Musk As Trump's Unchained Foreign Policy Disruptor-In-Chief

2025-01-17 05:13:01

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Donald Trump's first term gave the world a taste of deliberately disruptive unwanted involvement in the domestic affairs of other countries, with examples ranging from Britain in the throes of Brexit to North Korea where the 45th US president attempted to forge a personal deal with Kim Jung Un .

US tech billionaire Elon Musk, however, has taken this to a whole new level. Musk appears willing to intrude in other nations' affairs by using his personal influence with specific decision-makers, governments and institutions, or by attacking them from the sidelines of social media in order to remake them in the way he wants them to be.

In contrast, Trump is more pragmatic and could do a deal with any nation provided they fall in line with his“America first” mission, and give him what he demands.

In the past six months, many countries have been subjected to Musk's “personal foreign policy” initiatives. Until fairly recently, there were two schools of thought on his interest in global politics.

Initially, Musk was merely “a mischievous antagonist” who simply loved to shock and appeared largely driven by social media.

But that has given way to nervousness in the face of Musk's increasingly deliberate attempts at destabilizing governments, including his persistent stoking of populist support for far-right parties and potentially funding populist allies .

This comes as current president Joe Biden warns of the growing power of the ultra-wealthy in his final address to the nation before he steps down.

Musk wields enormous global influence not merely because of his wealth, connections , and fleet of companies. But arguably because he is a self-proclaimed populist , with increasingly far-right political preferences . As of January 20, he will also be a significant member of the Trump administration .

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