When President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after winning the election last week, a surprising guest joined the call: Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “President Trump was likely near Musk and at some point handed him the phone,” a source in Zelenskyy’s office told NBC News. The source said that Zelenskyy thanked Musk for his Starlink satellites, which help provide internet access across war-torn Ukraine.
While we don’t know the substance of what was discussed, Musk’s presence is a concerning preview of Trump’s often reckless approach to diplomacy — as well as his disregard for the line between private interests and public policy. There are a lot of reasons why Musk should be the last person hopping on that call.
Musk’s presence is a concerning preview of Trump’s often reckless approach to diplomacy.
Ukraine is entrenched in a terrible phase of its efforts to repel Russian military forces from its territory. Morale is down in Kyiv, military recruitment is faltering, and Russia is making territorial gains in eastern Ukraine. And with Trump’s election, the shape of the war is quite likely to change.
Trump has criticized the Biden administration’s support of Ukraine and promised to end the war “within 24 hours.” While Trump reportedly told Zelenskyy on the call that he supported Ukraine, it’s widely expected that Trump will want to cut off aid to the country and focus on a diplomatic solution to wind down the war. Given that Russia is making swift gains in Ukraine and is currently occupying about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, it’s likely that any settlement would involve conceding a huge chunk of Ukraine to Russia.
Some may be tempted to ascribe that prospect purely to Trump’s affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it’s worth pointing out that, in the eyes of some NATO officials, European diplomats and military experts, some kind of Ukrainian territorial concession has appeared inevitable, given how entrenched Russia is in Ukraine and Russia’s vast resources. Still, how Trump would go about negotiating such a concession is important.
It’s safe to say that Musk should not be involved — and especially not in the form of casual entrances into phone calls between heads of state.
Musk, a tech guy, has no background in politics or diplomacy. He has no expertise in handling the high-stakes world of prosecuting wars or negotiating peace agreements. He’s not briefed on the latest U.S. intelligence assessments of Ukraine’s and Russia’s position, nor does he have access to the U.S.’s private communications with Kyiv and Moscow. Even if Trump and Musk agree that the U.S. should withdraw from Ukraine, Musk can’t help because he has no idea what he’s doing. And yet, somehow, Trump appears to have faith in Musk as a player in government — he has also recently appointed him to co-chair a new "Department of Government Efficiency."
Musk has a penchant for chaos and provocation that makes him particularly ill-suited to jump onto calls with leaders. He has employed dumb memes to deride Zelenskyy for asking for U.S. aid. He exhibits erratic behavior in interviews. His purchase of Twitter appeared to be an impulse buy that he regretted. (He was forced to complete his purchase.) He has violated norms by tweeting market-moving statements about the value of Tesla. Diplomacy is about patience and precision and understated strategic conduct, and Musk exhibits none of those traits.
Musk also threatens the credibility of the U.S. position as it could look to push for a settlement.
As a billionaire tech titan whose Starlink satellites have proved vital to Ukraine’s military operations, Musk’s interests in this war are not that of the average citizen. Musk has received funding from the Defense Department for Starlink’s satellite internet service (after he had threatened to cut it off). It’s not appropriate for someone who may view pushing a war in one direction or another based on their bottom line to be involved in free-wheeling calls with Ukraine’s president.
Musk also threatens the credibility of the U.S. position as it could look to push for a settlement. The Wall Street Journal has reported that according to several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, Musk and Putin are in regular contact and talk politics together. If Musk is freelancing as a go-between — and theoretically discussing with Putin how he could use his Starlink satellites as leverage to achieve an outcome — then he can undermine the official positions of the U.S. government.
Musk is not an elected or appointed leader (nor is he a very good leader for some of the companies he oversees). That Trump is letting him pretend to be a political leader is not a healthy sign of the direction Washington is headed, nor a sign of a smooth or relatively just end to the war in Ukraine.