Among the many audacious gambles that mark Elon Musk’s career, few have been bolder than the bet he is now placing on Donald Trump.
在标志着埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)职业生涯的众多大胆赌注中，很少有比他现在押在唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)身上的赌注更大胆的。
From satellites to electric vehicles, brain chips to AI-powered robots, Musk owns a series of businesses that depend heavily on contracts and rules set by the federal government.
从卫星到电动汽车，从脑芯片到人工智能机器人，马斯克拥有一系列严重依赖联邦政府合同和规则的企业。
Yet in an election that most political analysts believe to be a coin toss, the world’s richest man has tied his reputation and fortune to Trump’s latest quest for the White House.
然而，在大多数政治分析人士认为胜负难分的选举中，这位世界首富将自己的声誉和财富与特朗普最新的白宫竞选联系在一起。
Speaking earlier this month to Tucker Carlson, the firebrand former Fox TV host, Musk was only half-joking when he mused about Trump: “If he loses, I’m fucked.”
本月早些时候，马斯克在接受直言不讳的前福克斯电视主持人塔克•卡尔森(Tucker Carlson)采访时，半开玩笑地谈到特朗普：“如果他输了，我就完蛋了。”
As the election enters its final stage, Musk’s embrace of the Trump campaign is becoming ever tighter.
随着选举进入最后阶段，马斯克对特朗普竞选团队的支持变得更加紧密。
It was revealed this week that Musk has donated at least $75mn to his pro-Trump group, America Pac, which has already spent over $118mn on efforts to support the campaign including ads, yard signs and a door-knocking operation.
本周有消息透露，马斯克已经向他的亲特朗普组织America Pac捐赠了至少7500万美元，该组织已经花费了超过1.18亿美元来支持竞选活动，包括广告、庭院标志和上门宣讲。
When Trump held a rally two weeks ago in Butler, Pennsylvania — the site of the July assassination attempt on him — Musk was the surprise guest, bouncing on to the stage like an excited child.
两周前，特朗普在宾夕法尼亚巴特勒举行集会——这也是他在7月份遇刺未遂的地点——马斯克作为惊喜嘉宾，像个兴奋的孩子一样跳上舞台。
Musk has used X, the social network he owns, to pump out pro-Trump content, including some of the most lurid conspiracy theories that have taken hold on the right.
马斯克利用他所拥有的社交网络X，大量传播支持特朗普的内容，包括一些在右翼中流传的最耸人听闻的阴谋论。
Musk told a campaign event in the swing state of Pennsylvania this week that the biggest reason for backing Trump was the need for ‘sensible regulations’
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Trump, who until recently was highly sceptical of electric vehicles, speaks at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania where Musk was his surprise guest
Jen Golbeck/SOPA Images/ReutersOn Thursday, Musk was back in Pennsylvania, the most important swing state in the election, to make the case for Trump to voters on his own. During the hour-long rally, he sported a gold Make America Great Again hat and gave some hints at the business rationale for his all-in support of Trump — a politician who until recently was highly sceptical of electric vehicles.
周四，马斯克回到了宾夕法尼亚，这是选举中最重要的摇摆州，他独自向选民为特朗普辩护。在长达一小时的集会上，他戴着一顶金色的“让美国再次伟大”(Make America Great Again)帽子，并暗示了他全力支持特朗普的商业理由——直到最近，特朗普还是一位对电动汽车持高度怀疑态度的政治家。
Musk said the biggest reason for backing Trump was the need for “sensible regulations”, claiming that “SpaceX can build a giant rocket faster than the licence can be processed by the government, which is insane.” He added: “If the current trend of strangulation by overregulation is not turned around, we won’t get to Mars.”
马斯克表示，支持特朗普的最大原因是需要“明智的监管”，他声称：“SpaceX可以在政府处理许可证的时间之前建造一枚巨型火箭，这太荒谬了。”他补充道：“如果当前过度监管的窒息趋势不得到扭转，我们将无法到达火星。”
The owner of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI and X has aspirations to shape the future of humanity — a Neuralink chip in the brain, a robot in the home, a driverless car to get to work, a rocket to colonise Mars. Musk’s bet appears to be that if Trump wins, he would gain substantial influence over how the government treats his companies.
特斯拉(Tesla)、SpaceX、xAI和X的所有者有着塑造人类未来的愿望——在大脑中植入Neuralink芯片，家中有一台机器人，乘坐无人驾驶汽车上下班，乘坐火箭去殖民火星。马斯克的赌注似乎是，如果特朗普获胜，他将在政府对待他的公司的方式上获得重大影响力。