Elon Musk has been an irredeemable weirdo for years, but recently his absurdist rhetoric and cringe memelord persona has swung violently toward the political alt-right. In a recent (now deleted) tweet he wondered aloud why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris haven’t yet been assassinated. This man, particularly as head of SpaceX, is a major contractor for the U.S. government with billions of taxpayer dollars lining his coffers, paid out by NASA, the Department of Defense. His work with the National Reconnaissance Office helped deliver U.S. spy satellites to space. His work with Twitter and Tesla, particularly related to the international heads of state these companies regularly need to deal with, are eyebrow raising.
Given all of that, maybe it isn’t wise for a drug-addled fourteen-year-old in the body of the world’s wealthiest man to have access to U.S. state secrets.
If you have not yet read Wired’s call for Musk’s security clearance to be revoked, you owe it to yourself to go do that right now. This post gets into the intricacies of Musk’s dealings with the federal government, and what kinds of secrets he might know as a result. It also delves into the kinds of things he has done in recent months that justify his access to them being revoked.
The incident was the latest in a long line of increasingly incendiary political posts from Musk, whose substantial defense contracts with the US government may give him access to highly sensitive information even while he makes potential threats against the sitting commander in chief. And they point to the more pressing risk that Musk’s recent rhetoric has posed: the potential to inspire further political violence.
Sunday night’s Twitter “joke” has attracted the attention of the U.S. Secret Service, and it’s possible even the FBI has opened an investigation into Musk over the post. The White House has condemned Musk’s post in a statement, saying “Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible.”
The trend for Musk has been to dip his toes deeper into the pool of international politick. Musk himself banned SpaceX’s Starlink from enabling internet to the Crimean peninsula, which would have given Ukraine the ability to launch an attack on Russia. Reports indicate Musk has reached out to the Putin office in Russia, but Musk denies this. His connections to China through Tesla are undeniable, as the company has a factory in Shanghai. He personally owes billions to Saudi Arabia as the country financed his buyout of Twitter.
And don’t forget that this man packed with international conflicts of interest and bewildering politics is first in line for a job in the Donald Trump cabinet. He doesn’t deserve a security clearance, and he definitely does not belong in charge of any level of U.S. Government. The man is an absurd power tripping farce with levels of power that far outstrip his intelligence.
