Swamp Notes: Where does Musk fit in Maga?
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2025
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Elon Musk’s first big foray into politics was a success — he used his world-leading fortune and mass media platform to help Donald Trump regain the White House. But now, just weeks before Trump’s inauguration, some Republicans are pushing back against Musk’s influence. The FT’s Washington correspondent Joe Miller and US business and politics correspondent Alex Rogers join this week’s Swamp Notes to discuss how Musk is navigating a future in Washington.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Top Democrats warm to Elon Musk’s US government cost-cutting mission
Elon Musk’s fight with Maga reveals split on immigration within Trump’s circle
Sign up for the FT’s Swamp Notes newsletter here
Swamp Notes is mixed by Samantha Giovinco and produced by Ethan Plotkin, Sonja Hutson, Lauren Fedor and Marc Filippino. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Special thanks to Pierre Nicholson.
CREDIT: Bannons_WarRoom/X
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We're Equinor, an energy company searching for better. |
| 0:03.0 | Currently, we supply 27% of the UK's gas, 15% of its oil, |
| 0:07.7 | and we're playing our part in the UK's energy transition. |
| 0:11.0 | Our wind farms power 750,000 homes, |
| 0:14.0 | and we expect that to grow to over 7 million. |
| 0:16.5 | Last year, we invested 20% of our global growth spend in renewables |
| 0:20.1 | and lower carbon solutions. |
| 0:22.0 | We plan to increase that to 50% by 2030. |
| 0:25.4 | We're an energy company searching for better. |
| 0:28.4 | Equinor.com.uk. |
| 0:31.3 | Helping Donald Trump win re-election was the easy part for Elon Musk. |
| 0:36.1 | All he had to do was shell out a cool $260 million. |
| 0:42.0 | But now comes the hard part for Musk, figuring out where he fits in the MAGA world. |
| 0:53.1 | This is Swamp Notes, the weekly podcast from the FT News Briefing, where we talk about all of the things happening in U.S. politics. |
| 1:01.0 | I'm Sonia Hudson. |
| 1:02.5 | And this week we're asking, is Elon Musk cut out for Washington? |
| 1:07.0 | Here with me to discuss is Joe Miller. |
| 1:09.1 | He's a Washington correspondent for the F.T. Hi, Joe. |
| 1:12.4 | Hi. And we've also got Alex Rogers, the FT's U.S. Business and Politics correspondent. Hey, Alex. |
| 1:18.6 | Hey, Sonia. So, Joe, to start us off, can you tell us how Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest man, found himself at the center of Maga World. |
| 1:30.2 | Yes, well, he's actually a very recent entrant to Maga World. If you think about it, it was only |
| 1:36.1 | in July after that failed assassination attempt in Pennsylvania at a Donald Trump rally. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Forhecz Topher, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Forhecz Topher and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.