Musk Had a "Bright Idea"

Idiot: A person who repeats the same task over and over again, expecting different results.

Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash

By far the most entertaining part of this year has been watching Musk repeatedly shoot himself in the foot. It’s like watching someone run headfirst into a brick wall, act stunned when it hurts, and then, out of frustration, keep running into the same brick wall ad nauseam. Well, it must be the drugs, or Elon has got one hell of a concussion, because he is doing it yet again, except this time he’s doing it with rocket-powered roller skates (though sadly, not literally). Yep, even after the public humiliation of DOGE, the widespread animosity towards Tesla and the company-destroying boycotts, Musk has decided to start his own political party… Somehow I don’t think that was the move, Mr. Musk.

Let’s not forget why Musk threw his hat into the political ring. To save his arse. Every single one of his companies was under serious federal investigations, from Starship explosions to self-driving deaths, wire fraud, systematic racism, anti-union actions, anti-competitive actions, financial breaches, and even environmental damage. There was a genuine possibility that Musk could have gone to prison for a substantial amount of time if Kamala had won.

What’s more, the FAA’s and the NHTSA’s safety regulations for rocket launches and self-driving cars were “getting in the way” of Musk delivering on the promises he dished out to investors and “stifling progress”. He had to deregulate these industries to pretend these flawed projects were making progress and appease his investors. Now that these industries have been deregulated, Starship is launching regularly, and Tesla Robotaxis are being rolled out, we can see why he needed these regulations torn down in the first place; these projects are wildly dangerous, half-baked ideas (read more here and here).

It’s no exaggeration to say that both SpaceX and Tesla could collapse if investor interest in Starship or FSD disappears. I can’t emphasise this enough: Musk had no option but to throw his hat into the world of politics, as it was the only way for him to smooth over his catastrophic mistakes.

To say that is a major conflict of interest is putting it lightly.

That alone would be enough to make founding his own political party a non-starter, but then you add in the context of DOGE.

Musk is, and always has been, a cyber-libertarian neo-fascist. He, along with his white supremacist PayPal mafia friends, effectively wants to tear down the government and replace it with a shitty AI that only serves digital oligarchs.

That was obviously what DOGE was created for. It hasn’t saved any money or discovered any fraud — it has enabled widespread corruption. It has enabled the illegal brutalisation of minorities and the deprivation of people’s rights. It has acted to sabotage and frame government agencies that defend the public against oligarchy and corporate abuse. DOGE in action has nothing to do with efficiency; it is pure subversion, a coup d’état invited in by the president. It is undermining and destroying the values and principles of the US government, overthrowing the established social order and structures of democratic power in an explicit attempt to make the US a white supremacist, fascist, plutocratic, authoritarian state.

The ‘Hands Off’ protests demonstrated that US citizens are aware of this. They understand Musk’s political agenda and reject it. Polls vary, but it appears that between 60% and over 70% of voters strongly disapprove of DOGE, and that number is only going to rise. The recent Texas flooding death toll has surpassed 100 at the time of writing, an unprecedented number in the modern era. Many officials blame DOGE’s devastating cuts to the National Weather Service, which caused forecasts to be late and inaccurate, meaning many people were unaware of the impending threat and couldn’t take protective measures. DOGE made similar cuts to every major public service crucial for people’s safety; as such, over the coming months and years, thousands more will die because of Musk’s actions. That is going to leave a sour taste in the mouths of even the most die-hard right-wingers.

So, who exactly would vote for this party? And which politicians would join it? It’s highly compromised with profound conflicts of interest, and thanks to Musk’s DOGE baggage, it will be wildly unpopular. It’s simply a non-starter.

Okay, but let’s take a moment to pretend for the rabid Musk fans that, actually, the party makes total sense and will be wildly popular. Well, even then, it’s still insane!

The Tesla boycott, which specifically protested Musk’s neo-fascist political actions, has affected Tesla incredibly hard. Global sales have declined by 13%, and sales in key markets have decreased by more than 50%, while the EV market has expanded by over 30% in many of these markets. This is all despite Tesla’s heavy investment in increasing production capacity. Consequently, their operating margin has dropped from over 15% to just 2.1%. In fact, the only thing stopping Tesla from operating at a multi-billion-dollar loss is the EV tax credit and carbon credit, both of which will be eliminated with the Big Beautiful Bill.

When Musk stepped back from DOGE and pledged to return to work at Tesla, not only did sales increase in several markets, but the stock price also rose, and investors praised the decision. You’d think that would be an obvious sign to stay the hell away from politics, but no. Following Musk’s announcement that he would form his own party, $76 billion was wiped from Tesla’s value as investors panicked, fearing even more backlash that could obliterate the company.

So, Musk starting his own political party is a death sentence for Tesla.

Yeah, this might top Musk’s exceedingly long list of exceptionally bad ideas.

But it’s a shame, because the US does need a new party. The Democratic Party, just like my home country’s Labour Party, no longer represents the left or even the centre. Back in the ’90s, both parties morphed into conservatism dressed up as the left, in response to the industrialisation of politics. Naturally, for 30 years, the left has simply not had a seat at the table in either country, and both countries have swung wildly to the right, harming their economies, global politics, and society.

That is, despite a huge appetite for socialist policies. The popularity of Mamdani and AOC is a testament to that fact. But operating within these compromised establishments severely limits these left-wing politicians. Hell, Mamdani’s most prominent critics are from his own party, just as it was with Corbyn. How can they make progress on serious matters, like stopping the genocide in Gaza or protecting workers from predatory billionaires, if the party they operate within is too far right to even allow such conversations? Corbyn and the brilliant Sultana have now split from Labour to start their own uncompromised left party to get rid of these moronic shackles. The Mamdanis, AOCs, and Sanders should think about doing the same, as a party centred around their ideals and ethics is what America needs, not one that serves a ket-head billionaire.

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Sources: The Guardian, Tech Dirt, Will Lockett, Machrotrends, Statista, BBC