‘I wouldn’t call it eugenics as such’: How Elon Musk’s views might influence Donald Trump’s policies
The alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk framed the 2024 election and their bond has only deepened since.
Musk has been a regular fixture at the president-elect’s Florida mansion and the pair have introduced their families.
He has been privy to phone conversations with world leaders, consulted with Trump on his cabinet picks and even hosted him at Space X for the launch of the Starship rocket.
Musk will co-chair the new Department of Government Efficiency, charged with cutting government spending.
But how might the entrepreneur’s other views affect Trump policy?
Elon Musk secured the confidence of Donald Trump during his election campaign. Pic: Reuters
The cause closest to Musk’s heart is pronatalism, a pro-birth political and personal ideology in which reproduction is the key goal of humanity.
Musk regularly posts on social media with fears about population decline, sometimes bordering on obsession.
“Population collapse is coming… Earth is almost empty of humans,” he wrote recently.
“Instead of teaching fear of pregnancy we should teach fear of childlessness,” he added.
The frequency of these posts has increased in recent months.
Musk has at least 11 children, by three different women. Some of them have spent time with him in recent weeks at Donald Trump’s home.
Few understand the origin of Musk’s pro-birth views better than his own father, Errol Musk – an engineer and businessman from South Africa, who has a strained relationship with his son.
I speak to Errol on a video call from his home near Cape Town.
Errol Musk
“Elon doesn’t try to push his opinion across, but he will have an opinion,” he says.
Errol has seven children himself, ranging in age from Elon at 53 to his youngest daughter, who is five. He’s also a pro-natalist.
“We’re not here to enjoy boating or flying or skiing or kite surfing, or something,” he says.
“We are here to continue being here. We should all be worried about declining populations, any country with any industry should be worried.”
Certain countries – like the United States, United Kingdom and Japan – do have ageing populations. But my conversation with Errol also reveals views which veer toward selective breeding.
I ask him about a comment Elon reportedly made to a biographer several years ago. Musk Jr apparently said: “If each successive generation of smart people has fewer kids, then that’s probably bad.”
I ask Errol Musk if that viewpoint is bordering on eugenics.
“I wouldn’t call it eugenics as such, but every nation has practiced a certain form of survival of the fittest.
“One need only go to England and go to the Cheltenham area, the horse breeding area, and say, ‘Look, we’re not going to breed the horses anymore by any form of standard. I’ve got a few old horses I’ve found in Nigeria and we’re going to just mix them with your race horses…’
“They’ll say, no, no, no, no, no,” he added.
Elon Musk and his children
A more sanitised version of pro-family politics took centre stage on the campaign trail.
At a rally, Donald Trump declared himself “the father of fertilisation” and vowed to make in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) free for anyone who needs it.
Sky News has been invited inside an IVF clinic in California, the world capital for fertility.
The fertility institute is in the Encino area of Los Angeles and allows patients to choose the eye colour of their baby as well as its gender.
Dr Jeffrey Steinberg was among the first fertility doctors to offer gender selection. He is taking future President Trump’s pledge to offer free IVF at face value.
“Donald Trump for better or for worse, tends to keep his word. And the sort of the pooh-poohing of what he was saying… I think it’s vanished because they’re realising that it’s probably going to happen. So all the fertility centres are gearing up for a huge surge.”
Elon Musk has donated millions of dollars to fertility research.
“Musk is a technocrat,” Dr Steinberg says. “He’s an intellectual genius in multiple areas. And everything he touches seems to turn to gold.
“There’s not much that evolves as quickly as Musk’s technology. But IVF has done that, and I think he’s going to find that very attractive.”
While espousing his pronatalist views, Musk is navigating his own complicated family dynamic.
In the hills outside Austin, Texas, there are rumours he’s bought a multi-million-dollar compound to house some of his children and their mothers together, with his own property 10 minutes away.
Musk denies this is true.
But soon he could be helping to design family policy across the country.
A man has been taken into custody two days after a US politician and her husband were shot dead in Minnesota, law enforcement officials have said.
Authorities had urged the public not to approach Vance Boelter, 57, who they warned could be armed, and who was reportedly posing as a police officer.
A massive manhunt was launched on Saturday after Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman were shot dead at their home in Minneapolis in what Minnesota governor Tim Walz called a “politically motivated assassination”.
Police said the same gunman that killed the Hortmans had earlier shot and wounded Democrat senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home nine miles away.
Representative Melissa Hortman and Senator John Hoffman. Pic: Facebook/Minnesota Legislature
Boelter was arrested on Sunday evening in a rural area in Sibley County, southwest of Minneapolis.
He faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder in the deaths of the Hortmans and the wounding of Hoffman and his wife.
The FBI released this image of Vance Boelter posing as a police officer. Pic: FBI.
Police said they responded to gunfire reports at the Hoffmans’ Champlin home shortly after 2am on Saturday and found them with multiple gunshot wounds.
They then checked on the Hortmans’ home, in the nearby Brooklyn Park suburb, and saw what appeared to be a police car and a man dressed as an officer leaving the front door.
“The individual immediately fired upon the officers, who exchanged gunfire, and the suspect retreated back into the home” and escaped on foot, said Brooklyn Park police chief Mark Bruley.
Authorities believe Boelter wore a mask as he posed as a police officer, and also used a vehicle resembling a squad car.
Several AK-style firearms and a list of about 70 names, which included politicians and abortion rights activists, were allegedly found inside the vehicle.
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Governor calls it ‘targeted political violence’
‘We are both incredibly lucky to be alive’
Senator Hoffman was shot nine times and is having multiple surgeries, according to a text message shared on Instagram by fellow senator Amy Klobuchar on Sunday.
The text from Yvette Hoffman added: “I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive.”
She said her husband “is closer every hour to being out of the woods”.
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Neighbours of murdered US politician stunned
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Neighbours of killed US politician stunned
Records show Boelter – a father of five – is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Mr Hoffman.
However, it’s unclear to what extent they knew each other, if at all.
Mr Hoffman, 60, was first elected in 2012 and runs a consulting firm called Hoffman Strategic Advisors.
Melissa Hortman, a 55-year-old mother of two, was first elected in 2004 and was the top house Democratic leader in the state legislature.
She also served as speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
The motive behind Melissa Hortman’s killing remains unclear. Pic: Instagram.
Mrs Hortman used her position to champion protections around abortion rights, including laws to cement Minnesota’s status as a safe refuge for people from restrictive states, who travel there for an abortion.
Her work also sought to introduce protections for services that provide abortions.
US
Minnesota manhunt continues for gunman who ‘posed as cop’ to kill Melissa Hortman and her husband
A manhunt is continuing after the gunning down of a Democrat politician and her husband – with police saying they’re acting on the assumption he is still alive and dangerous.
Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman were shot dead at home in a Minneapolis suburb on Saturday in what governor Tim Walz called a “politically motivated assassination”.
Democrat senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot multiple times at their home nine miles away, but survived.
A search is under way for Vance Boelter, 57, who authorities believe wore a mask as he posed as a police officer, and also used a vehicle resembling a squad car.
Several AK-style firearms and a list of about 70 names, which included politicians and abortion rights activists, were found inside.
Melissa Hortman and Senator John Hoffman. Pic: Facebook / Minnesota Legislature
Boelter was last caught on camera wearing a cowboy hat – a similar hat was found near another vehicle belonging to him on Sunday.
Authorities said at their latest news conference they assume he is still alive.
Hundreds of police officers are searching for Boelter, who escaped from the Hortmans’ house on foot after an exchange of gunfire.
Senator Hoffman was shot nine times and is having multiple surgeries, according to a text message shared on Instagram by fellow senator Amy Klobuchar on Sunday.
The text from Mr Hoffman’s wife, Yvette, added: “I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive.”
She said her husband “is closer every hour to being out of the woods”.
“We believe [Boelter’s] somewhere in the vicinity and that they are going to find him,” Senator Klobuchar told NBC’s Meet the Press.
“Everyone’s on edge here,” she added, “because we know that this man will kill at a second.”
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Neighbours of killed US politician stunned
Police said they responded to gunfire reports at the Hoffmans’ Champlin home shortly after 2am on Saturday and found them with multiple gunshot wounds.
They then checked on the Hortmans’ home, in the nearby Brooklyn Park suburb, and saw what appeared to be a police car and a man dressed as an officer leaving the front door.
“The individual immediately fired upon the officers, who exchanged gunfire, and the suspect retreated back into the home” and escaped on foot, said Brooklyn Park police chief Mark Bruley.
Read more:
Neighbours of murdered US politician stunned
Another vehicle belonging to Boelter was searched on Sunday in Minnesota’s Faxon Township. A cowboy hat similar to the one seen in the police appeal was found nearby.
It’s been revealed that the suspect texted friends around 6am on Saturday to say he had “made some choices” and was “going to be gone for a while”.
According to AP, which has seen the messages, he reportedly said: “May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way… I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused.”
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Governor calls it ‘targeted political violence’
Records show Boelter – a father of five – is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Mr Hoffman.
However, it’s unclear to what extent they knew each other, if at all.
Mr Hoffman, 60, was first elected in 2012 and runs a consulting firm called Hoffman Strategic Advisors.
The motive behind Melissa Hortman’s killing remains unclear. Pic: Instagram
Melissa Hortman, a 55-year-old mother of two, was first elected in 2004 and was the top house Democratic leader in the state legislature.
She also served as speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Mrs Hortman used her position to champion protections around abortion rights, including laws to cement Minnesota’s status as a safe refuge for people from restrictive states, who travel there for an abortion.
Her work also sought to introduce protections for services that provide abortions.
“Holy, holy, holy” they sang at the Church of St Timothy in Blaine, Minnesota.
But the congregation is struggling to comprehend an act of evil – the brutal murder of one of their own.
The church congregation remembered Melissa and Mark Hortman
Melissa Hortman grew up here. The former state speaker and her husband Mark were shot dead in their home on Saturday morning.
Her friend and party colleague, Erin Koegal, was among those attending mass.
Erin Koegal says her friend’s death feels like a ‘bad dream’
“It still feels like a bad dream. I woke up this morning and was like, okay, so that was real,” she said.
“It’s hit me in waves, the grief, and the anger, and the sadness. She was a leader, a true definition of a leader.
“I’ve never known our party without Melissa as the leader and so I can’t, I don’t even know how we’re going to go forward as a caucus without her.”
The bullet holes on Melissa Hortman’s front door.
State senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette had already been shot and wounded.
Police sent to check on his colleague, Melissa Hortman, didn’t get there in time.
Police are extensively searching for 57-year-old Vance Boelter
They named the suspect as Vance Boelter, a 57-year-old former Christian missionary.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called it a “politically motivated murder”.
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Neighbours of murdered US politician stunned
Manhunt after Minnesota politician and husband shot dead
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Neighbours of killed US politician stunned
Friends of Ms Hortman have told Sky News that her two children feared for their mother’s life after reading divisive rhetoric directed at her online.
Matt Norris, another political colleague of Ms Hortman, was also at church, reflecting on the rise of political violence in America.
Matt Norris
“We’ve going to have to do some serious introspection as a state, as a country, and figure out how do we get beyond this,” he said.
“How have we been laying the seeds that have led to horrific acts of violence against public servants like this?
“And it’s going to be incumbent upon us as leaders to set a different tone, to set a different direction for our state and our country so that horrific tragedies like this never occur again.”
Tributes left for Melissa Hortman and her husband outside the Minnesota State Capitol
But there’s no sign of division at the State Capitol Building, where flags fly at half-mast and flowers are being left in tribute.
This is a community united in grief and in its hope for an end to gun violence in America.
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