Donald Trump’s estranged niece is accusing the former president of having a “new owner” because of his increasingly close relationship with tech billionaire Elon Musk.
“Donald Trump has always been for sale,” Mary Trump wrote in a Substack post on Saturday.
“Given this decades-long pattern, it’s not surprising that the world’s richest fascist, South African jumping bean Elon Musk, would also be interested in purchasing a few shares in a man who is willing to sell whatever he can get his hands on —whether it’s steaks or American national security — because he values money more than anything,” she added.
For Musk, Mary Trump argued, the support is “a safe bet because he knows, if Donald is elected, he’ll do anything Musk wants him to do.”
Musk, who reportedly initially wanted to endorse Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 election, has devoted considerable time and attention to supporting the Trump campaign of late.
Musk regularly touts Trump to his millions of followers on his social media platformX, and joined the former president at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month – an event which saw Trump return to the scene of the July assassination attempt for the first time.
Musk also founded a pro-Trump super PAC that’s reportedly spent around $80m supporting the former president. The PAC is one of the key organizations forming the backbone of the Trump campaign’s unorthodox get-out-the-vote strategy, which has relied unusually strongly on outside groups instead of more tightly controlled campaign efforts.
The group has resorted to eye-catching tactics, like paying potential voters to sign up for a petition expressing support for Trump-ian takes on issues like freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.
Trump, for his part, has welcomed the support with open arms, praising Musk as a genius and promising to appoint him to run a government commission presiding over massive spending cuts.
Such a position would put Musk in a highly unique and influential position, especiallly as a businessman whose firms like SpaceX have contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars with the federal government.
The Trump campaign has also leaned on Musk during key moments in the campaign, reportedly successfully lobbying Musk’s X social network to prevent circulation of links leading to a reporter’s articles containing material that was hacked from the Trump campaign.