Listen to Elon Musk and David Sacks to understand Donald Trump’s real priorities

Two South African-born dollar billionaires, Elon Musk and David Sacks, were seated on the restricted dais close to the Trump family during the inauguration ceremony in the US Capitol Rotunda on 20 January. Musk was born in Pretoria, and Sacks in Cape Town. Their prominence in the inauguration gives us some immediate clues to what matters to Donald Trump.

They were not the only billionaires seated near the Trump family. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who also owns The Washington Post, was there. As was Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook/Meta, whose recent decision not to monitor his social media empire for false or misleading statements pleased Trump.

Unlike Musk and Sacks, however, neither Bezos nor Zuckerman are slated for major positions in Trump’s new administration. Consider the positions and contradictions in the two positions to be held by Musk and Sacks.

Musk will head a proposed Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge. And Sacks is the new White House “czar” of cryptocurrency. The performance of both men in what Trump obviously regards as key positions should give us a better sense of Trump’s actual priorities.

Trump’s inaugural address was so full of distortions and contradictions, it was hard to follow. Listening to all of it, his pledge to become America’s “peacemaker and unifier” sounded at least unrealistic. People, I presume, mostly heard the parts that most interested them and signalled their enthusiasm.

Musk provided a prominent example. He jumped up in evident delight, with thumbs up, when Trump mentioned his intention to support efforts to be the first nation to plant its flag on the planet Mars. This and other past and present Musk priorities suggest Doge will not cut investments in space travel.

But one wonders if Musk will also cut federal research in satellite technology and, more importantly, electric cars, which Musk pioneered with federal support with the goal of reducing the air pollution of combustion engines. Trump has already signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the international accord to combat global warming and intends to apply tariffs on Chinese exports to the US, where many of Musk’s electric cars are produced.

While Musk leads Doge, David Sacks has a more immediate challenge of navigating the already tricky ethical and practical problems created by the Trump family’s new crypto token, known as memecoin. According to recent reporting, it has already earned the family, at least on paper, billions of dollars.

What’s more, as soon as he took office, Trump not only pardoned those convicted of the crimes of invading the US Capitol to prevent the Electoral College certification on 6 January 2021 of Joe Biden’s victory, but also says he is pardoning a convicted drug trafficker who did his transactions in bitcoin.

Ironically, Sacks becomes czar of crypto at a time when the South African government, as a core member of the BRICs+ nations, is debating whether and how to develop an alternative currency for nations wanting a substitute for the US dollar. Trading in bitcoins is one option, and that is already being pursued by Trump, with the Cape Town-born Sacks willingly developing a workable US strategy for the globalisation of cryptocurrency. How this unfolds is surely worth research and analysis.

The prominent presence of Musk and Sacks at Trump’s inauguration also suggests that Trump’s rhetoric to “Make America Great Again” (Maga) rings hollow for his presidency, much as President Jacob Zuma’s claim to be prioritising ridding South Africa of “white-minority capital” did in South Africa.  

In both cases, we do well to track their president’s priority to make money, with a minimum of accountability, and with the added political cost of truth-telling, or the integrity so important for building trust in a democracy.

In the US, a leader of the populist Maga movement, Steve Bannon, who played a prominent role in the early months of Trump’s first term, called for the banishment from the second Trump term of the so-called libertarian capitalists. And he specifically named Musk, Sacks, among others of similar national origin to be sent “home” to South Africa.  

But at Trump’s inauguration, with Musk and Sacks prominently seated, Bannon was nowhere evident. Clearly, Musk and Sacks, among the other super-rich, are among Trump’s most influential initial advisers. What are Musk and Sacks slated to do?

To be fair, both Musk and Sacks had voiced earlier reservations about Trump’s values. But Trump is always flexible when it comes to self-enrichment. Given the importance of the US role in the world, following the actions and speeches of Musk and Sacks should provide us with a better understanding of Trump’s real priorities.

The clinical psychologist Mary L Trump, Donald’s niece, wrote a best-selling book toward the end of his first administration, titled Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. I found re-reading to understand his family’s influence very helpful, if concerning.

Two other books also help to put Trump in the context of America’s struggle to build a sustainable democracy. One is by a conservative, Brookings scholar Robert Kagan (2024), titled Rebellion: How Antiliberalism is Tearing America – Again.

Another is by Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt (2018), How Democracies Die.

These three books, among others, help us to understand the stakes at play in the contradictions, personal and institutional, in this Trump administration. And the performance of Musk and Sacks should allow us some insights into the real priorities and policies of Trump’s second term. DM