The $300 Million He Spent On Electing Republicans Is Paying Off Bigly
Musk is this year’s designated villain, far more so than Taylor Swift, who was shocked when she was boo-ed when she appeared on the Jumbotron at the Super Bowl. It’s tough for public figures when mass hatred is directed towards them. Musk has his sycophants to lean on— and his billions of dollars. But it still must feel psychologically jarring. Or does it? Does he revel in it? I mean attention is attention, negative or positive.
He’s always thrived on spectacle, whether it’s launching rockets, baiting regulators, or stirring up controversy online. Unlike Swift— who, despite her immense fame, still seems to care deeply about public perception— Musk operates with the bravado of someone who has long since abandoned the need for approval from the mainstream. He leans into the chaos, often amplifying it with reckless tweets and contrarian posturing. But is that just a carefully curated persona? Even the most self-assured egos can be wounded by sustained public rejection, and Musk, for all his bluster, has shown flashes of insecurity— whether it’s his erratic behavior on social media, his clashes with journalists, his heavy drug use, or his need to frame himself as a perpetual underdog against some imagined establishment. At the same time, he’s built an empire that insulates him from consequences in ways most public figures can only dream of. He isn’t just a celebrity; he controls powerful companies and platforms that shape public discourse. That makes his villain arc different from Swift’s brief Super Bowl moment— she’s at the mercy of the crowd, while Musk still holds a megaphone loud enough to drown out the boos. The question is whether he truly enjoys the antagonism or whether, beneath it all, he craves the kind of adulation he once had before his public persona became a parody of itself.
Like Señor T’s, his behavior aligns with several psychological tendencies that often manifest in powerful figures who see themselves as both indispensable and persecuted. Grandiosity, a hallmark of narcissistic traits, can create a psychological buffer against criticism— if he genuinely believes he is the singular genius pushing humanity forward, then detractors become irrelevant or even proof of his own importance. But grandiosity can also breed paranoia, a condition common among those who reach extreme levels of wealth and influence. His increasing tendency to frame criticism as part of a coordinated attack— whether by the media, the "woke mind virus," or regulatory agencies— suggests a worldview in which he is both the protagonist and the victim. At the same time, his erratic social media activity and inability to resist engaging with critics could point to impulsivity linked to ADHD, stimulant use, or even a deep-seated insecurity masked by bravado. Figures like Musk often develop a “reactance” response— pushing back even harder when they feel their power or freedom is being challenged. This could explain why, rather than disengaging from controversy, he escalates it, sometimes in ways that seem self-destructive. Whether he is truly immune to the psychological toll of being widely despised— or if his public persona is a shield for more fragile emotions— is a question that may only become clearer as his legacy starts to solidify.
The self-medication adds another psychological layer to how he processes public perception. Heavy use of ketamine creates a dissociative buffer between himself and reality, making it easier to shrug off criticism or, conversely, spiral into paranoia. Stimulants, which he has also been linked to, can heighten grandiosity and impulsivity, reinforcing his erratic public behavior. While some of his defenders frame his drug use as a form of neurodivergent self-regulation, there’s a fine line between managing one's mental state and numbing oneself to inconvenient emotions like shame, doubt, or loneliness. If Musk truly revels in public antagonism, it may be because, in his altered state, he’s detached from the emotional consequences of it— or, more troublingly, because he’s chasing the high of chaos itself.
Yesterday, Eric Lipton and Kirsten Grind reported that how Musk’s pocketbook has been benefitting from the close Trump relationship he bought. It’s not random that he’s taken time off from his job running his companies to dismantle federal agencies across the government. He and Trump have “fired top officials and pushed out career employees. Many of them were leading investigations, enforcement matters or lawsuits pending against Musk’s companies. Musk has also reaped the benefit of resignations by Biden-era regulators that flipped control of major regulatory agencies, leaving more sympathetic Republican appointees overseeing those lawsuits. At least 11 federal agencies that have been affected by those moves have more than 32 continuing investigations, pending complaints or enforcement actions into Musk’s six companies.”
The events of the past few weeks have thrown into question the progress and outcomes of many of those pending investigations into his companies.
The inquiries include the Federal Aviation Administration’s fines of SpaceX for safety violations and a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit pressing Musk to pay the federal government perhaps as much as $150 million, accusing him of having violated federal securities law.
On its own, the National Labor Relations Board, an independent watchdog agency for workers’ rights, has 24 investigations into Musk’s companies, according to the review by The Times.
Since January, Trump has fired three officials at that agency, including a board member, effectively stalling the board’s ability to rule on cases. Until Trump nominates new members, cases that need a ruling by the board cannot move forward, according to the agency.
Over at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a public database shows hundreds of complaints about Tesla, mostly concerning debt collection or loan problems. The agency has now effectively been put out of commission, at least temporarily, by the Trump administration, which has ordered its staff to put a hold on all investigations. The bureau also is an agency that would have regulated Musk’s new efforts to bring a payments service to Twitter.
“CFPB RIP,” Musk wrote in a social media post last week as the Trump administration moved to close down the bureau.
Musk not only has numerous contracts that are overseen by multiple government agencies— including space, media, financial securities and highway safety. He and his team also have an extraordinary position created by Trump that allows him to review the spending and staffing of every department in the executive branch through his cost-cutting initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency.
Traditional federal conflict of interest rules seem almost antiquated, if Musk is determined to be involved in specific decisions about agencies his companies do business with.
That is why Musk’s role is so concerning to former White House ethics lawyers in Democratic and Republican administrations alike.
…[T]he upheaval at federal agencies represents one of the first tests of a wide range of conflicts of interest Musk has brought to the White House, including 100 contracts with 17federal agencies… Musk has had a long and contentious relationship with regulators of his companies. He has called the S.E.C. ‘bastards,’ and SpaceX has sued the N.L.R.B., arguing it’s ‘unconstitutional’ after the agency had allegedly [ruled] that the company had mistreated and illegally fired some workers.
“If the rules are such that you can’t make progress, then you have to fight the rules,” Mr. Musk said in an authorized biography published in 2015.
Democrats in Congress, and outside lawyers who specialize in government contracting and ethics, have questioned Musk’s position, saying that they cannot identify a time in American history when a corporate executive with so many regulatory matters, as well as billions of dollars in federal contracts, has had such power over government operations.
“Musk’s dual roles— running a for-profit corporation while serving in public office— not only creates glaring conflicts of interest that pose grave risks for America’s most sacred institutions, but may also violate federal law,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who is the ranking member of a Senate investigations panel, wrote in a letter to Tesla’s general counsel and board chairman this month. Blumenthal sought answers as to how the company is dealing with the apparent conflicts.
Trump, speaking with reporters before he attended the Super Bowl on Sunday, said Musk is “not gaining anything” in the role. White House officials last week added that it is up to Musk to police his own actions.
“If Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts,” the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt [herself a criminal], said.
…On Monday, Trump fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency. The office had pending requests to investigate Musk based on allegations raised by Democrats in Congress last week that Musk’s role as a federal government official creates an unavoidable conflict of interest.
The letter, signed by 12 House Democrats, said: “The American people deserve assurances that no individual, regardless of stature, is permitted to influence policy for personal gain.”
I can't recall who said it, but the term "pure corruption" was recently used to describe what's going on. You've gone into great detail about some of it here. But to what end?
After mushrooming corruption among both parties since the bacchanal was begun by dumber than shits electing reagan running on the platform of NOT taxing the richest... I would call that droll understatement.
"we the people" have elected "pure corruption" for several decades now. Yet you seem surprised when it's all out in the open now? And that the billionaires we started creating in 1980 are doing exactly what any half moron would expect them to do?
Honestly, if we are this stupid, we deserve all of this.