owner will flush $45 million a month into a pro-Trump super PAC.
"It's scary," Jones said. "What is Donald Trump going to do to reward someone like an Elon Musk — he's has already given him a vice president — what's next?"
Jones sourced the "radicalization" of Musk and some of his fellow Silicon Valley billionaires to demands for equal treatment from women and people of color in the tech industry, and characterized the response as fundamentally childish.
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"They're just so hurt and offended by some of what they call 'woke ideology' — people wanting more equality and fairer treatment when it comes to race and gender," Jones said.
"They're now willing to throw massive amounts of money — it's some kind of, like, almost an anti-woke vendetta."
Jones also raised concerns about the future of social media, noting both men own platforms that promote political and problematic speech.
Under Musk, X has spurred outrage among foreign nations that fear it props up anti-democracy militias by spreading misinformation.
Trump's Truth Social has faced criticism for the "fake news" it allows the former president to spread.
"Is X going to wind up buying Truth?" asked Jones. "Is that a part of the deal? You're looking at more like a Russian-style oligarchy that's beginning to develop...It's quite disturbing."
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