“We once craved a glimpse into Elon’s innovative mind, now we can’t escape its psychoses.”
Until 2021 or so, Elon’s public persona was an incredible asset. #Tesla paid zero for marketing, as media clamored for its eccentric, visionary genius. Elon was admired by techies, white collar warriors, and limousine liberals whose Teslas became green status symbols their Priuses never could. Then something happened.
Suddenly, The Busiest Man on Earth—with six companies to run—was Tweeting nonstop. The culture war unlocked a portal to power, beyond entrepreneurship. Free speech was Elon’s next world to conquer. He went all-in, buying Twitter, remaking it in his image. On “X”, every trend, feature, decision, and user, exits at Elon’s behest. Twitter’s propaganda and censorship machine was now an Elon Fan Club; hostile to elites on it and bureaucrats festering inside.
Finally, Elon used his Meme Machine to elect Donald Trump—and burrow deep into government with DOGE. Our Magical MacGyver would fix EVERYTHING and only be accountable to Trump. All while retaining his financial interests and 250-million-fan bully pulpit. The ultimate power play.
Only when Elon clashed with anti-immigrant MAGA did we see the limits of his power. To quell the H-1B visa flare-up, Elon diverted Club Elon to a worthy, but 10-year-old British r*pe scandal. Deflection accomplished?
This episode was a revelation — Elon had disrupted nature. Specifically, the natural ebb and flow of news cycles. For decades, stories, characters, and narratives came and went, as did media platforms that hosted them. Some lasted hours, weeks, or years, but We, The People, got to decide when to lose interest. Elon made that impossible. With X, he plunged us into eternal sunlight…of *himself*. His opinions and priorities were inescapable. And he was willing to deploy vast financial and social capital to make them stick—funding politicians, Fanclubbing his enemies, appearing on major media.
Like hoisting a second artificial sun into the sky, we’ll grow more grass but get more sunburns and parched goldfish. The ecosystem will seek equilibrium. We may see:
- Bans of X in Europe, Asia and wherever Elon meddles
- New rifts with MAGA (public or insiders) that limit DOGE’s access, effectiveness, or Trump’s backing
- Conflicts of interest in China and elsewhere
- Elon using political donations (or threats of funding opponents) to get his way
- Citizens growing frustrated with one guy with so much influence, prompting Tesla sales declines, state regulations, foreign tariffs or restrictions on Starlink
- Viable crowdsourced news competitor to X—or migration to an existing platform that’s not afraid of links
We once craved a glimpse into Elon’s innovative mind, now we can’t escape its psychoses. But nothing lasts forever. Even absolute power first makes you submit, then eventually, revolt. X is a luxury prison that many have escaped. Elon’s power is more fragile than it looks. The marketplace that made him shine can also build us shade.