It pains me some to have to say this, but I believe Elon Musk has finally met his match. From prior posting, you would have picked up that I’m a fan. I’ve rehashed that enough, so I’ll keep it spare here. He’s a quirky man that’s managed to do some amazing things, but I’ll say point blank, I get the sense that’s about to end. Donald Trump got into his head and he’ll never be the same. I should say, the extended aura of what Trump has become got into his head. It’s simplistic to say but even as the richest man in the world, or at least was; Musk appears to have gotten close to the most powerful man in the world, perhaps in the history of the world, depending on how you slice it, and he’s come away terminally jealous. Thus, the big row over if real cuts were deep enough, EV subsidies, etc.; that’s all window dressing, excuses, and it’s a little fig leaf over a big bruised ego. The resulting third-party effort is pure acting out. Musk’s heart isn’t into that, it’s into what he wishes he could become.
As I watched Musk during the campaign, I saw a misfit wannabe doing and saying things that came off as -frankly- juvenile. I called out one or two of these things, particularly with ‘DOGE’. I nevertheless hoped that this was part of his Aspergers-like personality traits, nothing more, that he’d get over it, mature, evolve into a more of a team player. In retrospect, it was that but also it was an aw-shucks country boy meets city exposure to suddenly be in close orbit to Trump; the jumping up and down on the later campaign stops, the googly eyed playing court at Mar-a-Lago, pre Inauguration, the self-deprecating hat and dressed down look at formal cabinet meetings, the boyish braggadocio that frequently came out of DOGE. Finally, the outright temper tantrums as the breakup flared in almost slow motion. Musk couldn’t get or be what Donald Trump has become so he’s taking his marbles, throwing them in a fit, and stomping out. I should know. I had that kind of attitude myself, playing outside in my backyard when I was eight years old.
Being a Musk fan, I should hope that even now, he gets over himself, take some knocks and failures, gets over himself, moves on, matures, but it seems unlikely. He succeeded in the business world, does well with Teslas, perhaps his core business, but even that seems to be following the trajectory of his dysphoria, in fact, is directly affected by his dysphoric political aspirations. Some people are taking his launched American Party seriously, but I don’t believe it warrants that. Its foundational platform is one man with a big lower lip and after that, a few hardline fiscal hawks, also with a chip on their shoulder. That ain’t no way to build a party. Don’t get me wrong, I share the same fiscal aims, but I’m a realist (and a common man) that understands that if you don’t already possess a wide four-dimensional consensus, you may as well be crying in the wilderness, from which vantage point, you will surely fail. Right about now, Elon should be tending to his businesses because if he doesn’t, they will start failing, quickly, one by one; not that I’m an expert on those whys and wherefores, I just know a little bit of history and I see a pattern quickly assembling. After his businesses, Elon should tend to himself, personally. It was only a couple years ago, he was simple, cautious, unpretentious, and learning all the right lessons. In such a short time, the needle has ripped all the way over to kook territory. Here’s to just a little hope that he gets a grip before it’s too late.
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