Welcome back to the deep dive, the show where
we take the fire hose of sources you send us.
And in this case, it is a truly mountainous stack
of articles, biographies and financial reports
centered on one colossal figure. And we distill
it all down. We try to find the essential, fascinating
and sometimes. frankly, bizarre nuggets. You
need to understand what's going on. And today,
we're not just analyzing a businessman. No, not
at all. We are attempting to draw a comprehensive
map of global influence. Our subject is Elon
Reeve Musk. A figure whose businesses and increasingly
his personal life have become so fundamentally
interwoven with global finance, technology, and
political infrastructure. Exactly. Understanding
him has really become a prerequisite for charting
a massive portion of the modern economic and
cultural landscape. That sounds like a bit of
an impossible mission, but that is precisely
our goal. Our mission today is a deep, thorough,
and analytical look at his vast interwoven business
empire. which spans worlds and industries, his
significant and often controversial political
activities, and the key facts defining his immense
wealth and outsized public influence, particularly
in the mid to late 2020s. And we're moving beyond
just listing successes. We really need to unpack
the sheer scale of his simultaneous ventures.
From reusable rockets and electric vehicles.
The brain chips, tunneling solutions, and his
massive control over digital media platforms.
And crucially, we have to analyze that. profound
and very public political shift he underwent.
And how his highly polarized public persona allows
him to function less like a traditional CEO and
more like a systemic force operating outside
of traditional checks. Absolutely. And to give
you a sense of this scale right out of the gate,
we have to start with the money. It's almost
mythical. It really is. As of December 2025,
Forbes estimates his net worth to be around $684
billion. Wow. And that climb was so steep that
he became the first person in history to cross
the $400 billion valuation mark back in 2024.
And speaking of money tied to performance. Right,
the new pay package. In November 2025, Tesla
shareholders re -approved this truly staggering
compensation plan. A new pay package potentially
worth $1 trillion over the next 10 years if specific,
highly ambitious performance goals are met. That
is money that reshapes entire economies. But
the real measure of his influence isn't just
his net worth. It's the infrastructure he controls.
OK. A critical data point that frequently gets
overshadowed by the Twitter debates or the rocket
launches is the sheer dominance of the Starlink
constellation. Right. As of May 2025, the over
7 ,600 operational Starlink satellites account
for a stunning 65 percent of all operational
Earth satellites currently in orbit. 65 percent.
That is not just a business. That is a foundational
level of control over the infrastructure of global
connectivity and increasingly global defense.
OK, let's unpack this. Let's start the foundation
where the wealth and the relentless ambition
began. Let's do it. We have to begin in Pretoria,
South Africa, where Elon Musk was born on June
28th, 1971. Right. And his background is crucial
because it gave him, you know, an initial safety
net and a global perspective. He holds South
African Canadian. That's via his mother, the
model and nutritionist May Musk, and later U
.S. citizenship, which he gained in 2002. And
the wealth was established by his father, Errol
Musk, who was described in the sources as an
electromechanical engineer, a pilot, a property
developer, and for a period. an emerald dealer.
So the family's affluence was substantial. Oh,
absolutely. Yeah. Errol Musk once recounted that
they were so wealthy at times they couldn't securely
close their safe. So this isn't a story of a
self -made immigrant arriving with nothing. Not
at all. It's a story of ambition launched from
a position of, well, significant privilege. Despite
that financial security, though, the personal
history is characterized as turbulent and often
fraught. Very much so. After his parents divorced
in 1979, the nine -year -old Elon chose to live
with his father. A decision he later regretted.
Right. He said he made it partly because his
father had an encyclopedia and computer items
that clearly spoke to his intellectual curiosity.
But that decision ultimately led to their estrangement,
which continues to this day. And that turbulence,
it seems, it manifested physically during his
schooling. It did. The sources document a harsh
upbringing. including an extremely challenging,
sometimes violent experience at a wilderness
school. There's a specific brutal anecdote in
there. There is. It details an altercation where
Elon was thrown down concrete steps and severely
beaten, necessitating his hospitalization for
recovery. And the response from his father following
this only compounded the trauma, according to
the sources. Yes. While the father claimed he
was defending the other boy, the younger Musk
stated his father berated him upon discharge
from the hospital. So this narrative of personal
difficulty juxtaposed with immense privilege.
It suggests a crucible of pressure that may have
fed the intense drive we see today. It's hard
to argue otherwise. What is undeniable, though,
is the intense intellectual focus and early technological
aptitude. His mind was already in the future.
He was a big reader. A huge reader of seminal
science fiction, citing Isaac Asimov's Foundation
series, which is essentially a blueprint for
influencing civilizational trajectories, and
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as key influences.
And this autodidactic approach led him to teach
himself computer programming at age 10. By age
12... He had leveraged that knowledge, selling
his first computer game, a space shooter called
Blastar, for approximately $500. Which, adjusting
for inflation, is about $1 ,600 today. Exactly.
It's the first profitable exit of his career.
It's tiny in scale compared to what would follow,
but it's illustrative of the pattern. Identify
a technological need, build it, and monetize
it. That focus was always trained on North America,
though. Moving to the U .S. became his central
goal. It did. He attended the University of Pretoria
briefly, but made the decisive move to emigrate
to Canada in 1989. And the stated reason for
that? It was to avoid the mandatory military
service under the apartheid regime, utilizing
his mother's Canadian passport as his pathway
to eventually reaching the United States. After
his arrival, he took several odd jobs. Yeah,
including shoveling grain at a farm and cutting
logs at a lumber mill. before finally enrolling
at Queen's University in Ontario. He then transferred
to the University of Pennsylvania, which is where
his entrepreneurial side truly began to bloom
alongside his academic pursuits. It was an unconventional
college track. Very. He claimed to have earned
his degrees in 1995, but Penn actually didn't
officially award him the dual Bachelor of Arts
in Physics and Bachelor of Science in Economics
until 1997. And he helped pay for tuition by
co -hosting massive Ticketed house parties. Which
shows that blending risk -taking, public engagement,
and generating capital was a habit formed very,
very early on. And this dual specialization physics,
so the hardware of the universe and economics,
the software of money, is arguably the defining
combination for his entire career. I think so.
It led directly to his first entrepreneurial
boom during the internet gold rush of the mid
-1990s. He attempted to get a job at Netscape.
Which was the hottest thing in tech at the time.
The hottest thing. But when he received no response,
he just decided to launch his own venture instead.
And that venture was Zip2. Zip2, co -founded
in 1995 with his brother Kimball and Greg Corey.
It was an ingenious, if basic, concept for the
time. So Web Software Marketing Internet City
guides maps, directions, yellow pages, listings,
and selling them directly to newspapers. Exactly.
To companies like the New York Times and the
Chicago Tribune. They saw that print media needed
an immediate digital presence. The anecdotes
from that era really solidify the image of extreme,
near -obsessive dedication. Oh, absolutely. Musk
claimed he worked relentlessly, often sleeping
on the office couch. and intensely coding seven
days a week, sometimes straight through the night,
a singularity of focus. And there's that fantastic
revealing detail about his early attempts to
impress potential investors. Right, the supercomputer.
To overcome the skepticism that two young men
could run a major technology operation, he constructed
a large, elaborate plastic structure around a
standard computer. And theatrically presented
it as a small supercomputer powering Zip2's operations.
It speaks volumes. An early understanding that...
that the perception of powerful futuristic technology
is often as important as the technology itself
when you're raising capital. The vision ultimately
paid off handsomely. Compaq acquired Zip2 in
1999 for $307 million in cash. And Musk, who
is the second largest shareholder, walked away
with $22 million. Now, $22 million is a massive
sum for a 27 -year -old, but the sources emphasize
he didn't spend it on traditional luxuries. No,
he immediately funneled that capital into his
next, even more ambitious idea. X .com. X .com
was co -founded in 1999 and was radically ambitious.
It was positioned as one of the very first federally
insured online banks aiming to offer a one -stop
shop for all financial needs banking, investment,
and payment services. And it grew fast. Incredibly
fast. It amassed over 200 ,000 customers in its
early months. And this aggressive expansion immediately
brought it into direct, destructive competition
with a company called Confinity. Which ran the
popular PayPal payment service. Precisely. So
they decided to merge to avoid cannibalizing
each other. But even within the merged entity,
internal conflict was constant. And this foreshadowed
later ideological battles. It really did. Musk,
as CEO, favored building the platform on Microsoft
software, which was the deeply unpopular choice
with the engineering team, who favored the stability
and scalability of Unix. And that ideological
rift led to a major clash. It did. Peter Thiel.
a major player in Confinity, temporarily resigned
over the technical direction, and eventually
the board staged a coup and ousted Musk, installing
Thiel as CEO in 2000. So even this early on,
we see the pattern. A relentless, often successful
focus on the big idea, but a willingness to alienate
key talent over technical or ideological stubbornness.
It's a recurring theme. But despite the internal
drama and being replaced twice, Musk remained
the largest single shareholder. And that paid
off immensely when eBay acquired PayPal in 2002
for $1 .5 billion. He received $175 .8 million
for his 11 .72 % stake. This fortune truly launched
the next phase of his career. And it was used
in a way few fortunes ever are. And there's a
fascinating footnote here. Years later, he repurchased
the x .com domain name for an undisclosed amount,
just citing its sentimental value. That small,
seemingly insignificant action perfectly foreshadowed
his later multi -billion dollar commitment to
rebrand Twitter as XCorp. The letter X and the
concept of a single encompassing platform clearly
holds deep, enduring significance for him. OK,
so the moment he received that PayPal money,
the transition was instantaneous and breathtakingly
radical. It really was. The money was immediately
earmarked not for retirement, but for endeavors
with civilizational scale. The vision immediately
shifted from digital finance to space exploration
and environmental sustainability. This is where
the world starts seeing the true engineering
driven Musk. Right. He founded SpaceX in 2002
with $100 million of his $175 million fortune.
And the founding came after two unsuccessful
trips to Moscow, where he literally attempted
to buy refurbished intercontinental ballistic
missiles ICBMs to launch a conceptual Mars plant
project. When he realized that buying old Russian
rockets was prohibitively expensive, he decided
to just build his own. With the goal of creating
fundamentally affordable, reusable rockets. The
audacity of that move, stepping into a capital
intensive sector dominated by governments and
giants like Boeing and Lockheed. It just can't
be overstated. He was essentially betting the
vast majority of his personal fortune on overcoming
a major global engineering challenge and that
financial risk. nearly destroy them. The path
was brutal. Absolutely. SpaceX suffered three
consecutive initial launch failures, starting
with the Falcon 1 in 2006. The sources described
the mood during that period as existential dread.
They were almost out of money. Completely. He's
quoted as saying that the fourth launch, which
was essentially financed with the last dollar
he had access to, was the all -or -nothing moment.
Thankfully, that fourth launch in 2008 succeeded
in reaching orbit. And this breakthrough was
immediately recognized. NASA, seeing the potential
and the lower cost structure, awarded SpaceX
a crucial $1 .6 billion commercial resupply services
contract. Which provided the institutional validation
and cash flow necessary to secure their survival.
But the true innovation wasn't just reaching
orbit. It was reusability. SpaceX fundamentally
transformed space exploration by commercializing
reusable rockets. The big milestone was in 2015.
Exactly. When they successfully landed the first
stage of a Falcon 9 on a land platform, eventually
perfecting recovery on those ocean -based autonomous
drone ships. And that drastically reduces the
cost of launching payloads, changing the economics
of space forever. The technological milestones
came fast and furious after that. The Dragon
spacecraft? docked with the ISS in 2012, a commercial
first. Their first crewed flight in 2020. And
the ambition just continues to escalate. They
are developing the Starship vehicle, a fully
reusable transport system intended to replace
the current fleet. With the stated goal of eventually
ferrying humans to Mars. And their institutional
relationship with NASA remains critical. In 2024,
NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million contract
for a unique and complex task. Which is to deorbit
the International Space Station. Exactly. To
ensure the controlled deorbiting of the ISS at
the end of its operational life, it shows how
integral SpaceX is now to the future and the
retirement of global space infrastructure. And
as we touched on earlier, Starlink is the most
visible and perhaps most geopolitically impactful
commercial byproduct of SpaceX's launch dominance.
Right. Since 2015, they've been building that
massive low Earth orbit satellite constellation
to provide global Internet access. Especially
in remote or underserved areas. Let's revisit
that statistic because it's just so critical.
The 65 % number. Over 7 ,600 operational Starlink
satellites as of May 2025. This means Starlink
alone. accounts for 65 % of all active satellites
orbiting Earth. The scale is staggering. And
it was achieved so quickly, requiring an estimated
$10 billion in capital just for the initial deployment
phase up to 2020. This system is a critical global
utility, often operating with minimal government
oversight. And this is where that technology
intersects acutely with global conflict and geopolitics.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Musk
provided free Starlink service. which proved
vital for military communications, drone operations,
and maintaining civilian connectivity. At a significant
cost to SpaceX. An estimated $400 million yearly.
Yet the provision of the service came with intense
geopolitical friction. It did. Musk drew criticism
from several governments for refusing requests
to block access to Russian state media via Starlink.
And even more controversially, in 2023, he denied
a direct request from the Ukrainian military
to activate Starlink service over Crimea, which
Ukraine intended to use to aid a long range drone
attack against the Russian Black Sea Navy fleet.
And his reasoning. He explicitly cited fears
that such an action involving his infrastructure
and a direct military strike against Russia could
trigger a nuclear response. This single decision
highlights the unique non -state position he
holds. Absolutely. A private citizen determining
the boundaries of. military engagement based
on the control of essential dual -use infrastructure.
That level of power is unprecedented for a single
individual. Okay, let's transition to Tesla,
the other titan that fuels this entire ecosystem.
Right. Although the company was incorporated
in 2003, Musk became heavily involved early on.
He provided a massive $6 .35 million investment
into the Series A round in 2004. Which instantly
made him the majority shareholder and chairman.
He officially became the CEO and product architect
in 2008, and following a 2009 lawsuit settlement,
was later designated a co -founder. And Tesla
didn't just introduce an electric car, it fundamentally
redefined the EV market. It began with the Roadster
in 2008. Notable for being the first mass -produced
all -electric vehicle using readily available
lithium -ion battery cells. That was followed
by the Model S, Model X, the affordable Model
3, and the Model Y. And the Model Y achieved
something remarkable in 2023. A truly remarkable
feat. It became the world's best -selling vehicle
overall, surpassing decades of dominance by combustion
engine vehicles. And the product roadmap continues
aggressively with the launch of the distinctive
Cybertruck in 2023. The financial trajectory
is simply stunning. Tesla became the most valuable
carmaker globally in 2020, joined the S &P 500
later that year, and in 2021 reached a $1 trillion
market capitalization. Becoming only the sixth
U .S. company ever to do so at the time. This
massive valuation is the engine that drives his
personal wealth and, by extension, the capital
backing for all his other ventures. But this
period of soaring success was frequently punctuated
by legal challenges tied to his public conduct.
The funding secured tweet? The most notable one,
yes. In 2018, he had to step down as chairman
for three years as part of an SEC settlement.
Stemming from his infamous and legally problematic
tweet claiming he had funding secured to potentially
take the company private at $420 a share. The
SEC sued him for securities fraud, arguing it
misled investors. And while the civil case resulted
in that settlement, a related shareholder lawsuit
against him was later dropped in 2023. True.
But the controversy itself, the direct influence
of his personal social media on massive market
movements, remained a defining feature of his
leadership. We can't discuss the automotive segment
without mentioning SolarCity. No, which was eventually
merged into Tesla Energy. Musk provided the initial
concept for SolarCity, which was founded by his
cousins in 2006. By 2013, it was the second largest
solar provider in the U .S. But the sources indicate
the acquisition of SolarCity by Tesla in 2016
for $2 billion was extremely controversial. Because
SolarCity was facing severe liquidity issues
at the time. Exactly. Leading shareholder groups
to sue, alleging the purchase was solely for
Musk's benefit at Tesla's expense due to the
deep financial connection he had with both companies.
The Tesla directors eventually settled that lawsuit
in 2020. Making Musk the sole defendant in the
subsequent trial. He argued that the acquisition
was strategically necessary for Tesla to achieve
a vertically integrated sustainable energy ecosystem.
And the court ultimately ruled in his favor in
2022. It did. So if we connect this entire segment
from the PayPal exit money, the near death of
SpaceX, the SEC settlement, and the controversial
SolarCity rescue to the bigger picture, a clear
pattern emerges. Absolutely. The entire arc demonstrates
a consistent high stakes business strategy. He
uses initial capital like that hundred seventy
five million from PayPal to found multiple capital
intensive existential risk ventures simultaneously.
And then he deliberately interlocks the management
and often the finances of those companies. Right.
Centralizing control. This allows him to leverage
the success of one, like the soaring stock of
Tesla, to fund, bail out, or acquire another,
ensuring that control over the entire complex
ecosystem remains firmly in his hands. He's not
just a CEO. No, he's a capital orchestrator operating
on a massive, massive scale. It's that pattern
of applying engineering logic to, well, to impossible
problems that leads us directly from reusable
rockets to his next fixation, the human brain
and urban traffic. Yeah, now we move. into the
projects that feel, frankly, like pure science
fiction. The diverging ventures that represent
Musk's attempt to push human boundaries and solve
what he sees as fundamental civilizational impediments.
Let's start with Neuralink. Neuralink, co -founded
in 2016 with an explicit, almost unbelievable
goal to integrate the human brain with artificial
intelligence through embedded, high bandwidth
brain machine interfaces. And the ideas were
twofold. Right. Radical enhancement. like greatly
improving memory or cognitive function, and therapeutic
applications, like treating severe neurological
conditions or restoring function lost due to
spinal cord injuries. He personally invested
$100 million into the concept. And this technology
is moving at a breakneck pace. Incredibly fast.
In 2021, they demonstrated a macaque monkey successfully
playing the video game Pong purely via an internal
Neuralink implant. Showing the device could successfully
decode complex motor intentions into digital
action. And by September 2023, the FDA approved
Neuralink to initiate six -year human trials,
which is the ultimate validation that the technology
was safe enough for initial exploration in people.
However, Neuralink has been dogged by serious
ethical controversies. Yes, regarding animal
welfare. Their animal trials, particularly involving
macaques, led to claims of animal cruelty and
accusations that the company violated the Animal
Welfare Act. Which culminated in a federal probe
launched in 2022. And the sources indicate the
core problem was the pressure from Musk himself
to accelerate development. Employees complained
that the demand for speed led to botched experiments
and unnecessary animal deaths. Essentially prioritizing
rapid iteration over standard biological safety
protocols. It's a recurring theme. The engineering
imperative for speed often seems to clash with
necessary regulatory or ethical caution. Meanwhile,
back on Earth, we have his solution for ground
-based congestion, the Boring Company. Founded
in 2017, the concept was straightforward, borrowing
from his background in physical engineering.
Construct narrow tunnels for specialized, high
-occupancy vehicles capable of traveling up to
150 miles per hour, thus circumventing debilitating
surface traffic. They started construction quickly.
Very quickly, often leveraging existing company
property to bypass complex permitting processes.
Early in 2017, they built a test trench on the
premises of SpaceX's offices in Hawthorne, California.
Which notably required no initial permits due
to its location on private property. But the
reality often failed to match the futuristic
hype. The initial debut of the L .A. tunnel in
2018 received sharp criticism from journalists.
Right. They were invited to test it. And they
reported it was a jarring, rough ride at speeds
far below the promised 150 miles per hour. The
initial excitement was quickly tempered by the
realization that drilling tunnels for cars one
by one was far more complex and expensive than
initial estimates suggested. Consequently, two
major, highly ambitious projects were later canceled.
One in Chicago and another in West Los Angeles
due to feasibility issues or community pushback.
The most successful operational project to date
is the small loop constructed beneath the Las
Vegas Convention Center. Completed in 2021, yes.
And local officials have approved subsequent
expansions there. But while it's a working project,
critics point out it functions more like a high
-speed underground shuttle service than a revolutionary
city -spanning transportation solution. We can't
forget Hyperloop. Although that started as more
of an influential idea than a company he actively
ran. Announced in 2013, this was a high -speed
backtrain concept intended to use reduced pressure
tubes to connect distant cities. Initially proposed
for the greater Los Angeles and San Francisco
Bay Area. Musk estimated the cost for that route
at a mere $6 billion, claiming it would be drastically
cheaper than high -speed rail. And importantly,
he open -sourced the design. Right, and encouraged
others to innovate on it, running competitions
to spur development. While he does not run the
resulting companies, the technology remains an
influential idea he planted, showcasing his role
as a technological provocateur. We shift now
to what has perhaps generated the most friction
and controversy globally. His acquisition of
Twitter, now XCorp, and his aggressive deep dive
into generative AI culminating in the creation
of Grokopedia. This is the era where his technology
ventures directly intersect with public discourse,
political power and the definition of truth itself.
The acquisition of Twitter began with high drama
playing out publicly on the very platform he
sought to control. It did. In early 2022, Musk
built up a 9 .2 % stake, making him the largest
shareholder. After initially agreeing to join
the board and then backing out, he made a hostile
$43 billion offer, eventually acquiring the company
in October 2022 for approximately $44 billion.
Immediately upon closing the deal, the changes
were seismic, swift and brutal. Oh, yeah. He
famously fired several top executives on day
one and quickly installed himself as CEO before
later transitioning to executive chairman and
CTO. He instituted massive large scale staff
layoffs, reducing the company workforce dramatically.
The structural changes were followed by profound
policy changes. He instituted the highly controversial
paid blue check subscription model. essentially
decoupling verification from identity and attaching
it to payment. Furthermore, he explicitly lessened
content moderation standards. Which led to reports
of a measurable increase in hate speech, misinformation,
and politically charged content on the platform.
The platform quickly became a central tool for
his business messaging, his personal communication,
and his political advocacy. And here we see the
direct application of his centralized control
against critics and journalists. He faced accusations
of shadow banning or temporarily suspending the
accounts of journalists from major outlets like
The New York Times and CNN. And these journalists
were reporting on an incident involving the highly
followed ElonJet tracker account, which provided
publicly available location data on his private
jet. Musk banned the tracker and the reporters
covering the story. Claiming that doxing rules
apply. even when the information being reported
was newsworthy and legally obtained. This pattern
highlights the readiness to use institutional
control of X to directly confront personal criticism
or political opposition. His involvement in artificial
intelligence follows a similar, complex, and
highly ideological trajectory. It does. He co
-founded OpenAI in 2015, pledging a substantial
$1 billion, though only giving $50 million initially,
to develop safe... Beneficial Artificial General
Intelligence, or AGI. Pause there for a moment.
AGI is the critical term. It is. This is distinct
from narrow AI, which is what we largely use
today. Systems specialize for tasks like image
recognition or writing text. AGI, or artificial
general intelligence, is theorized to be an AI
that can understand, learn, and apply its intelligence
to solve any problem a human being can. Often
with vastly greater speed and scale. Exactly.
And Musk views the creation of AGI as an existential
threat to humanity. if not properly controlled
and aligned. So given that existential view,
it's highly significant that he left the OpenAI
board in 2018. Right, due to deep discontent
with the organization's direction, particularly
its pivot toward commercialization and its perceived
distance from the original mission of creating
public benefit, safe AGI. That discontent led
him to launch XAI in 2023. Specifically to compete
with existing offerings, like OpenAI's ChachiPT.
He immediately positioned XAI as a major rival
in the generative AI space, successfully poaching
leading engineers from rivals like Google and
OpenAI itself. But the most recent and relevant
development hitting the news in October 2025
is Grokipedia. Launched by XAI, Musk promoted
it as an AI -generated online encyclopedia, intended
as a revolutionary, fast -updating alternative
to established platforms like Wikipedia. The
controversy here is immediate, profound, and
goes right to the heart of how knowledge is consumed.
It does. Media coverage and extensive academic
analysis quickly characterized Drokopedia as
frequently reusing established Wikipedia content,
as is often the case with large language models.
But critically, Framing contested political and
social topics to align specifically with Musk's
known ideological views and broader right -wing
narratives. Critics reported rampant factual
errors within the AI -generated entries. And
more disturbingly, analysis revealed that the
platform had in some instances cited highly unreliable
and toxic sources. Specifically mentioning the
use of the conspiracy site InfoWars. And content
pulled directly from the neo -Nazi forum Stormfront.
This is a critical example. He is using his financial
and technological resources to build a platform
that doesn't just spread his ideas, but actively
shapes the fundamental infrastructure of facts
itself. Right. If the source of common knowledge
is tied to an AI trained on specific ideological
leanings and unreliable sources, the implications
for public literacy and political polarization
are enormous. That intersection of technology
and ideology brings us directly to his political
involvement, which has shifted dramatically over
the past few years. And this provides the crucial
context for his current level of global influence.
Historically, Musk described himself as a political
moderate. He often supported Democrats voting
for Obama in 2008 and 2012, Clinton in 2016 and
even Biden in 2020. But the pivot was sharp,
decisive and very public, catalyzed largely by
his discomfort. with what he perceived as excessive
regulation and the cultural direction of the
Democratic Party. He voted Republican for the
first time in the 2022 midterms. And by 2024,
his support for Donald Trump was vocal and absolute.
He appeared on stage at multiple rallies and
became the largest individual donor in that election
cycle, solidifying his political identity as
explicitly right wing and libertarian. His influence
isn't contained within the U .S. either. No,
he's actively supported international. far -right
figures and causes, including promoting the Alternative
for Germany party and supporting Nigel Farage's
reform UK, often via X. This foreign involvement
has led to intense criticism from major European
leaders. Specifically, French President Emmanuel
Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz publicly
decried his meddling in European politics, expressing
concern over a powerful non -European figure
using a global communication platform to influence
national elections and political stability. Support
paid almost immediate dividends, leading to his
direct appointment in the second Trump administration.
From January to May 2025, Musk served as senior
advisor to the president and was a de facto head
of the newly created and highly controversial
Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The core mission of DOGE, which emerged directly
from Musk's longstanding advocacy for streamlining
government, was radical. He advocated for massive
federal budget cuts, the consolidation of existing
agencies, and the explicit elimination of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB.
Which he viewed as unnecessary government overreach.
Musk even suggested that the final stage of DOGE's
successful operation would be deleting itself.
The impact of this brief governmental role was
quickly controversial, drawing intense public
backlash. The sources document criticism over
the secrecy surrounding DOGE's operations and
the treatment of federal employees, including
reports that Musk demanded employees document
their daily work in a single email or face immediate
termination. Which led to sweeping mass layoffs
across various agencies. But the most profound
and chilling impact stems from cuts made specifically
to foreign aid programs under his advisement.
We have to report this data. to point carefully
and impartially. We do. Modeling conducted by
Boston University, cited widely by NGOs and media
organizations, estimated that his mandated budget
cuts to USAID resulted in staggering casualties.
Specifically, 400 ,000 child and 200 ,000 adult
deaths by November 2025. Due to the abrupt elimination
of critical aid infrastructure, the public outcry
was immediate and fierce. Bill Gates publicly
accused Musk of killing the world's poorest children
as a result of these documented policy decisions.
Bringing the consequence of his ideological approach
to government efficiency into sharp, tragic focus.
Adding to the political controversy was the highly
visible gesture made at Trump's second inauguration.
During his speech, Musk made a specific gesture.
thumping his right hand over his heart, then
extending his right arm out with his palm down
and fingers together. And this action was widely
interpreted, particularly in Germany, where historical
fascist salutes are illegal as a Nazi or fascist
Roman salute. The reaction was severe across
Europe. Multiple political parties demanded he
be banned from entering their countries. While
American public opinion was sharply divided along
partisan lines, and the Anti -Defamation League
stated the gesture itself was not a classic Nazi
salute. Other Jewish organizations disagreed,
seeing it as highly suggestive. Musk, for his
part, dismissed the entire condemnation as dirty
tricks intended to slander him. However, the
volatile alliance with Trump fractured quickly
after Musk's departure from DOGE on May 28, 2025.
He immediately pivoted to harsh criticism of
the administration's economic policy, specifically
Trump's new Big Beautiful Bill, calling it a
disgusting abomination over its massive projected
deficit provisions. The feud escalated rapidly,
playing out for the entire global public on X.
Musk alleged directly that Trump had ties to
the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. prompting
an immediate and furious response from Trump
on Truth Social. Trump labeled must crazy. And
publicly threatened to use government power to
cut his ongoing federal contracts, including
those with SpaceX. Musk later apologized for
the tweets, admitting they went too far. But
the brief, intensely volatile partnership had
already highlighted the intense, personal and
sometimes vindictive nature of modern political
influence. No profile of Elon Musk is complete
without examining the intensely scrutinized personal
dimensions. His health, family and the mechanisms
of his extraordinary wealth. These facets often
inform his public persona and policy decisions.
Starting with health and personality, Musk publicly
stated during a Saturday Night Live monologue
in 2021 that he has Asperger's syndrome. He later
elaborated on the experience, describing difficulty
with social cues and a tendency to take things
very literally, suggesting this neurodivergence
contributes to both his relentless focus and
sometimes jarring public communication style.
There have also been numerous high -profile media
investigations into his reported recreational
and prescription drug use. While he publicly
stated he uses doctor -prescribed ketamine for
occasional depression and suggested investors
should actually want him to continue taking it
if it helps his productivity media reports allege
a broader overuse of ketamine, as well as LSD,
cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy. These reports
included a specific, shocking claim. that former
President Trump referred to him privately as
a big -time drug addict, highlighting the extreme
scrutiny and concerns surrounding his habits,
particularly given his access to massive government
contracts and classified security information
via SpaceX. His competitive habits extend even
to video gaming, which he says provides a restoring
effect. However, he publicly admitted to practicing
account boosting, which is essentially cheating
by hiring outside services to play on his account
and achieve top player rankings. He defended
this action, claiming that all top accounts do
it, and he had to as well to remain competitive.
Demonstrating a utilitarian approach to winning
that extends into all areas of his life. He also
routinely wades into the culture wars, most recently
criticizing the upcoming video game Assassin's
Creed Shadows for what he deemed woke content,
claiming that DEI kills art. This demonstrates
his ongoing strategy of leveraging his massive
X platform to engage directly with polarizing
cultural debates. The focus on his private life
often centers on his family and his outspoken
pronatalist views. He frequently states that
population decline is the biggest threat to human
civilization, a belief reflected in his own large
family. He has fathered at least 14 children,
one deceased. And sources close to him suggest
the true number is much higher than publicly
known. Due to his use of IVF and surrogacy, yes.
With his first wife, author Justine Wilson, he
had six children, including the tragic loss of
their first son to sessize. They subsequently
used IVF for twins and triplets. The elder twin
from that marriage came out as a trans woman
and legally changed her name in 2022 to Vivian
Jenna Wilson. Notably, adopting her mother's
surname specifically to sever her association
with her father. This public rejection underscores
the deep, complex friction within his private
life. He shares three children with musician
Grimes, all with highly controversial and unconventional
names. XAA Shoe, Y, and Technomechanicus, which
generate constant media interest. The relationship
remains tumultuous with Grimes suing Musk in
2023 over parental rights and custody of XAA
Shoe. Adding significantly to this complex co
-parenting structure, Musk has four children
with Siobhan Zillis, an executive at Neuralink.
Twins born in 2021 and two more children born
via IVF surrogacy in 2024 and 2025. These relationships
underscore a proactive, intentional commitment
to increasing his progeny, often with women closely
connected to his business ventures. Finally,
we have the recent headlines regarding influencer
Ashley Sinclair, who claimed he was the father
of her son Romulus. Musk stated publicly that
he was unsure of the paternity, but admitted
to making a $2 .5 million payment to her, part
of which was structured as a loan, and pledged
ongoing annual support of $500 ,000. These many
relationships and financial arrangements just
demonstrate the incredible complexity and public
nature of his private decisions. Circling back
one last time before we started, let's talk about
the phenomenal wealth that makes all these enterprises
and complex arrangements possible. As we noted,
his estimated net worth as of December 2025 is
around $684 billion, derived primarily from his
controlling stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. He has
been the wealthiest person in the world since
2021. That phenomenal wealth growth continues
with the approval of that staggering $1 trillion
Tesla pay package in November 2025. It's an utterly
unprecedented sum tied to aggressive growth and
market capitalization goals over the next decade.
While previously challenged in court as unfair
to shareholders, it was ultimately approved,
cementing his financial future based on Tesla's
continued success. Musk often describes himself
as cash poor, despite these valuations, as the
majority of his wealth is illiquid, tied up in
company stock. The use of this wealth via the
Musk Foundation, established in 2001, also generates
significant controversy. While its stated focus
is high -minded space, renewable energy, and
safe artificial intelligence, it has been criticized
for maintaining a notably low payout ratio compared
to the size of its assets and for making what
critics call self -serving donations. Notably,
in its early years, it diverted nearly half of
its $25 million in initial donations to his own
company, OpenAI. And the most famous philanthropic
controversy occurred in 2021. After World Food
Program director David Beasley challenged Musk
to demonstrate how $6 billion could solve specific
aspects of world hunger, the WFP drafted a detailed
plan for its use. Musk subsequently diverted
the $6 billion pledged funds not to the WFP but
directly into his own foundation instead. This
highlighted the intense scrutiny and conflicting
views surrounding his charitable endeavors versus
his business and personal imperatives. So after
charting this immense, complex, and often turbulent
career path from the $500 game sale to the $1
trillion valuation, what does this all mean for
you, the listener? The learner now has a clear
raid map through the intertwined structure of
Musk's empire. The core insight is that Musk's
influence is unique because he doesn't just dominate
traditionally commercial sectors like space,
autos, and finance. He is now a systemic force
who actively shapes global political narratives,
influences government policy directly through
appointments like DOGE, and controls the information
infrastructure through platforms like X and Grokopedia.
He leverages his personal persona, his ideological
commitment and his vast interlocking wealth to
bypass or even undermine traditional institutional
checks and balances in media, government and
finance. His companies function less like traditional
corporations and more like highly capitalized
geopolitical missions. That brings us to our
final provocative thought for you to consider.
Given the immense power concentrated in one politically
engaged individual at the intersection of cutting
-edge technology, AI, neurotech, and global political
influence, does the rise of platforms like Rokopedia
fundamentally change how knowledge and truth
are defined and accessed for the global public?
And what does it mean when the ultimate source
of that knowledge is also the world's most politically
motivated and financially dominant private individual?
We'll leave that one with you.