The ‘X Factor’ in Trump’s victory was X and Musk

For decades, the left has been gaining majority control of what I call the “five major megaphones” of our nation — media, academia, entertainment, science and medicine.

They did so via a combination of Republican and conservative indifference and ignorance, combined with blatant discrimination. This takeover was accelerated during the Obama presidency and then cemented in the 2020 election between incumbent President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Suddenly, large swaths from the media, academia, entertainment, science and medicine were openly and proudly proclaiming themselves part of the “Resistance” against Trump. And with that massive influence came widespread denouncements, censorship, cancellation and oppression.

I truly believe Trump was offering up exceptional policies and solutions during his first administration. The fact that he was so successful under a constant barrage of backstabbing and sabotage by the entrenched elites from both parties, unnerved by the fact that he would not bow to their “us before the people” edicts, was a minor miracle.

To counter the unchecked and often unethical power of the “five major megaphones,” I have often argued that a Republican presidential candidate would have to do two things: First, take the fight to blue cities and states; second, get on any and every podcast imaginable.

In 2024, candidate Trump did have exceptional policies that were resonating with voters from every demographic. But to attain victory, one still has to ensure that the message is heard by a majority of voters. Trump long believed his message would resonate in blue cities and states. As we witnessed in this campaign, he took it there like no Republican candidate ever has in the past. More than that, he was lining up podcast after podcast, undercutting the censorship and smears of the liberal media.

Even at that, could he break through the combined and coordinated censorship of the “five major megaphones”? I, for one, was deeply concerned about the “iron curtain” the left had erected.

And then came the game-changer. A would-be assassin shot and wounded Trump in Butler, Pa. on July 13. Many of the details of that assassination attempt are still being covered up by the Biden administration and the leadership of the Secret Service. That violent act impelled Elon Musk — owner of SpaceX, Tesla and X — to jump in with both feet, not only to endorse Trump but to support him with every means at his disposal.

In some very real ways, the relationship between Musk and Trump became symbiotic. While both were highly successful and accomplished, both potentially had a great deal to lose if Vice President Kamala Harris — and the far-left team behind her — won the presidency. Trump has been dealing for years with Russian collusion hoaxes; fabricated lawfare charges; an armed FBI raid on his home in Florida; and the specter of endless legal assaults from the Democrats against him and his family.

Musk had been free of all those threats until he bought Twitter, rebranded it as “X” and then openly refused to censor or ban many of the voices the left deemed “dangerous” to their poisonous narrative. And because he did, he was immediately elevated by the left to “Public Enemy Number Two” status, after Trump. And with that designation came the growing threats to shut down X, destroy his businesses and even arrest him.

Trump did have a very powerful message which was resonating with voters. But were the “five major megaphones” censoring that message from the tipping point of voters needed to win an election?

The Trump campaign was up against the question: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Trump’s “message trees” were capable of making tremendous noise with the vibrations rippling far and wide. But that noise still had to be amplified. Did the Trump campaign have enough “woofers and tweeters” to get the job done?

Musk made that question moot. Shocked and angered by the assassination attempt against Trump, and then shocked and angered by the smear campaign directed at him by the left and supporters of Harris, Musk brought his 200 million followers on X in for a test drive. He got behind the wheel of the largest and most powerful “Cybertruck” ever and drove it straight into the nonstop attacks leveled against him and Trump.

Not only did Musk post thousands of times — with each post being viewed by tens of millions of people — but he reposted messages from other voices being censored by the left and the “five major megaphones.”

Additionally, Musk’s support of Trump and his fight against censorship inspired and emboldened other powerful voices to jump into the arena for Trump — and for self-survival. One such voice was Joe Rogan. While he endorsed Trump late in the game, his endorsement still moved the needle.

I long believed that the greatest political victory of all time was Trump winning the presidency in 2016. Against all odds, against the entrenched establishments and with virtually no campaign, he almost single-handedly willed himself to into the White House.

But now, with his 2024 victory, Trump owns the greatest political comeback of all time. Much of the credit for it belongs to Musk. Together, they defeated the forces from the left coming after both of them.

It is a victory — and a realignment of power — for the ages.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.