Who’s afraid of Elon Musk?
He may be mad, bad and dangerous but is he as powerful as he thinks he is?
Loath as I am to add to the towering inferno of talk about Elon Musk, here I am adding to the inferno. But my hunch is that he will turn out to be not half as influential as he undoubtedly thinks he is and that his cheque waving political interventions will ultimately be frustrated much to his chagrin and much to the relief of the rest of us.
It is important to stress that billionaire involvement in politics is far from unusual. Generally and unsurprisingly it takes place on the right wing of the spectrum and most times turns out to be immensely disappointing to the ultra-rich who believe that their business genius can seamlessly move into politics.
That’s not to say that they fail to make an impact but it is equally fair to say that it is generally short lived and for the worst.
Henry Ford, the genius of automating motor vehicle production, was once talked of as a future President of the United States. In his prime at the turn of the 19th century, this vicious antisemite rode a tide of extreme right wing fury. The Ku Klux Klan had a membership of some 4 million and Mr. Ford diverted attention from running his business to peddling Jewish conspiracy nonsense. The Ford Motor Company prospered, his political activities were either buried or faded.
Following in his footsteps and armed with ownership of the Daily Mail and other newspapers in Britain, the tycoon Lord Rothermere, with similar ideas and great admiration for Adolf Hitler, looked, for a moment, as though he might turn the tide of history and prevent Britain from going to war against the Nazis. He failed but his publications prospered.
Fast forward to more recent history and billionaires seem to have more luck in politics although they now come armed with less ideology and a far more compelling agenda of furthering their personal interests. In a crowded field of billionaire politicians Silvio Berlusconi in Italy and Thaksin Shinawatra in Thailand stand out after propelling themselves into office and, in the case of the later, propelling two of his daughters to follow his footsteps as prime minister.
Others, despite their considerable wealth, have been far less successful in gaining office, ranging from Michael Bloomberg’s dismal failure to be nominated for US President in 2020 and semi-conductor magnate, Terry Gou’s messy exit from the Taiwan Presidential race more recently.
A 2023 study found that 11 per cent of the world’s billionaires had either run for office or indeed been elected.
So, Mr. Musk is hardly breaking the mold by dipping himself and his considerable wealth into the political cauldron. He is however unusual in stretching beyond domestic politics to dabble overseas.
Back home he has surgically attached himself to the next President and has already stirred things up by intervening in Republican congressional affairs and the appointment of members for the incoming administration. He has even been given the job of shaking up the workings of government via a new Department of Government Efficiency. Only a pedant would point out that the department is illusory and that aside from creating chaos there is not the smallest sign of a plan to actually make the government more efficient.
Then there’s the question of how things will pan out between two of the biggest egos on the planet. The man with the orange face has given absolutely no sign that he will allow anyone to overshadow his bloated self. The man who was prepared to literally spend billions of dollars to decimate the earnings of the social media company he now calls X, gives not the smallest indication of worrying about the consequences of his actions as long as they serve an agenda of extending his influence. For the time being they are useful to each other but you do not need to be a genius to work out that something has got to give, the only question is when.
Right now, however, Mr. Musk really does seem to be dangerous. In Britain he is supposedly poised to pour an unprecedented sum of money into the extreme right Reform party but then again the conduit for his largesse is another fella with a massive ego who has a habit of falling out with everyone he works with. Indeed the fallout with Mr. Musk has already occurred, so, let’s see how that goes.
Because he hardly sleeps and self-promotes remorselessly Elon Musk cannot be ignored but why stoke his ego even further by exaggerating the impact he will ultimately have?