“There should be a federal approval process for autonomous vehicles,” Musk said on an Oct. 23 Tesla earnings call. “If there is a Department of Public Efficiency, I will try to help make it happen.”

Rather than operating in the backroom, Musk made himself the public face of Trump’s closing argument; a humanitarian October surprise that could fund its own campaign army, attract its own media attention and hold rallies for Trump in the swing state of Pennsylvania. Musk’s group, America PAC, to which he has given at least $118.5 million, is in close coordination with Trump’s get-out-the-vote campaign, although it remains legally independent.

“Are you ready to join Elon Musk and go Dark MAGA?” Read the subject line of Trump’s fundraising email last week; In this email, Musk was seen as a person of interest to celebrities such as Democratic supporters George Clooney or Sarah Jessica Parker. In exchange for a suggested donation of $47, the email offered to enter a raffle for Musk’s signature black MAGA hat, like the one he once wore while standing next to Trump.

“This is such an extraordinary scene that we haven’t fully grasped the magnitude or uniqueness of it,” said Trevor Potter, the former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission and an adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaigns. “The richest man in the world is building a campaign apparatus with Trump’s campaign at a time when one of the reasons he is the richest man in the world is that all his government contracts and business dealings are people controlled by Trump’s campaign in the White House.”

The nation’s modern campaign finance system, established by a Supreme Court opinion in 1976 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is based on the premise that large contributions from wealthy interest groups can lead to corruption or corruption. The Supreme Court reformed this system in 2010, concluding that “independent expenditures, including those by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” Since then, the role of the wealthiest minority in politics has exploded, aided by repeated judicial and regulatory expansions of what “independence” means.

As it stands, Musk remains legally “independent” of Trump’s campaign, although he does attend its rallies; speaks to the candidate regularly; It funds a field operation that shares data with Trump’s campaign; Advertising via direct mail, text message and radio to elect Trump; secured an advisory role in the future Trump administration; and publicly announced that he planned to use the position to improve his own job chances.

In this respect, Musk is no different from many in the group of billionaires, including Trump, who have taken an interest in politics in recent years. Musk did not respond to an email requesting an interview. A spokesperson for America PAC declined to comment for this story.

A 2023 study by Northwestern University political scientist Daniel Krcmaric and two colleagues found that 11 percent of people on the international Forbes billionaire list hold or seek formal political office, including by appointment. In authoritarian countries, the rate was much higher than in the United States, where less than 4 percent sought direct political participation and the very wealthy preferred a lower profile. (Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man who also has significant business interests in the federal government, owns The Washington Post. He oversees the Post’s editorial board and recently decided not to endorse Harris. But he does not exercise direct control.) This in the newsroom that produced the story.)

“The difference is that Musk wants everyone to know about it, whereas others want to keep it secret,” Krcmaric said.

Musk publicly opposed Trump’s election in 2016 and resigned in protest from the government advisory council in 2017 after Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords. Just two years ago, Trump dismissed Musk as a “bull artist” and mocked his “driverless cars that crash or rocket ships that go nowhere.” Trump wrote that Musk would be “worthless” without government subsidies for his businesses. Musk announced that Trump should “take off his hat and sail off into the sunset.”

Earlier this year, Musk remained skeptical about getting too involved in Trump’s efforts, telling other billionaire donors that it would be better for them if Trump won — but he understood the skepticism about giving big checks directly to efforts that Trump controls. “He didn’t want to be the public face of this,” said one person who spoke with him in the spring. “He was trying to figure out how he could help without contacting Trump.”

Now the two are enthusiastically praising each other, and Trump’s advisers have come to see Musk as an important ally. “Elon Musk is a once-in-a-generation industry leader, and our corrupt federal bureaucracy could certainly benefit from his ideas and efficiency,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

The two men speak regularly by phone, and Musk meets with Trump’s senior political team, according to Trump advisers; Those advisers also like others for this story and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Sources said Musk regularly raised issues of immigration, election rules and censorship with Trump.

“They probably talk every other day,” said a person close to Trump, who said he was impressed by former president Musk’s determination and ability to draw crowds.

At a major fundraiser dinner in New York in September, Trump told other donors they should give money like Musk. According to The Washington Post, Musk, who was born in South Africa and started his career working illegally in the United States, bonded with Trump over his concerns about undocumented immigration and election fraud.

Musk currently ranks as the fourth-largest donor this election cycle, but he could move up that ranking given his rate of late spending. Campaign finance records show Musk began donating to America PAC in early July, but announced his support only after the former president survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

“Trump believes that if he wins Pennsylvania, he will win the election. He told us this many times. “He’s almost treating this like a business deal,” one Trump adviser said. “He knows he will be devastated if he loses this election. Regulations, the attitude of the new Democratic administration, their hostility towards the money he spent to help Trump; these are a big business bet for him.”