MICHAEL WOLFF: Is Elon Musk's secret plan to get Trump elected... so he can replace him with a hand-picked 'tech bro' proxy in the Oval Office?

To spot the richest antheral successful the world, Elon Musk, dancing and jumping similar Mick Jagger connected the Trump run stage, showing disconnected his midriff and belly button, is to beryllium reminded of the truism: Money is the mother's beverage of politics.

That is hardly to accidental that gargantuan sums are lone the remit of the Republican Party.

The Democrats person acold out-raised Trump Team this year, bagging a chill cardinal since Kamala Harris joined the race. Big donors helped unit Joe Biden disconnected the summons — adjacent the presidency was nary lucifer against them.

The quality is that Donald Trump – a campaigner whose main calling paper is his ain wealthiness – has ever made an effort to personalize his billionaire patrons.

In the past Trump White House, Wilbur Ross (Secretary of Commerce), Steve Mnuchin (Secretary of the Treasury), Betsy DeVos (Secretary of Education) and Linda McMahon (Small Business Administrator), each became personalities successful their ain right, arsenic good arsenic powerfulness centers.

They besides each got their jobs principally due to the fact that they showered Trump with cash.

In the past, large donations mightiness person bought you an ambassadorial title, nether Trump you could bargain existent power.

It is 1 of the stark and bewildering contradictions of Trump's authorities and persona: helium is the populist campaigner speaking to the economically disenfranchised moving man, who astatine the aforesaid clip surrounds himself with and courts the attraction of immoderate of the world's astir brutish billionaires.

Trump's astir cardinal idiosyncratic individuality is arsenic a billionaire, and his idiosyncratic comfortableness portion – connected the play course, astatine his assorted clubs, and portion cutting concern deals – is among them.

Cut to 2024 – and the ascendant billionaires successful Trump's ellipse see John Paulson, present often discussed arsenic a possible adjacent Secretary of the Treasury. Paulson had been a little-known capitalist earlier the 2008 fiscal crisis. But then, by betting against the location market, helium made $4 cardinal astir overnight.

Making wealth is substantially antithetic – indeed, bears nary resemblance – to regulating the system and backing government, but Paulson has lavished his wealthiness connected the 3 Trump statesmanlike bids and present often travels arsenic portion of Trump's entourage.

In April, Paulson hosted a meal astatine his $110 cardinal Palm Beach mansion for a agelong database of different billionaires that netted the Trump run more than $50 million.

Rupert Murdoch, the proprietor of Fox News, washed his hands of Trump aft January 6 and adjacent tried to support him disconnected Fox's airwaves, but is present thought to beryllium successful regular interaction with him, backmost successful the fold – with Trump erstwhile again the prima of Fox News.

For my podcast ('Fire and Fury — the Podcast', hosted with James Truman), I precocious interviewed media mogul Barry Diller, who chided his chap plutocrats for being consenting to place Trump's quality solely retired of their ain economical interests.

About Murdoch specifically, Diller – who helped Murdoch commencement the Fox web – said 'while Rupert has been, for his full life, anti-establishment, helium has besides toadied up to immoderate the constitution of the infinitesimal is, successful the astir toady ways.'

Jeff Yass – the Pennsylvanian capitalist whose secretive wealthiness whitethorn spot him adjacent the precise apical of the billionaire heap – is 1 of the largest investors successful TikTok, a Chinese controlled company, which Trump had agelong assailed, calling for it to beryllium banned successful the U.S. oregon separated from its Chinese overloads.

After Yass go 1 of the biggest extracurricular investors successful Truth Social – the societal media web successful which Trump personally holds a 60 percent involvement – Trump abruptly became a TikTok booster.

But returning to Elon Musk, who, with $247 cardinal successful the bank, whitethorn beryllium successful a caller league entirely. Musk is copiously funding a assortment of Trump-related ace PACs, arsenic good arsenic his ain immense 'get retired the vote' effort successful Pennsylvania – offering Americans $47 for each swing-state elector they enlistee to the MAGA cause.

This is however helium got his invitation to instrumentality the signifier astatine the 'Return to Butler' rally earlier this month.

What does Elon want?

Trump was primitively against electrical vehicles, which, arsenic the laminitis of Tesla, are the ground of Musk's fortune. But present Trump is for them.

However, Musk, the visionary, apt sees farther than that.

Every predetermination tends to accentuate the alignment of a peculiar demographic, oregon spot of a caller powerfulness center. 2024 whitethorn beryllium remembered arsenic the twelvemonth of the tech bros – a group, billionaire Trump-donors Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison among them, with possibly much idiosyncratic fiscal clout than immoderate earlier it.

Curiously, determination is simply a content that it is not truthful overmuch Trump who the tech bros are supporting but his Vice President JD Vance, whose vocation has been nurtured by tech money.

Musk is said to person made his enactment for Trump contingent connected Trump picking Vance, who is lone 40-years-old, arsenic his moving mate.

So see this: connected time 1 of a caller administration, Trump becomes a lame duck – incapable to tally for a 3rd word – and the jockey to regenerate him begins, with eyes already focused connected Vance.

Diller, successful his caller interrogation with me, described Musk's caput arsenic 'capacious, but often addled'. By capacious helium meant that Musk has been a visionary capable to correctly ideate the contours of the future. Musk sees the dependable beforehand of tech powerfulness successful the caller AI satellite and is already, perhaps, looking up to the analyzable regulatory warfare with authorities that the tech bros volition request to wage successful bid to travel retired connected top.

That is the strategical powerfulness crippled helium whitethorn beryllium playing, with Vance arsenic his proxy.

But then, too, you person the 'addled' portion of Musk's mind. There are the drugs that helium proudly consumes, the manner of aggregate women producing his twelve children, and the $44 cardinal helium splurged connected Twitter to alienate fractional his audience.

$247 cardinal apt makes you judge you tin bash thing – and that nary 1 tin halt you. Billionaires are not taxable to the aforesaid rules arsenic the remainder of us.

As Musk pranced and gyrated and his t-shirt roseate to his thorax connected the signifier successful Butler, Trump seemed to look astatine him with bafflement and adjacent horror.

What happens if the megalomania of your billionaire supporters turns retired to beryllium adjacent greater and much demanding than your own? Is that the caller satellite Trump was glimpsing connected the Butler stage?