Our latest mini series is here and this time we're profiling some of the key players in Donald Trump's presidency, who are now running America. Over the next few weeks, new profiles will drop every Sunday.

Elon Musk is one of the most influential people inside Trump's White House, as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is making huge and sweeping cuts to federal government. He's also the richest person in the world, and controls key companies in the United States including Space X and Tesla. We hear from two guests who know Elon Musk well - Jim Cantrell, who was on the founding team at Space X, and helped teach Elon Musk how to build space rockets, and the journalist and podcast host Molly Ball, who has profiled Musk.

From his early life in South Africa, to his business empire built on Tesla and Space X, what motivates Elon Musk and how did he become so aligned with Donald Trump? Also, how seriously should we take his obsession with Mars, and what is he like as a person?

HOSTS: • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent

GUESTS: • Molly Ball, Senior Political Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal and host of the WSJ podcast, Trump 2.0 • Jim Cantrell, worked on the founding team of Space X, who worked with Elon Musk to set up the company

GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Keiligh Baker, Claire Betzer, George Dabby and Catherine Fusillo. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm

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