The Electric: Musk’s Bet on Trump Follows a Pattern of Tycoons Diving Into Politics

In 1996, a half-dozen Russian tycoons known as the oligarchs put their fortunes and media companies behind then-President Boris Yeltsin’s faltering reelection effort, and helped turn around his campaign: Yeltsin handily beat the Communist Party candidate, and went on to reward the oligarchs with prime pieces of the Russian economy.