Elon Musk, Emperor of the World
There seems to be little room for doubt at this point that Elon Musk is intent to rule the world. Plenty of malignant narcissists before him have had such ambitions, but he is uniquely privileged to potentially actually pull it off. As the most obscenely rich person the world has ever had the misfortune of hosting, there is very little that Musk cannot do. Money is power and Musk has a virtually inexhaustible supply, which he’s using to buy influence and shape the world to his liking.
We saw this in action this past year, when Musk used his money, in conjunction with the social media app he purchased and subsequently perverted, to help buy Trump a second presidency. Now, before that other malignant narcissist has even taken office, we’ve seen Musk making moves to expand his wealth and power, furthering his goal of total domination. He’s secured himself a position in Trump’s cabinet which will essentially give him, though unelected and unqualified, broad powers to determine the functioning or continued existence of federal government departments and positions, and of course determine what laws will, or won’t regulate his businesses. Musk seems to have found a home in the MAGA-verse, where extreme narcissism, cruelty, spouting nonsense, being a wealthy hoarder, and having a complete inability to know how to act like a fucking human being seem to be assets. I’ll never quite understand how entirely charmless rich men like Trump and Musk get such adoration from hordes of people who are to them the modern day equivalent of serfs and for whom they have nothing but contempt. But then I’m neither an expert on cult psychology or a fucking moron.
To say that Musk has been pulled into the MAGA death cult wouldn’t be quite accurate. The part about it being a death cult is accurate, but I don’t think he was so much pulled in as he found a large group whose beliefs are in line with his aims enough that he can take advantage of and manipulate them, as Trump has done. He’s already begun stabbing them in the back and backing out of boasts he made about how he planned to “help” them and the country.
Musk hasn’t stopped with US politics. He’s not like Trump, not nearly as petty and pathetic. A man of his ego and wealth wouldn’t be content with controlling a single country, however powerful. He’s already turned his sights on Europe, attacking left(ish) wing politicians and expressing support for fascist ones. It won’t be long before he’s palling around with modern nazis and dictators, wearing their stupid hats, hopping around like a chubby man-child on stage with them, putting his media influence and virtually inexhaustible financial resources behind their campaigns.
Elon Musk doesn’t give a shit about America. I doubt he gives a shit about much of anyone or anything. What he cares about is the world working the way he thinks it should, and him being the one to make it happen. If he were an altruist and his vision of how the world should be were actually a positive one for the majority of people, maybe we could accept his megalomaniacal rule. But, he is a humorless control freak, a white supremacist, a greedy and selfish, obsessive, overgrown little rich boy with daddy issues who, if not for a talent for investment, would be just another relic of colonial South African aristocracy, living off of his family’s apartheid-empowered and slavery-driven business, real estate, and emerald mining fortune. Not ideal world-emperor material.