Editor’s letter

The richest man in the world has an unparalleled ability to push the buttons of the pundit class. Commentators who are happy to genuflect to other tycoons can’t stand that Elon Musk would rather be a shock jock than a sage. Musk’s achievements (see Books, p.22) get explained away, with former bureaucrats who drove NASA’s own rocket program into the ground lining up to decry the power of SpaceX and the Starlink satellite network. There is always some reason why the big auto companies are on the cusp of finally crushing Tesla’s market share. And X, the app formerly known as Twitter? It infuriates the pundits that since Musk fired most of its engineers it runs just fine, as promised. And some of the complaints from the Left about Musk’s bluecheck followers sound like a mirror image of pre-Musk gripes from the Right about the old Twitter blue-checks.

So there’s a lot in Musk’s plus-column. Unfortunately, the minus column is getting long, too. Being the world’s richest person tends to drive men bonkers. John Paul Getty took five months to ransom his kidnapped grandson, and then only if it was tax-deductible. Howard Hughes spent his last two decades as a recluse. Henry Ford descended into grandiose schemes (see The Last Word, p.36) and rabid anti-Semitism. Musk, too, feels increasingly less stable. It often seems like there are two Elon Musks. There’s the one who provides Ukraine with an internet lifeline, and the one who blathers about purported conversations with Putin. There’s the driven Musk who sleeps at the factory, and the Musk who spends his time on X issuing libel threats and getting uncomfortably close to anti-Semites and white nationalists (see Talking Points, p.16). And his family life? Don’t even get started. His track record shows it’s not wise to bet against Musk. But these days, the main adversary Musk is fighting is himself. For the world’s sake, let’s hope the best Musk wins.