December 5, 2024

In that same interview, Ramaswamy said that Musk — and Apple CEO Tim Cook — were beholden to the “same master”: The Chinese Communist Party. 
In May 2023, Ramaswamy posted a video on Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) criticizing the billionaire for meeting with China’s foreign minister. “It’s a real risk to the U.S. when the CCP turns our most prominent business leaders & celebrities – Tim Cook, Larry Fink, LeBron James, Elon Musk – into puppets to advance their agenda,” he wrote. “The U.S. needs leaders who aren’t in China’s pocket.” 

In another post written that June, Ramaswamy bashed Musk’s posturing as a “free speech” crusader given his capitulations to China. “The crusader for ‘free speech’ (@elonmusk) kisses the ring of the world’s biggest censor: Xi Jinping.” 
The quest for power, however, can make friends of the staunchest rivals. Musk and Ramaswamy both threw their support behind President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign to retake the White House, and were rewarded for their obeisance with influential positions in Trump’s new administration. The pair have been tasked with heading DOGE, a so-called department (which has not been sanctioned by Congress) tasked with taking a chainsaw to government spending and — as Trump put it — “dismantling Government Bureaucracy.”
Many are skeptical of the true impact the department will have. Musk holds lucrative federal contracts and benefits from government subsidies that support the development of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX. There is well founded concern that the “department” may be used to suppress competition to Musk’s corporations, especially given that Ramaswamy has already vowed that DOGE will “carefully scrutinize” federal loans granted to competing EV companies by the Biden administration. Musk has also hyped up the prospect of his involvement in efforts to revoke large swaths of regulatory oversight that affect his companies.

The influence Musk and Ramaswamy will have within the Trump administration will, in virtually any scenario, be lucrative for them personally. If Ramaswamy once doubted Musk’s loyalty to the nation, he now knows his position in Trump’s good graces is best assured by towing the GOP line. “I love him and respect the hell out of him,” Ramaswamy told CNN on Wednesday. “I’m proud to call him a friend. The only country he puts first is the same one I do: the United States of America.”
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