It’s hard to argue with Elon Musk’s successes. He has become the poster child of what a self-made American success story is supposed to look like. Rocketeer, technologist, engineer and serial entrepreneur all wrapped up into one gregarious package. At $440 billion in net worth, he stands on the world’s stage of wealth and opulence all by himself as the wealthiest human alive.
Musk’s latest endeavor, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is a breath of fresh air for a federal government whose debt continues to hit new highs, and it should be a perfect fit for his eccentric skill set. His sharp elbows and extra-large brain cells will hopefully break through the brick wall of insanity on our government’s reckless spending problem.
Credit: Geoff Duncan
Credit: Geoff Duncan
With good ideas often come unintended consequences, and Musk is no exception. What started as an isolated patriotic journey into cutting wasteful government spending is starting to look like an outright power grab. Consider last week’s near-government shutdown drama to see the latest example of this growing dynamic.
It took only a microburst of 41 under-informed posts on X in a relatively short period of time from a government newbie to grind the wheels of progress to a halt. Musk’s ill-timed entry into the legislative process had hints of Cousin Eddie’s awkward confidence around the Christmas dinner table in the 1989 hit “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
For those who missed it, here’s a recap: An imperfect but mutually agreed upon bipartisan spending bill blessed by President-elect Donald Trump was torpedoed by Musk in what can be only explained as a test flight of his newfound political power. Bull, meet China shop. Eventually, a last-minute compromise avoided a government shutdown, but not without undue drama.
Other recent examples of Musk’s heavy public hand have shown up on the X test range in the form of attempting to influence Cabinet picks, energy policy and artificial intelligence industry guardrails, to name just a few.
So the multibillion-dollar question is, what was Musk’s real motivation for buying Twitter (which he renamed X), business or personal? His creditors and investors are hoping it was for business, but it’s becoming apparent that it might have been personal, too. It’s hard to make a business case for one of the world’s largest social media platforms intentionally augmenting reality by sharing its owner’s latest and greatest personal and half-baked thoughts on the modern-day front page above the proverbial fold 24/7.
It’s estimated that X has lost an eye-popping 80% of its total value since Musk took the company private. This cratering valuation doesn’t seem to bother Musk as much as it does the investment bankers still on the hook for the extra cash needed to close the deal.
If you remove the investment banker opinions from the conversation, the Twitter acquisition has been wildly successful for Musk by most modern standards. His followers on the platform have swelled to nearly 210 million since the acquisition, and he has undeniably become one of the most powerful influencers in the galaxy on virtually every contemporary subject, literally. Most impressive, he had to put up only an estimated 10% of his net worth to consummate the transaction. You would be hard pressed to find someone not willing to make the same low-risk, high-return investment every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Musk has quickly made up for lost time operating inside the political ecosystem. This time last year, the world was still trying to figure out whether he was a Democrat or a Republican. It didn’t even seem likely he would lend his support to a specific candidate. Fast forward a few months, and his critics describe him as “President Musk.” Even artificial intelligence couldn’t have predicted the absolute strength of his grip on the political process and his virtual board of directors seat with the incoming president.
So now what? That will depend on where Musk wants to aim his new toy: political power. The jury is still out if Musk is riding an epic wave or a Trojan horse. My prediction is that if he focuses on DOGE’s efforts, he will be highly successful and well revered. Alternatively, if he aims at shock-jock style politics for personal pleasure, he will break a lot of glass, and his political flame will quickly be extinguished — by Trump.
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