Ever since President Trump assumed office, Elon Musk’s name has been tangled with numerous news headlines and controversies. Musk, who was appointed the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, was instrumental in Trump’s reclaiming of the presidency. Pushing endorsements on X, promising to deliver money should people exercise their right to vote, and personally holding town halls to boost Trump’s image, Elon Musk gambled on Trump’s victory; and he gambled correctly. Musk is arguably, to many, the most powerful man within the nation, possessing immense sway over federal proceedings while still holding onto his multiple billion dollar businesses. Elon is not an elected government official. Neither is he an appointed bureaucrat approved by the House of Representatives. He is a businessman who merely assumed a powerful position within the US with one half of the country questioning the ethics behind such an action and the other half pushing it forward under the guise of patriotism.
In fact, you can check twitter right now and see that opinions on Elon are more divided than ever before. Either you think he’s the greatest thing to ever grace the soil of America or a plague that will lead to the inevitable downfall of the country.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of the Elon, and by extent, Trump worship so my opinion may be slightly biased. I don’t think anyone should be held to the regard that some people have placed them in, especially when they’ve all done numerous questionable things in their careers. Elon, just in the past year, has been caught making apparent Nazi salutes, promoting hateful rhetoric on X under the promise of free speech, and overall tries to portray himself as the internet’s friendly relatable “troll”, which might not be the best persona for someone as powerful as Elon.
However, I do agree that he is being harassed to an extent that is simply unfair. Damaging Teslas, dragging his name through the mud, sending death threats to DOGE employees is simply not right. It’s barbaric and probably shouldn’t be equated to valiant acts of heroism. People need to realize that not everything will go exactly their way and align with their own moral compasses, and even if Elon is not acting in the public’s best interests, performing or threatening acts of violence is not the way to go.
Most recently, the New York Times reported that Elon Musk would be attending a private meeting in the Pentagon where he would be privy to various state secrets regarding the country’s relationship with China. While he is denounced the article as fake news spurned forth by malicious intent within the Pentagon, alongside a Trump tweet of approval, Musk was spotted entering the Pentagon, most likely to join a meeting relating to China.
Trump, to divert attention away from Elon and protect him, issued that any harming of Teslas would be considered domestic terrorism and even held what was essentially an infomercial for Tesla on national TV, showing support for Tesla by buying one and publicly announcing it. “This is just not done.This endorsement of a domestic brand in a space where there are many domestic players is unconventional, to say the least,” Hui Chen, an anti-corruption expert and former federal prosecutor from CNN, said. While it is commonplace for presidents to single out specific industries to boost the economy, they have never done so for a single company in such explicit fashion. In fact, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick even appeared on Fox News, urging people to buy Tesla stock.
And no matter your political affiliation and opinion of Musk, no businessman should be granted such immunity by the federal government. This is an exact situation our founding fathers tried to prevent, the consolidation of power into the few, yet people are praising these actions in the name of patriotism.
