The idea of having someone who is willing to get their hands dirty and can also be politically disposable to their patron when pushes to come shove is a classic Machiavellian tactic. Musk is no mere minister though, he is a powerful donor who has much to gain financially by working with the Trump administration and may be willing to throw his money elsewhere if he isn't at the very least entertained.
Besides the parallels between the story and the current situation, I agree that there is more at play here. If I was in Trump's place I'd not only watch out for the opposition, but also for the people closest to me. Take JD Vance for example:
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JD is well known for being a Silicon Valley insider and owing much of his political career to the (other) billionaire co-founder of PayPal and current chair of Palantir -
Peter Thiel. JD's relationship with Thiel dates back to his Yale days, where he met Thiel and eventually became his personal political prodigy. To sum it up, Vance is someone neck deep in big Silicon Valley money.
There are many powerful omens which indicate the creeping influence of Big Tech. Behind Trump on his inauguration you could see a whole assortment of CEOs from Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google and others. Couple with this their quick appeasement of Trump in terms of his policy, you can clearly see they are doing their best to get into his inner circle.
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Digging deeper, you start to see some of their real intentions of appealing to the president. For example, Zuckerberg has urged Trump to put pressure on the European Union to stop them from regulating US Big Tech. Zuck predictably sold it to him as a matter of protecting American business in face of Brussels overreach, instead of the more genuine reason which is further helping the Silicon Valley elite that threw Trump under the bus in 2020 to enrich themselves.
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While Biden was undeniably a fuck up of a president, I do personally believe there might be a sliver of truth in his farewell address where in an obvious callback to Eisenhower he warns against the influence of the "tech industrial complex."
That's why, if I was in Trump's shoes I'd be worried about the "hand on my shoulder" of the Silicon Valley elite. They have very obviously demonstrated the will and way to embed themselves in the new presidency and possibly hijack the MAGA movement to push for their own agenda along with buying up politicians such as JD Vance. Worst case scenario, instead of Musk being Ramiro d'Orco in Machiavelli's example, Trump would be the bad guy set to be disposed off after centralization of power is done.
The thought of having my most likely successor and the second most powerful man in America - bound to take charge if I die of old age or otherwise - be a man who sold his soul to Silicon Valley for a political career would be something to keep me awake at night.
