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Elon Musk looms gargantuan over our world. He has life-sized rockets and cars for his playthings. Every word he has to say—even if it's Russian propaganda—is heard by tens of millions.
And yet this billionaire bro has found ways to shoot himself in the foot time after time. And like the mighty Godzilla, when he falls over and grabs his big toe, tens of thousands of innocent people get crushed.
In terms of the danger he represents for himself, it seems to be largely financial. His ludicrously capacious wallet is only exceeded in size by his ego. It's that outsized sense of self-worth that led him to buy Twitter for many times its value at $44 billion, only to scare away advertisers by making it a hotspot for right-wing extremists and even more misinformation than was on display before. According to at least one source, the pointlessly renamed "X" is now worth about 20 percent of what it was before Musk's purchase.
If you want that kind of depreciation, buy a new Tesla Model 3. (I kid. Your Model 3 will only have lost 50 percent of its value in just five years).
He's also hurting the sales of those self-same Teslas by becoming a known right-wing crank, thanks at least in part to his posts on X. Even people who already own the electric cars are sticking bumper stickers on them announcing that they made their purchase before they fully knew who Musk was. The stickers are listed first in search results for "Musk bumper sticker."
As a quick side note, I've owned Teslas (models S and 3). I liked the cars quite a bit, but I'll never buy one again simply because of the company's owner. My replacement is still electric, just not one of Musk's. And it looks like I'm not alone in putting my wallet where my fears are.
Then there was the on-air marijuana experiment, and other suspected drug use.
Finally, he has banked the future of his ridiculously overvalued company on two-seater robo-taxis. These, much like the four-door and briefly lived Corvette America, are the answer to a question no one has asked, and if they ever succeed—or exist at all—millions of cab drivers will not thank them.
When he's not harming himself, he's harming others, either through claims that his cars can drive themselves (they can't, and that has led to deaths, or even on battlefields, bucking U.S. commitments and causing more deaths.
The fact is that Musk likes profits (don't we all?), and the interests of profit don't necessarily match up with U.S. interests. Early in the Russian war in Ukraine, Musk refused to let the Ukrainian military use Starlink—his satellite internet service—to defend the country. He had to be begged to change his mind. More recently, Musk is facing controversy over Russian soldiers' use of the same technology, which has helped lead to battlefield gains for Moscow.
Musk has been the recipient of great praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also been caught spreading the Russian line on X.
Speaking of Putin's Potential Puppets...
Musk has transformed into the world's biggest fan of former President Donald Trump, shoving millions of dollars into a super PAC designed to reelect an increasingly vituperative and incoherent candidate.
I guess if you're worth $245 billion (until people figure out the taxi thing), you might as well pick the candidate who will both do anything for a buck, and promises to tax you least.
Plus, if he believes even one of the right-wing conspiracies he espouses, Musk might as well go with the guy who's the hero of the twisted story.
Of course, Elon Musk is not the first person with great (GREAT) wealth to try to influence elections in the United States or anywhere else. It's becoming fairly common to have a billionaire or two running in presidential races, and on both sides of the aisle. Hey, one billionaire even made it to the White House.
But Musk is a particularly dangerous case due in part to the pies he has his fingers in, and his increasingly extreme views that have worked to his detriment.
Still, whatever structural advantages Musk might have had along the way, the truth is that he's made billions of dollars, brought the electric car to America's streets and, despite however many people there are behind the curtain, he's clearly had more than a little to do with SpaceX's success (they captured a rocket out of thin air on Sunday).
Perhaps the greatest wonder of all, however, would be if Musk shut up and kept to his own launching pad. It seems unlikely.
Maybe things will get better after he leaves for Mars.
Jason Fields is a deputy opinion editor at Newsweek.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
