Elon Musk is Sen. Mike Lee’s most engaged account on X. Here’s what their posts tell us.

The first public interaction between Sen. Mike Lee’s personal account — @basedmikelee — and Elon Musk on the billionaire’s social media platform X came in the form of a political threat on behalf of the world’s richest man.

If anyone were to intimidate Musk for how he was running the platform, Lee promised, it “would prompt an immediate oversight hearing in a subcommittee with which I am very familiar.”

Lee, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, wrote, “I appreciate [Musk’s] promise of increased fairness and ideological diversity across the Twitter platform.”

That 2022 post marked the beginning of an increasingly close alliance between Lee, a Tea Partier who since his election over a decade ago has evangelized slashing government, and Musk — a man whose numerous companies, many with lucrative federal contracts, have repeatedly drawn government scrutiny.

A Salt Lake Tribune analysis of thousands of posts fired off from @basedmikelee since the account’s 2022 creation through the end of 2024 found that the account most frequently engaged by the senior member of Utah’s federal delegation is Musk’s. And, according to an October tally by Roll Call, Musk interacts with Lee more often than any other member of Congress.

The interactions between the pair escalated to new heights in July when the billionaire officially endorsed Trump’s bid to return to the White House.

Lee’s office did not respond to a request for an interview ahead of this story, nor did it answer questions sent via email. Representatives for Musk’s companies, and his super PAC, also did not respond to requests for comment.

In the years since Lee and Musk first began exchanging posts, the businessman has only seen his political power — and wealth — grow.

Once a Democratic donor, Musk threw his support behind President-elect Donald Trump during the last election cycle, and was guaranteed a post as the head of a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or “DOGE.” Since Trump won the election on Nov. 6 — a victory Musk spent hundreds of millions to help secure — Musk’s pockets have grown to record-breaking depths.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index placed Musk’s net worth at just under $300 billion on Election Day. In recent weeks, his worth has risen near half a trillion dollars.

Musk’s upcoming position as cohead of a new department tasked with mincing regulatory agencies has raised questions about conflict of interests as he holds onto his companies across numerous sectors of the American economy.

Lee’s hundreds of posts directly mentioning Musk’s account show that as those concerns have come into focus, Lee is among the Musk supporters who have leaned into the billionaire’s business interests.

Long before “DOGE” was announced, in fact, Lee had developed a habit of using his online pulpit to boost Musk’s business interests. In return, Musk has helped the senator raise his profile and draw more attention to his political objectives.

Musk’s domestic business interests

“.@elonmusk is in trouble for hiring too many Americans. That’s messed up,” Lee opined in August 2023 after the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Musk’s space technology company SpaceX for hiring policies it alleged discriminated against refugees and immigrants who have been granted asylum.

It wasn’t the last time the U.S. senator would wade into Musk’s long list of legal squabbles with the federal government.

Per a November report by The Washington Post, Musk was in the midst of run-ins with several federal agencies as the presidential election approached. And, The New York Times has reported that Musk’s companies hold billions of dollars in federal contracts.

Probes of Musk’s companies were not just domestic — multiple foreign governments are investigating his companies’ operations, too. Lee has repeatedly played the part of rabble-rouser, criticizing those actions online and, in some cases, swearing retribution.

Among the agencies with which Musk’s companies have the most tempestuous history is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates financial markets. While Musk’s electric car company Tesla and X have been the subjects of multiple inquiries by the commission, some stem from Musk’s own actions — specifically, whether he manipulated stock prices or properly disclosed share purchases.

“The SEC is yet another ‘independent commission’ that cannot be trusted,” Lee declared in December after former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead DOGE alongside Musk, lambasted the commission for a case it lost in federal court.

Musk chimed in, writing, “The SEC is just another weaponized institution doing political dirty work,” and Lee replied, “This is progressive Democrats’ dream on display.”

Telling foreign regulators to ‘Go to hell’

When European Union regulators took action against X for allegedly failing to curb disinformation and illegal content on the platform in violation of its Digital Services Act in July, Lee was vocal in his support for Musk.

As Musk characterized the law as forcing him to censor speech, Lee wrote, “God bless @elonmusk for standing strong against tyranny!”

The next day — coincidentally the same day Musk endorsed Trump — Lee was louder in his criticisms, calling EU officials “fascists” and claiming “Europeans don’t value free speech.”

“If the EuroCensors are going to throw punches like these — for a company standing up for American ideals like free speech — perhaps we should be ready to punch back, twice as hard if necessary,” Lee posted on X.

He continued, “I say all of this as someone who is deeply skeptical of sanctions. They often do the opposite of what they’re supposed to do for us. But in the case of the EU coercing tech platforms to engage in global censorship, we might have to figure out something.”

The following month, and ahead of a globally broadcast live interview with Trump on X, EU social media regulators warned Musk that under their government’s laws, he had a responsibility to curb the spread of disinformation in Europe. Lee quoted an EU social media rules enforcer’s post of the letter and told him to “Go to hell.”

On another continent, in August, a separate feud over disinformation on X boiled over.

Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes threatened to prosecute X’s local representatives over the company’s reluctance to comply with orders to block users — specifically, those with accounts supporting former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro that had spread disinformation questioning the integrity of an election he lost.

Investigators have since concluded that Bolsonaro attempted a coup in an effort to stay in office after his 2022 loss. Both government officials and independent security experts agree there is no evidence of fraud in Brazil’s presidential election.

When Musk announced in August that X would close its offices in Brazil, Lee responded, “Free speech is under attack. Thank you, @elonmusk, for defending it.” Brazil subsequently banned access to X for failing to name a legal representative in the country.

Lee wondered aloud on his personal account, “Is it time to end foreign aid to Brazil? Is it also time to fire State Department personnel who facilitated Brazil’s suppression of free speech?”

Musk quoted the senator’s post, saying, “Absolutely. In addition, there will be reciprocal confiscation of assets of those who support the current regime in Brazil to pay for their illegal actions.” Lee replied, “#ReciprocalConfiscationBrazil.”

The Brazil Supreme Court justice who ordered the ban has become a target of Musk allies, like Lee.

In September, Lee posted: “‘Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ = oxymoron. He banned X because he hates free speech. He seized assets in a brazen act of revenge. This is the stuff of tyrants. This is the work of Marxists. It’s the kind of thing one might expect from a jurist who works hard to look like Voldemort.” Musk quoted the post to his followers, writing, “Exactly.”

‘Without regard to … political correctness’

The sentiment that Musk is a crusader for free speech, which Lee used in justifying his harsh reactions to foreign regulators, is one the senator has also employed while promoting Musk’s business ventures.

When rumors emerged in February that Musk was weighing launching an “UNWOKE search engine to rival Google,” Lee posted, “In a heartbeat, I’d use @elonmusk’s search engine instead of Google.”

Lee has expressed favorable opinions of Musk’s artificial intelligence projects over competitors’, like Google and OpenAI. When Musk made a post in May encouraging followers to apply at xAI, which he said has a mission of crafting AI “without regard to popularity or political correctness,” Lee shared the post and wrote: “Based AI. @ElonMusk = national treasure.”

Rival OpenAI and Apple announced a partnership in June, and as Musk reacted critically, so did Lee. Musk proclaimed that if Apple integrated OpenAI at the operating system level, Apple devices would be banned at his companies, dubbing it an “unacceptable security violation.”

Quoting the post, Lee added, “The world needs open-source AI. OpenAI started with that objective in mind, but has strayed far from it, and is now better described as ‘ClosedAI.’ I commend @elonmusk for his advocacy in this area. Unless Elon succeeds, I fear we’ll see the emergence of a cartelized AI industry — one benefitting a few large, entrenched market incumbents, but harming everyone else.”

Historically sensitive to news coverage he disagrees with, Lee’s anger toward the media has extended to coverage critical of Musk and his ventures. The senator has gone as far as urging Musk to create his own news network or buy major television stations.

When false claims that news agency Reuters was paid by the President Joe Biden administration to cover federal investigations into Musk’s businesses emerged on X in mid-December, Lee encouraged the businessman to take legal action.

Musk amplified the disinformation, writing, “Yeah, this explains a lot. Shame on @Reuters. Paid propaganda!” Lee piled on: “Trade libel. Reckless disregard for the truth. @ElonMusk should sue @Reuters.”

While “it’s a completely different question about whether it’s a good or a bad thing,” said James Curry, a political science professor at the University of Utah whose research focuses on policymaking in Congress, it’s unlikely Lee’s and Musk’s interactions violate any ethics rules.

The First Amendment, Curry noted, protects everyone’s right to petition their government, and Musk himself isn’t a paid lobbyist. Contact between members of Congress and wealthy businessmen — such as media magnate Rupert Murdoch — isn’t a new element of politics, Curry added, but has traditionally happened offline.

“I think what makes it different and so jarring is with something like social media, all this is just very public,” the professor said. “Elon Musk actively uses what is essentially a public social media account to do these interactions, rather than communicating with lawmakers and then swaying how [a media organization] covers things, which is a lot more hidden.”

Spokespeople for the senators chairing and vice chairing the Senate Ethics Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

‘The George Soros of the right’ puts his spotlight on a Utah senator

The average number of users who read Lee’s posts rises drastically when he mentions Musk’s name.

Since the inception of @basedmikelee in July 2022, a mean of approximately 169,059 people have seen each of Lee’s posts, The Tribune found in its analysis of those posts. But when one of those posts tags Musk’s account — which currently has over 200 million followers — that average nearly doubles to 313,732.

The depth of Lee’s relationship with Musk, and how it has developed, isn’t immediately clear. Lee told the Deseret News last month that he has only met the businessman in person a few times, and that the pair have spoken on the phone a few times.

Calling Musk a “rock star type,” Lee said in the interview that, “He’s a fascinating human being, and he’s one who, until fairly recently, was a Democrat and has become, in addition to being an industrialist, somebody who’s revolutionized entire industries and developed a lot of technologies.”

The senator added, “He’s also become not only really interested in American government and politics, but he’s also become a fierce defender of structural constitutionalism, of federalism and separation of powers.”

Members of Congress have their own incentives to engage with Musk, Curry observed.

“If you’re a Republican, you can advance your own political profile, you can advance your own interests, you can advance all these things that you would want as an individualized politician by engaging positively with Elon Musk on X,” Curry said, “because now you’re going to get attention, now he’s going to respond to you, now those interactions are more likely to be viewed by people.”

With affirmations like “absolutely,” “exactly” and “yes,” Musk has on dozens of occasions disseminated Lee’s posts on topics ranging from criticism of budget bills to disinformation about elections.

As Lee repeatedly spread the false narrative that noncitizens were going to vote in and change the outcome of the 2024 election, Musk time after time shared Lee’s words with his followers: “This is a big deal,” Musk wrote in September.

That same month when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, introduced a bill that would add six justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, Lee used it as an opportunity to promote his 2022 book “Saving Nine: The Fight Against the Left’s Audacious Plan to Pack the Supreme Court and Destroy American Liberty.”

Musk quoted Lee’s post, and added, “They are actually proposing to stack the Supreme Court. This is literally the plan.” Lee replied below with an Amazon link to his book, and wrote, “Democrats plan to pack the Supreme Court. That would be catastrophic. We must stop them. I explain why in Saving Nine.”

Outside of his U.S. Senate salary, the only significant source of income Lee has reported in his most recent financial disclosures to the Senate Ethics Committee comes from book sales.

Whether or not Lee sold any books through the post, Musk, who Lee has joined other conservatives in calling “the George Soros of the right,” has contributed financially to at least one political cause closely tied to the Utah senator.

A day after a federal judge rejected a petition by Republican congressional candidate Colby Jenkins — who Lee had endorsed in the GOP’s 2nd Congressional District primary over incumbent Celeste Maloy — to postpone the certification of results in his tight race, Lee and Musk used the contest to decry by-mail voting.

Jenkins requested that the judge press pause on finalizing results for ballots disqualified due to postal delays to be counted, arguing voters who mailed their ballots on the Sunday or Monday before the election believed they’d met the state’s postmark deadline.

The judge said the responsibility lies with voters to ensure their ballot is cast, or postmarked, before any deadlines.

“This is one of many reasons why Utah and other states should move away from universal, mail-in balloting. It just creates too many additional complications, and in some cases results in disenfranchisement. @elonmusk is right to warn people of these things,” Lee wrote in a post.

Musk replied, “Absolutely. In-person only and paper ballots. Same-day counting.”

Four days later, Musk gave the maximum allowed amount — $3,300 — to Jenkins’ campaign committee, and an additional $16,600 to a joint fundraising committee for Jenkins and the Utah Republican Party, as the candidate continued an ultimately unsuccessful legal fight to secure the GOP nomination.

Federal Election Commission records indicate Jenkins is one of just two congressional candidates Musk directly supported last election cycle (although he subsidized over a dozen others through his super PAC).

The DOGE czar

As Lee has seen gains in his political profile since launching @basedmikelee, enhanced by the account’s popularity with Musk, the senator has pushed for Musk to step further into politics. Lee was among the earliest proponents of Musk expanding his power into the political realm.

In December 2023, quoting a video that has since been deleted, Lee wrote, “.@elonmusk for Secretary of Defense!” When a follower suggested Musk be secretary of transportation, instead, Lee replied, “Yeah, that’d work too.”

When the idea of Musk heading up a so-called government efficiency arm of a possible Trump administration emerged, the senator posted enthusiastically about it up until and after Election Day.

“Who else loves the idea of Elon Musk heading up a government efficiency committee to eliminate the likely trillions of dollars of waste we have in our bloated bureaucracy?” the president-elect’s son, Donald Trump Jr., wrote in an August post. Lee quoted it, saying, “Make @elonmusk the U.S. government’s efficiency czar!”

Ahead of Musk embarking on trimming, and possibly dismantling, some federal agencies, Congress will likely be his biggest hurdle. With lawmakers controlling the national budget, Lee and his colleagues will have to sign off on any major changes Musk makes.

A month after Trump won a return to the White House, Lee was among the lawmakers invited to a sitdown with Musk and Ramaswamy to discuss the department-to-be. Lee wrote a three-dozen post thread, peppered with Gen Z slang, about the “pivotal” importance of the effort.

“No cap: this is our chance to redefine America for the better — for freedom, and for prosperity,” Lee said.

Despite criticizing any measures that expand power for the executive branch, Lee has introduced legislation that would repeal one of the laws that will give Congress the power to rein in Musk and Ramaswamy.

If Congress were to do away with the Impoundment Control Act, as Lee is urging, the president can withhold funding from programs he chooses. The law was initially passed in the 1970s when Congress at the time thought then-President Richard Nixon was abusing his impoundment powers — when the Clean Water Act passed over Nixon’s veto, the Republican president decided to withhold funds allocated as part of the act to kneecap it.

And when Lee felt the Republican House leadership wasn’t on board with the incoming Trump administration’s priorities as it tried to scrape together an end-of-the-year spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, he pitched an unorthodox solution: “House Republicans should hire either @elonmusk or @VivekGRamaswamy as their next speaker.”

Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke contributed to this story.

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