Hegseth puts the future of the war in the hands of major Maga donors | Trump administration

By appointing tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to advisory roles in a Pentagon project on the future of warfare, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given extraordinary influence to two of Maga’s biggest campaign donors — and both men own companies that benefit from federal defense contracts.

The new project, which Hegseth dubbed “Project Meridian” during an event in Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday, will be led by Pentagon official and former Uber executive Emil Michael. As the Guardian reported, Michael made millions in profits from Musk’s company’s non-public AI actions while in federal office — and while guiding the Department of Defense’s artificial intelligence efforts.

Alongside Luckey and Musk, Project Meridian will also include Trump loyalist and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Musk was a key financier of Trump’s 2024 victory, spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars in the run-up to the election. Recent campaign results show he remains a major force in the upcoming midterm elections. His America Pac spent $3.4 million attacking Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race, for example. In the hotly contested Texas Senate race, America Pac spent $6.4 million to oppose Democrat James Talarico and $1 million to support Trump-backed Ken Paxton.

Musk’s SpaceX has been a crucial contractor for U.S. space programs since 2018, and under the second Trump administration, his company became a key player in Trump’s Golden Dome ballistic missile defense project, an incredibly expensive effort that could cost as much as $1.2 billion.

Musk dwarfs Luckey in terms of resources and fame, but Luckey has gained immense fame in defense contracting and around the world. Initially a young celebrity in the tech world for inventing a virtual reality headset, Luckey went on to found Anduril, a defense contracting company that has already won major federal contracts.

Luckey has also become one of the most important “bundlers” for Republican candidates on the West Coast, as the Guardian reported in August. One of the sources called him “the godfather of Republican fundraising on the West Coast.” Invitations to political fundraisers obtained by the Guardian show Luckey has organized and co-hosted events for candidates from Trump himself to Ken Calvert, Rick Scott, Mehmet Oz, Ted Cruz and others. The most recent event was Aug. 22, where he and his wife co-organized a $50,000-per-person effort to “keep the Senate,” and invited John Thune of South Dakota, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio.

What Musk and Luckey think about the future of warfare isn’t necessarily a mystery.

Palmer, 34, whose company backed by Joshua Kushner’s equity fund has acquired makers of underwater drones, UAVs and space technology, has previously been vocal about his philosophy of war. Earlier this year, for example, he said he believed warfare in the second half of this century would involve an “underground” conflict, with vehicles capable of “moving through the Earth’s crust in the same way that submarines move through water.”

He said his company had “working prototypes of underground systems.”

“Bringing major industry players into these types of positions at the Pentagon is not something new, but what seems different now is the substantial financial support these two have given and continue to give to the Republican Party,” said Brendan Glavin of Open Secrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign spending.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.