Who’s in Elon’s ear — and DMs

Unlike traditional Washington power players, Elon Musk doesn’t have a deep bench of policy wonks, think tank researchers or Hill veterans feeding him white papers to bone up on policy — not unlike President Donald Trump during his political debut.

From the corridors of the West Wing to the steady drum of right-wing voices on his X feed, Musk has assembled a makeshift brain trust of Silicon Valley loyalists, Trump world heavyweights and online ideological allies who have helped shape his worldview.

His most trusted advisers remain a tight-knit group of executives who have followed him from his companies but lack political experience, according to two people familiar with Musk’s circles. Among them are Musk’s long-time friend Antonio Gracias, former Boring CEO Steve Davis and his wife, Nicole Hollander, the former head of real estate at X, and vice president of people operations at SpaceX, Brian Bjelde.

Among the politicos, Musk is particularly close with his top political advisor, Chris Young, the former GOP field organizer who was originally brought in to advise Musk during Trump’s campaign and currently serves as treasurer of America PAC. Young has turned into Musk’s right hand on all things Washington — from penetrating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to handling personal logistics.

Upon Musk’s request, Young procured a massive TV for Musk’s office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building so he could play video games, according to a person familiar with the situation granted anonymity to speak freely.

Musk is also advised by Katie Miller, who served in Trump’s first administration, and he maintains a close relationship with Generra Peck, Musk’s contact on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign. Peck, DeSantis’ former campaign manager, ran America PAC last summer and continues to oversee it.

Musk has had a non-traditional political education devoid of experienced bureaucrats or Washington insiders. But that ad hoc approach, combined with personal circumstance and his experience leading Tesla through the Covid-pandemic, is what continues to inform the Musk we see today.

“I think he worries that meritocracy and western liberalism are under assault,” said Ryan Girdusky, a pro-Trump conservative strategist. “He sees himself as a force to save it, along with countries throughout the West, by supporting populist parties. He finds himself concerned that liberty and prosperity created in the West will die as birth rates wither and wokeism becomes the state religion. Yet his business and life experiences clearly conflict with some of those opinions and his political philosophy is clearly a moving target, but there’s something there.”

When it comes to learning the world of politics, just as Musk learns any other new domain, he is shaped most by reading or having a direct conversation, said a person who has worked with him directly at one of his companies granted anonymity to discuss him.

“He’s extremely skeptical of getting information from people he believes have an ulterior motive,” this person told West Wing Playbook. “So I would often be very reticent to try to sort of teach him. It was almost always better for me to point him in the direction of reading about something or talking to sort of a primary source.”

Inside the Trump White House, Musk leaned on some of the administration’s most ideological hardliners to get up to speed on how Washington works. Stephen Miller and Russell Vought, both long-time proponents of dismantling the administrative state, helped brief Musk, the New York Times reported. Musk also spent a significant amount of time at Mar-a-Lago during the transition, participating in discussions about how to assemble Trump’s Cabinet, and forging relationships with influential figures like Charlie Kirk.

While Musk doesn’t have particularly close personal relationships with most White House officials, he’s been building rapport by attending dinners with some of the key players — sometimes bringing along his DOGE staffers.

He’s become close friends with Vice President JD Vance, who he pushed Trump to choose as his running mate, according to a person familiar with their relationship. There’s close ideological alignment between the two on issues including rehiring a DOGE employee who resigned after racist comments, questioning the judiciary’s authority to serve as a check on executive power, and criticizing Romania’s decision to cancel its presidential election in December.

Perhaps Musk’s most unconventional advisory board is his X feed, an online ecosystem of Tesla fans and right-wing influencers and media voices, some of whom have developed personal relationships with Musk and have a direct impact on his decision-making.

One of Musk’s closest ideological allies in that space is Ben Shapiro. The two share a mutual distrust of government overreach and an affinity for culture war politics.

A few months after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Musk traveled with Shapiro to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, as well Israel, to study Jewish history and the Holocaust, an experience he digested onstage with Shapiro.

“I must admit to being somewhat frankly naive to [antisemitism],” Musk said on stage at a conference organized by the European Jewish Association. “It’s like an absurdity at least in my friend circle, but looking at the pro-Hamas rallies in vast numbers that took place in almost every major city in the West blew my mind, including on the elite college campuses that are supposed to be enlightened.”

(However, Musk on Inauguration Day made a hand gesture widely interpreted as a Nazi salute. Musk has dismissed the connection.)

Policy ideas from Musk’s X feed are making their way into the White House, although it is uncertain yet whether they’ll be adopted. Just weeks ago, anti-woke investor James Fishback posted an idea about DOGE issuing dividend checks — a plan to send rebate money back to taxpayers from federal budget cuts. Musk saw the post, responded that he would “check with the president,” and within days, the idea was being seriously discussed inside the White House.

“Like the president, Elon Musk respects a strong idea, no matter where it comes from,” said Fishback, who lobbied Musk in person on the sidelines of CPAC. “When we met, I reiterated the how and why of the DOGE Dividend. That’s the way to pitch Elon.”

The dramatic shift in ideology for Musk, who used to fundraise for Barack Obama, began in earnest in 2020.

During the pandemic, he railed against Covid lockdowns, fueling a pivot that only accelerated when his transgender daughter transitioned. Musk blames the “woke mind virus” for “killing” his child, and has since turned cultural issues into a cornerstone of his political identity.

Musk’s evolution hasn’t been confined to American politics. He’s now boosting right-wing political movements in at least 18 countries, per NBC News, forming personal connections with leaders like Argentina’s Javier Milei, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.

For those who knew him in his earlier years as a Democratic-leaning donor, Musk’s political arc is jarring.

“Fast forward to today, where Elon is basically the de facto co-president, or certainly the vice president, it’s shocking to all of us,” said a person who has worked with him at one of his companies.