The Most Useful Idiot

Trapped in Elon Musk’s world.

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Elon Musk speaks during an event in Paris, on June 16, 2023. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

I think I’m becoming a communist.

“We know,” Trump fans will say, having been conditioned to treat contempt for their hero’s fascist inclinations as proof of leftist sympathies.

It’s not Trump who’s turning me into a pinko, though. It’s Elon Musk.

He tends to have that effect on people. Including his own girlfriends.

Conservatives believe that privatization is good. You want an organization to run efficiently and effectively? Then give the people in charge of it a strong financial incentive to make it run that way. When government officials mismanage an operation, it’s your money that they’re squandering. When their counterparts in the private sector mismanage an operation, it’s their own.

Pretty simple. But things get complicated when private actors acquire so much wealth and power that they begin to exert government-level influence over global events.

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  1. Avatar photo
    KLeeC

    Thank you. Great piece. What he's using Twitter for, as his personal toy, is very destructive, in my opinion.

    I'm reading this late, after some of the dust has cleared, but after seeing some replies, I think it should be noted that the version of the story Nick gives, about Elon turning off Starlink access, came from Isaacson's book.

    Isaacson apparently confirmed it on CNN, and only retracted after people got angry and Elon said the story was wrong.

    Point being, Nick wasn't choosing to run with CNN's version, but the only one at the time.

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    Ben Connelly

    Or we could simply eliminate all corporate subsidies and loopholes Musk’s companies have benefited from

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  3. Francislyo

    You make some good points, Nick, especially as regards Twitter/X. However, your coverage of the Ukraine-Russian Starlink incident is really off. You quote CNN to state that "Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet … ".

    You then state that “Elon calmly and unremorsefully confirmed that the story was true”. But this is wrong! Please reread the tweet itself, included in your article. CNN has since corrected their account to align with what Musk actually confirmed, which is that he had denied a Ukrainian request to *extend* coverage to Crimea to enable the attack.

    An hour before launching the Ukrainian invasion, Russia disabled the Viasat network, crippling Ukrainian defenses. Musk moved at lightning speed to supply a free Starlink network, working hard to achieve what no other company or country could - protecting the Ukrainian network from Russia.

    Ukraine’s later request to extend to Crimea for the sneak attack caused Musk agitation, as related by the author of the book, “Elon Musk”, from which the CNN account was drawn. The fear of being responsible for a Russian response of escalation to nukes (as the Russian ambassador relayed to him) resulted in Musk’s decision to Not extend the Starlink service, which SpaceX funded and was responsible for. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/07/elon-musk-starlink-ukraine-russia-invasion/

    It should be ok for a private citizen to be upset at the thought of moving war to the nuclear level! We need to allow people to have a conscience, and not paint it as something sinister, even if we don’t agree with their moral qualms. Truth be told, I think many of us would be queasy at the prospect of playing such a role.

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    1. TheRealAndy

      You know who can worry about a nuclear strike on Ukrainian soil? ****ing Ukraine.

      I can (barely) see not wanting to proactively help a military strike, but this nonsense about saving Ukraine from itself is profoundly dumb at best.

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    The Stray Goose

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/11/media/walter-isaacson-elon-musk-reliable-sources/index.html

    So a major portion of what Mr. Catoggio says here isn't true. Good job.

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  5. Deleted Comment

    This comment has been deleted

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    Bill Nelson

    Why do we care for the content of X? I didn’t care when it was Twitter.

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    Christophe

    The blame goes to the US government here. Surely the military could have worked out a contract to access Starlink whenever they need it. Elon has been extremely generous with Starlink but he is not and should never have been expected to be responsible for our military objectives.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Driven away by the bigots

      1) This was addressed in the post: "Why is the U.S. government forced to rely so heavily on Elon Musk in the first place for basic logistical support in Ukraine? Blaming him for the failure of the attack on the Russian navy amounts to excusing the Pentagon for not being able to provide that satellite communication capability itself." The US shouldn't be so heavily reliant on private contractors. I take that as a broad point most people on this forum would generally agree with.

      But here comes...
      2) If you have *contracts* then he absolutely needs to be expected to abide by the terms and conditions, and I would be shocked if one of those isn't "Don't screw up our military objectives." Of course, it's probably worded a little differently.

      You come off as a pro-Musk bootlicker with this comment, but I'm sure that wasn't your intent, so please feel free to clarify!

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  8. Marc Whipple

    Another great column, Nick! But communism is not the answer to this problem. Eminent Domain is the answer.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Dave T

      What could go wrong?

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      1. Marc Whipple

        With Eminent Domain? I don't think much would go wrong. The U.S. government would negotiate a contract with Space X for exclusive use of Starlink for military applications by the U.S. or other countries, or for purchase of Starlink outright. If Musk (Space X) will not agree to reasonable compensation (I think he would, because the Pentagon can pay a lot), the U.S. purchases Starlink by Eminent Domain for fair market value.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Dave T

          Ah, yes, I follow you -- I thought you meant in general as the answer to everything, not in this specific instance. Makes good sense!

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        2. Redskyatknight

          I’d love to see the gov’t take the eminent domain step. But first they’d need to run it thru their SWIFT tool to determine the odds of Musk going rogue & lashing out. I think he has megalomaniac tendencies.

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  9. FreddySez

    Lots of dopes, villains, and bad actors out there, but, as always: The root problem is us.

    Do weak parties and a fringe-driven primary system force awful electoral choices onto the ballot? Yes -- but only because we acquiesce and vote that way.

    Is Twitter/X a caustic cess? Yes -- but it would have zero influence if each of us just closed the app.

    When populism dissolves institutions, this is what we're left with. Add in a generational dereliction of basic history and civics education, and pretty soon I'm not going to have a lawn left to tell you to get off of.

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    1. BDM

      The thing is, Twitter was a cesspool before Musk. It was just a different type of cesspool. I've never understood why so many were addicted to Twitter and its "guidance" of their lives, their newsfeeds, etc.

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      Simon Tanzman

      Those of us like me who have never been on the app will continue to sit here in frustration at all of you who still engage. Just. Stop . POSTING. It is as simple as that. JUST. STOP. POSTING.

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  10. Nemmerle924

    Musk's following seems to be as cult line, and in many ways resembles, the following of Donald Trump.

    Cults seduce their leaders just as much as the reverse.

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