Elon Musk Is Meeting With Trump Advisor Steve Bannon, Inverse
“Elon Musk, the billionaire president of SpaceX and Tesla, is meeting with Donald Trump’s senior counselor and chief strategist Steve Bannon, according to the press pool. Musk was spotted walking into New York’s Trump Tower on Friday a little before noon. There aren’t many details about what the two will be talking about at this point. It’s not the first time Musk, who has a role advising Trump as part of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum — has come to Trump Tower to meet with members of the incoming administration. In December he was one of several big, big names in the tech industry, including Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, that met with the president-elect in a gather that led to, if nothing else, some awkward photographs.”

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member 🖖🏻

22 replies on “Elon Musk Has Another Meeting At Trump Tower”

  3. The idea of sending a million settlers to Mars is probably the kind of space goal Donald Trump would buy into.

    1. The idea is big and impressive. Musk is talking about an American company doing it without direct government funding. Yes, I can see Mr. Trump liking that.

      1. Historically, the government undertakes large, expensive projects in the public interest W/O profit motive/expectations -As TRUMP Admin has never expressed interest in research, science (many are “science deniers”) ~It strains credibility to believe this sudden interest is not profit related

        1. Mars settlement would make for the ultimate real estate deal. A whole planet to crave up and subdivide.

  4. This is interesting. Admittedly as an understatement, neither Musk or Besos were very supportive of the Trump campaign. Having the Trump administration embrace or at least truly support true commercial space would indeed be a welcome sign.

    1. On the down side the more radical element of the “Resist Trump” crowd has already started turning against Elon Musk for his “collaboration” with the enemy last month.

      http://www.thestranger.com/…

      Another “Progressive” Billionaire, Elon Musk Surrenders to Trump

      If President elect Trump embraces his vision of Mars settlement and space commerce expect them to oppose it as well just on the principle if Trump is for it, it is bad. Expect some nasty articles about his “greedy” plans to “destroy” the Martian environment just for personal glory and how “greedy” capitalists are destroying America’s space image.

  5. Before we cast any aspersions at Elon for schmoozing with the Trumps, keep in mind that Musk is one of a very short list of people who can arrange a one way excursion offworld for Trump. Complimentary 25 pound wheel of cheese included.

    1. Or, like the majority of Americans, he just wants President elect Trump to be successful, both in his space policy as well as in other areas of government, and is willing to do his best to help.

      http://www.rasmussenreports…

      “But 57% of Democrats want Trump’s presidency to be a success. Of course,that compares to 91% of Republicans and 73% of unaffiliated voters. Twenty-six percent (26%) of voters in Hillary Clinton’s party want Trump to fail, while another 17% are undecided.

      Among all voters, 73% want Trump’s presidency to be a success; 14% want it to fail, and 12% are not sure.”

      1. Sorry. I cannot accept any finding from Rasmussen. They’ve been long discounted as a Republican tool that statistically fudges their polling. That expands to anyone who cites them.

        1. Do you have a poll that shows a majority want President elect Trump to fail? If so please provide a link.

          “In God we trust, all others bring data” – W. Edwards Deming.

          1. It’s all about how the questions are phrased. If you ask people if they want the next four years to be disaster for the country, they will say, “no.” If you ask them if they expect those years to be a disaster, you would probably get a different response. Even if they voted against him, it takes a fairly bitter partisan to _want_ a president to fair.

          2. Yes, and Rasmussen actually provides a link to it so you are able to determine its face validity on your own. Here is the exact question.

            “Do you want Donald Trump’s presidency to be a success or a failure?”

          3. TM—this is a spaceflight blog , not a political landfill. Your poorly phrased question is both impertinent to and irrelevant to the topic at hand.
            By the way , I met Edward Deming several times while I was in college . He lived 24 miles away from me in Powell, Wyoming and got his degree at the only 4 year school in Wyoming, U of W. He visited and guest spoke my community college in Powell often—ironically only 7 miles from the most notorious Japanese-American internment camp in WW II at Heart Mountain. Not sure of his pertinence to the topic at hand here, either.

          4. No, its a spaceflight policy blog, and in particular NASA policy – and policy involves politics.

            Second, you brought partisan election politics into it with your statement about President elect Trump being sent on a one way mission to space. I am sorry you are still unhappy with the election, but really it’s time to move on and that is what the majority of Americans are doing including it appears, to keep this on topic, Elon Musk.

            Third, when I presented data showing a majority now want him to succeed you merely dismissed it with no data to counter it – hence the quote from Dr. Deming who only trusted data, not personal opinion, which if you met him you should remember from his talks.

      2. AS a Brit, I find it difficult to comprehend why any USA citizen would want any US President’s tenure to fail. A failing President means a failing USA. Get with it guys and stop being manipulated by establishment controlled media.
        I find it shameful that US citizens, human beings, can be manipulated so easily.

  6. Between ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin, there really is zero reason to continue with the SLS debacle. It’s sucking up far too much money with nothing to show for it except pork for former space shuttle states.

  7. The fact is like him or not Donald Trump is going to be the next US President, there is, I am sure nothing unusual about a major businessman meeting with a presidential transition team, It doesn’t mean Elon Musk supports Donald Trump nor does it mean he opposes him, simply he will have to work with the incoming Trump administration. Elon Musk has made it quite clear his vision for Mars especially is one of public / private partnership, he is simply starting to lay the groundwork for working with the next administration towards this goal as well as many others he is also working towards.

  8. Don’t forget Elon is more than just space. He domestically produces electric cars and solar arrays. That achievement could be something Trump is looking to replicate for other industries and he’s looking to Elon for how he did it.

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