ArcaMax

We’ve survived two turbulent weeks of Trump Two. And, amid all the chaos, there’s no doubt who’s in charge. He’s the man of the hour. He’s everywhere: giving orders, making demands, blasting what he doesn’t like, and seizing the role of spokesman for the United States around the world. And, of course, I’m talking about – not Donald Trump, but – Elon Musk.

Musk, you must admit, is the most controversial man on the planet today. He’s possibly the most talented. He’s maybe the most dangerous, more so than Donald Trump. And he’s definitely the most difficult to define.

On the one hand, TESLA alone earns Musk recognition as one of history’s most brilliant innovators and businessmen. When nobody was taking electric cars seriously, Musk launched the first successful EV, designed the most beautiful car on the road, captured the market, and spurred production of a host of rival EV’s by American car manufacturers.

In 2002, Musk also created SpaceX, which quickly excelled in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicles, and human spaceflight. Today, SpaceX stands as the world’s dominant space launch provider, surpassing all other private companies, NASA, and the Chinese space agency.

That’s the good Musk. If only he’d stopped there, he’d be a hero. Instead, he started going crazy. In 2018, he launched a line of $800 blow torches, which served no useful purpose other than, maybe, roasting marshmallows. At the same time, he created the Boring Company, whose stated goal is still to relieve traffic on I-95 by building an underground transit tunnel linking New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. To date, not one shovel of dirt has been turned, and AMTRAK, not Elon, provides the link between New York and Washington for all those who don’t want to drive.

Then Elon Musk discovered politics. And that’s where he really went nuts. First, by buying Twitter, the world’s biggest social network, with 330 million followers, and quickly destroying it: renaming it “X,” welcoming Donald Trump back on the platform, and removing any guidelines for truthful content. Today, “X” is nothing but an extreme right-wing, MAGA, Trump propaganda platform. It’s the home of zany conspiracies, most of them spread by its owner. People looking for an honest exchange of views are flocking to BlueSky and other alternative sites.

Musk not only converted Twitter into a Trump tabloid, he pumped at least $277 million (chump change for the richest man on the planet) into Trump’s 2024 campaign – for which he’s been richly rewarded. Ever worshipful of people who, unlike him, have “real” money, Trump embraced Musk as his new BFF, made him a top adviser, and has now created a whole new government agency just for him. Musk, in return, seldom leaves Trump’s side. It’s hard to get a photo of Trump without Elon leering over his shoulder. Musk flew into Washington for Trump’s Inaugural and hasn’t left since.

And he didn’t waste any time showing who was in charge. Late last year, when Speaker Mike Johnson made a deal to keep the government running, it was Musk, not Trump, who spoke out and killed the deal. Last week, the day after Trump announced a $500 billion-dollar private-sector partnership to build infrastructure for AI, Musk, not Trump, trashed it. And this week, without consulting top White House aides, Musk, not Trump, sent out an email to 2.3 million federal employees – with no regard for what their jobs were or how well they were performing – encouraging them to resign en masse by September 30.

Musk has also enthusiastically endorsed Trump’s plan to deport millions of people who entered the country illegally, even though, as the Washington Post reported, Musk himself violated the law as an immigrant from South Africa by enrolling as a student and never attending any classes – a violation for which he himself would have been deported under Trump’s new plan.

Most alarmingly, Musk – again, a top adviser to the president of the United States – addressed a rally of Germany’s anti-semitic, right-wing political party, the Alternative for Germany, whose co-founder has dismissed the Holocaust as nothing but “a speck of bird poop” in the history of Germany. Musk, in turn, encouraged Germans to “get over” the Holocaust and forget about any “past guilt.”

Elon Musk’s exalted status in the Trump White House should concern anyone who loves democracy. The oligarchy is here. We’re not only stuck with a president totally unfit for office, we’re saddled with a powerful co-president who wasn’t elected to anything.

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(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

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