As the election odds swung sharply towards Republican Donald Trump as Tuesday evening slid into Wednesday morning, climate-conscious investors, academics, strategists, and other internet personalities were mostly mute. It was a night to stare blankly at the TV, watch the needle slowly tilt to the right, and vaguely wonder about the future of the climate.
That is, unless you were
Elon Musk, Trump’s latest, closest campaign confidant, in which case fist-pumping posts abounded. Well before any polls had closed, Musk posted on X about supposedly “record numbers” of men turning out to vote for Trump. While we can’t confirm that’s true, it set a vibe for the evening to come.
For Musk, no display of patriotism is complete without a plug for one of his companies. Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
He spent the rest of the day
casting doubt on election security in Pennsylvania and imploring his followers to vote because no less than “the future of the world” was at stake.
Of course, that’s similar to the rhetoric those in climate world use to describe the prospect of a second Trump presidency. As the final polls were closing, University of California, Santa Barbara climate historian Leah Stokes no doubt summed up the feelings of many when she tweeted,
But there was also room for humor. As the electoral map filled in, The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson had some theories on what caused the pro-MAGA, pro-Mars Tesla CEO to lean so hard into Trump’s campaign.
Duncan Campbell, the vice president of Scale Microgrid Solutions and host of the energy podcast DER Task Force, entered the chat with an even more niche joke.
But no one could beat Musk for sheer weirdness. With results beginning to stack up, he shared a tribute to the “Dark MAGA” facet of the Trump coalition set to that Europe classic, “The Final Countdown.”
And as the night’s endgame began to come into focus, he shared a snap from Trump’s watch party at Mar-a-Lago.
Around 2:30 a.m. ET, Trump took the stage at the convention in West Palm Beach where his supporters had gathered and declared victory in the race. By then
some, though certainly not all networks had called the election in Trump’s favor. He devoted a verse of his rambling, genial speech to Musk. “A star is born: Elon,” Trump said in his victory speech, praising Musk’s efforts on the campaign trail, his “beautiful” rockets, and Starlink, which Trump apparently hadn’t heard of before Hurricane Helene.
Musk, for his part, seems psyched about the prospect of playing a role in the Trump administration. “The future is gonna be fantastic,” he
said, as the electoral votes crept closer to 270. Though climate tech investor Kristin Ellis of Lowercarbon Capital did have one extra bit of perspective to add:
Roseau, the capital of Dominica. Du Yanqin/Xinhua via Getty Images