Musk injects around US$500 million into elections and Starlink reopens debate about concentrated power

Elon Musk has already poured around half a billion dollars into the midterm election cycle in the United States, according to Fox Business host Dana Perino. The video description cites the value of US$446 million. He is one of four people to donate more than $100 million, which, for a net worth estimated at around $1 trillion, is a drop in the bucket.

Author Walter Isaacson, host of the new podcast The Builders and biographer who spent a lot of time with the businessman, told the channel that Musk did not want to get involved in politics, but believes that, from his perspective, it is important to participate in the process.

According to Isaacson, the billionaire was reflective when he admitted that he went too far in his last public appearance in the previous campaign. Still, he wants to remain very involved. In Isaacson's assessment, he is probably doubling the amount of donations, but getting a little less exposed.

Campaign strategy and the race in Texas

Isaacson highlighted that Musk was very efficient in Pennsylvania, in the previous campaign, in targeting voters and organizing the mobilization for them to vote. According to him, part of the money donated now goes towards this type of field operation, and the businessman is an expert in segmentation and use of digital media.

Asked about the benefit to Republicans, Isaacson pointed to the race in Texas, which, in his assessment, tended towards Democrat Talarico. Musk is fervently against Talarico and supports Paxton. If Paxton wins, Isaacson said, much of the credit will be due to the businessman's strong financial and digital media support.

Starlink: civil service, defense and the war in Ukraine

Perino also raised the topic of Starlink, created by Musk, and concerns surrounding its use in Ukraine. According to the presenter, the businessman insisted that the Star Shield is under political control of the United States, and the Trump administration denied that it is reducing aid to Ukraine. She also cited that Russian President Vladimir Putin called Musk a genius. The video description states that Russia intends to launch its own version of the service.

Isaacson said that the constellation already exceeds 10,000 satellites and that the problem is real when a single person has so much power and controls everything, while no one else can put satellites into orbit. He recalled that at the beginning of the war, Musk strongly supported Ukraine and helped save the Ukrainian Army when communications were knocked down. Later, it made decisions about where service would be limited, as in the case of Crimea.

According to Isaacson, the Star Shield, a defense system, passed to the authority of the American government, through the Pentagon. Civilian Starlink continues to be used, subject to terms of service. In his assessment, the issue is complex, but the system's entire defense capacity should be under the control of the US government.

What to watch out for

For investors, the episode shows how political decisions and the concentration of strategic infrastructure in a few hands tend to remain a factor of attention around Musk's companies. The transcription does not contain market projections or data on the entrepreneur's assets.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.