Elon Musk has revealed why he really wants Donald Trump to win the presidential election, and it has nothing to do with border policy or tax breaks for billionaires.
While speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Summit in Saudi Arabia, Musk said SpaceX’s ability to colonize Mars largely depends on the Republican candidate’s return to office.
“I feel more optimistic about a White House with Trump than I do about a White House without Trump,” he said.
If Musk’s vision comes true, the first manned mission to the Red Planet would launch in 2027 and the first human boots on the Martian landscape two years later.
SpaceX CEO admitted the timeline was ambitious, but suggested that electing Kamala Harris would not result in the deregulation necessary to clear the path to his goal.
He claimed that under President Joe Biden’s administration it has become “almost illegal” to launch space missions, even though SpaceX has launched more than 300 rockets since 2020, more than any other commercial spaceflight company.
“It takes longer to get a launch permit than it does to build a giant rocket,” Musk continued.
The claims were likely due to Trump’s big push into space during his first term, signing an order that aimed to return Americans to the Moon and be the first to reach Mars.
Elon Musk has taken on what he called an “important role” in the 2024 presidential election thanks to his strong support for former President Trump.
“I will free NASA from the constraint of serving primarily as a logistics agency for low-Earth orbit activities — a big deal,” Trump said in 2016.
‘Instead, we will reorient its mission toward space exploration. “Under a Trump administration, Florida and America will lead the way to the stars.”
Trump’s presidency demonstrated that he is aligned with Musk’s goals for space exploration in several ways.
The former president’s Space Policy Directive 1, signed in December 2017, set the goal of returning American astronauts to the moon and establishing a permanent presence there, laying the groundwork for human missions to Mars.
‘We will stop at the moon. The moon is actually a launch pad. That’s why we will stop at the Moon,” said the Republican candidate in 2019.
‘I said, ‘Hey, we made the moon.’ That’s not so exciting. Then we will be making the moon. But we’ll really be doing Mars.’
This directive also specifically called for commercial and international partnerships in space exploration, recognizing the critical role that private companies, like SpaceX, can play in the American space sector.
And most importantly, Trump is in favor of deregulation. The former president’s Space Policy Directive 2 aimed to simplify commercial space regulations to encourage the rapid growth and innovation of private space companies.
Musk has attended multiple Trump rallies and made his first appearance on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, in October.
In 2017, he stated, “At some point in the future, we’ll look back and say, ‘How did we do it without space?’
Since officially endorsing Trump in July, the billionaire has become his second-largest financial backer, donating tens of millions of dollars to his campaign.
And on Monday, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office sued Musk and his super PAC over the group’s $1 million donation to randomly selected swing state voters who sign a petition on the PAC’s website.
The petition pledges signers’ support for the First and Second Amendment, but only registered voters in swing states are eligible for the drawing.
Musk also attended multiple Trump rallies and made his first onstage appearance in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5.
It appears that Musk believes Trump will maintain this record if he is re-elected, which will help him move quickly toward the future he envisions for SpaceX and the commercial space industry as a whole.
“With Trump in office, Musk can expect a more favorable regulatory environment for his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX,” said Michael Breen, associate professor at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University, Ireland. news week.
“Like many Silicon Valley billionaires, Musk resists any limitations on what he perceives as his personal freedom,” he added.
At today’s FII Summit, a gathering of world leaders, investors, policymakers and innovators, Musk said he has taken an “important role” in the 2024 presidential election, alluding to his strong support for Trump.
The claims were likely due to Donald Trump’s big push into space during his first term, signing an order that aimed to return Americans to the moon and be the first to reach Mars.
Musk has expressed his support for the Trump campaign’s stance in part through X, where he posted this graphic highlighting his belief that Trump will help his Mars missions.
But even before the summit, Musk repeatedly stated that excessive regulations impede innovation and progress toward becoming a “multiplanetary species,” which is SpaceX’s primary goal.
‘Voting for Trump is voting for Mars! Unless we stop the slow strangulation by overregulation that is occurring in the United States, we will never become a multiplanetary civilization,” he posted on X.
Through SpaceX, Musk seeks to build a future where humanity has established permanent settlements on Mars.
But he still had a long way to go to make that future a reality.
Its stance is likely due to regulatory hurdles SpaceX has faced in the past, including delayed launch approvals and other restrictions imposed by federal agencies.
Musk has repeatedly argued that many of these regulations are outdated and overly restrictive, stifling innovation within SpaceX and other commercial spaceflight companies.
“Unless there is significant government reform, laws and regulations will continue to get worse every year until every major endeavor, from high-speed rail between our cities to making life multiplanetary, is effectively illegal,” Musk previously stated.
All of this suggests that Musk sees his investment in the Trump campaign as an investment in the future of SpaceX and, in his opinion, the future of humanity.