What Do You Think of Elon Musk?
A Saturday Prompt
Nobody elected Elon Musk. He wasn’t on any ballot. Not one voter voted for him. Not one confirmation hearing was held. Not one senator publicly asked him a question. Advise and consent was not sought. He was not officially confirmed by anybody. But there he was this week, telling the House what to do.
Armed with 205 million followers on X and a barrage of over 100 increasingly threatening posts, Elon Musk bullied the duly elected representatives of the people while they cast their vote on spending to cut funding for children’s cancer research and eliminate limits on investments in China. Yes, on the third try last night, the House and Senate passed a bill to extend spending until mid-March, including $100 billion for disaster relief, $10 billion for farmers and no removal of the debt ceiling, even though Donald Trump wanted its removal so that he can push through massive tax cuts for the super-rich.
This could be the set-up for a very funny, very interesting movie about a South African-born guy from a rich family who’s handed the reins of American power by a cognitively impaired 78-year-old president-elect who finds governing boring and really prefers to play golf. It could be funny, except that Musk’s ascent is deadly serious—a consequential breach of our democratic system of self-governance by the richest man on planet Earth thanks largely to U.S. government contracts and funding.
You might know Musk—as millions do—as the cool, eccentric guy who builds electric cars and launches rockets, blows $44 billion to buy Twitter on a pledge to push free speech (not just turn it into a right-wing propaganda machine that tolerates extremism and abuse to serve his interests). He’s the guy who actually appears to have a sense of humor, who dreams about going to Mars, regularly consumes the anti-depression drug ketamine, worries about “population collapse,” has fathered 12 children with three different women, yet spends his Thanksgiving chatting up Barron Trump and his father at Mar-a-Lago.
That’s enough, really. But Musk is also the guy who, just yesterday, endorsed Germany’s extreme right-wing Neo-Nazi party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), before snap elections in February, posting that “only the AfD can save Germany.” Responded usually low-key Sen. Chris Murphy from Connecticut on X: “WTF. NONE OF THIS IS OK, EVERYONE. NONE OF THIS IS NORMAL.”
Many, including me, have jocularly called him “President Musk,” as we watched Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Congress take this self-serving billionaire very seriously. And as odd and worrying as his public involvement may be, this dark turn fits into Trump’s desire to undermine our system of government to enrich himself and serve the anti-democratic interests of Vladimir Putin and all his billionaire buddies who prefer oligarchic rule to exploit our government for their own profit. I can hardly wait to see what happens when the U.S. Senate does its part by confirming some of Trump’s dangerously crackpot nominees who know little about how to run our democratic institutions—intended to provide safety and security—and instead push extremist, conspiratorial and vengeful agendas.
What do you think of Elon Musk? How alarmed are you by Trump’s readiness to let him run roughshod over our democratic process? And do you expect that Trump will soon have enough of Musk grabbing the spotlight and convincing the public and Congress that he’s the real power?
As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for this community to hear from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.
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I agree with Senator Chris Murphy! This is not ok! Also, Musk’s citizenship should be investigated. He is dangerous!
Musk is an unelected, unelectable, soulless, creepy, narcissistic Nazi. He doesn’t deserve the privilege of American citizenship that has been earned by the dedication of so many committed to democracy. He is seeking to throw democracy away. He is seeking to shred the Constitution. All government contracts should be terminated, assets seized, and he needs to be deported instead of those who come here seeking asylum, opportunity, freedom, and life. He, and his cohort including Trump, are blights on humanity.