OPINION: How Elon Musk brought African politics to America

By Maya Horgan Famodu

In the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, one Africa-born figure stands out. A man who applies distinctly-African political strategies to the American landscape: Elon Musk. His influence, ranging from deregulation to a million-dollar-a-day sweepstakes, offers a striking mirror to how African leaders have historically bought public support.

In most parts of Africa, politicians often distribute cash or foodstuffs to secure loyalty from voters. Musk’s sweepstakes—offering $1 million a day—isn’t far off from this tactic, as it looks to sway public sentiment and cement support for conservative causes. By framing a financial incentive as a form of public engagement, he’s borrowing from African political strategies that commodify voter loyalty and undercut democratic integrity.

These tactics, coupled with deregulation, nepotism, and an unchecked surge of personal and social media influence, are reshaping the political field in ways we rarely see in Western democracies.

Musk: An African power broker in America

Musk’s methods echo the way African elites navigate the political realm. Business leaders across Africa, from South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa to Kenya’s William Ruto, have long known that maintaining close, strategic relationships with political figures—often with implicit quid pro quos—secures their own interests.

Musk’s alignment with Republican ideals and overt support of Donald Trump reveals similar patterns. His vocal endorsements and dominance over his platform, X, including new blocking policies, ensure that his political views permeate public discourse unmediated, much like how African leaders leverage social media to influence the masses directly, control narratives, and even sideline dissent.

Recently, Musk’s failure to appear at a hearing in a Philadelphia case challenging his million-dollar sweepstakes underlines the audacity of his tactics. It’s a strategic gamble that echoes African political maneuvers: if Trump wins, Musk likely assumes any charges could disappear.

 The GOP and the African approach to deregulation, nepotism, and unchecked power

Musk’s political playbook dovetails neatly with the Republican push to strip regulatory bodies of their oversight authority, which brings to mind similar policies seen in developing African nations.

In many African contexts, such deregulation accelerates growth but also increases the risk of nepotism and unchecked influence. This dynamic often allows a small elite to gain a disproportionate advantage while compromising transparency and consumer protections.

For instance, Musk’s agenda to cut U.S. spending by $2 trillion, should Trump take office, is a stark proposal reminiscent of the unregulated shifts seen in African markets. Such unchecked moves could lead to rapid growth, but often at a substantial cost—echoing how a lack of oversight has spurred inequality and reduced accountability in many African nations.

The problem with lack of regulation is that it breeds nepotism; if people are no longer selected or products no longer approved due to their merit, but due to their favorability or influence, the standard of excellence in America, and the ethos of honesty and transparency becomes quickly eroded–mirroring the worst of African pseudo-governments.

Patriots vs. Mercenaries: An imported narrative?

The battle between rigid loyalty and pragmatism in the U.S. mirrors a similar narrative on the African continent. In American politics, Republicans are staunch defenders of the party line, a trait that has earned them a label akin to “patriots.”

Democrats, however, can be seen as “mercenaries,” driven by situational flexibility rather than dogmatic loyalty—a concept that resonates in African political circles, where the line between patriotic loyalty and mercenary pragmatism often shapes public perception.

A 2021 study by FiveThirtyEight highlighted this loyalty gap, showing that Republicans align more with their party compared to Democrats’ alignment during Trump’s administration.

In African contexts, such loyalty to party lines—and by extension, to influential power brokers—is a deeply ingrained dynamic that rallies public support in defence of the party’s identity.

In this moment, Musk’s influence in American politics signals a shift toward a new era where influence is bought and sold openly, and regulatory bodies are sidelined in favour of unchecked growth.

In the African venture capital landscape, balance remains key—something Musk and his allies may wish to consider if they’re looking for lasting, sustainable change.

The writer is the founder of Ingressive Capital, a venture capital firm based in Lagos, Nigeria