I know people who are not on Twitter, now X, who still haven’t heard the story of how Elon Musk transformed from the darling of San Francisco’s rich hippies to one of Russia’s favorite Western oligarchs, following Donald Trump on that list. By now, he wants the world to know he’s supporting Donald Trump, but the reasons behind his shift from green hero to far-right spokesperson remain shrouded in secrecy and lies. This all happened during the COVID pandemic.
He says he has been radicalised to the right when “the woke mind virus took away his son”, referring to his transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson, previously Musk.
There is probably much more to the story behind Elon Musk’s sudden love and infatuation with far-right politics and it may also have to do with Russia and China. When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion, one of the reasons for doing so was that because, according to him, free speech was threatened by left-wing censorship on social-media platforms. Partially, this had to do with the censorship over fake information over Covid. These measures were meant to protect people’s lives in a time when states and governments executed emergency and radical measures to combat the pandemic. Elon Musk clashed with the authorities during this period for forcing him to close down his factories.
On free speech, Elon Musk didn’t keep his word. Instead of removing “censorship” he actually censored journalists, dissidents and activists on behalf of authoritarian governments including Turkey, India and Saudi Arabia. The shareholders of X.com include the Saudi Arabian kingdom (Kingdom Holding Company), Russian oligarchs with ties to President Putin, and some lesser known Chinese investors apart fom his regular US backers such as the Sequioa and Andreessen Horowitz funds, Bill Ackman and ARK.
Apart from being used as a censorship tool by authoritarian figures, one of the major changes Twitter went through under Elon Musk’s leadership is the rise of the far-right commentators on the social-media-platform which he promoted extensively himself. Some of these right-wing commentators like Ian Miles Cheong are on the payroll of the Russian government.
Other right-wing commentators propped up by Elon Musk include Mario Nawfal, Kim Dotcom, and even Tim Pool who was recently charged in court for recieving undeclared payments from the Russian government to spread Russian-government talking points.
There is wide consensus by those studying X.com’s content and usage that the platform has turned into a cesspool of Russian and Chinese propaganda. X.com has been weaponised as a tool for Russian propoganda and even active support for Donald Trump.
Elon Musk initially donated Starlink service to the Ukrainian government which it can use on the battlefield exclusively on Ukrainian held-territory (he disallowed its use for Crimea), however the costs for running it is currently being covered by the US government. There may very well be US government internal security issues that have not yet been made public about this arrangeemnt, but this part of the story doesn’t cover the fact that clearly, Elon Musk is supporting Donald Trump’s pitch for Ukraine to capitulate to Russia. Musk even shared a meme post which was drawn up by a Russian-government-sponsored propaganda campaign.
Elon Musk’s Tesla company that produces electric cars has been heavily propped up by green subsidies and electric-vehicle-incentives that were originally introduced by the Democrats. This was at a time when Elon Musk was the darling of rich environmentalists. Donald Trump is supposedly against these incentives and Elon Musk says he doesn’t care.
There is undoubtedly evident charecteristics of pathology with Elon Musk’s behaviour on X.com, but he surely has an economic plan tied to his politics and this probably includes Russia and China. Elon Musk had dreams of taking over the Chinese auto-market, which was once considered to be an infinitely ever-growing market thanks to the ever more growing Chinese middle-class. Today, Tesla’s plans for China are severed by China’s economic crisis, but this may also change. We’ve seen in practice how Chinese exports to the United States actually increased under Donald Trump’s Presidency, and Trump is in fact campaigning for better relations with Russia and China.
Elon Musk has also been talking a lot of politics when he visits China and he has so far been welcomed as a friend by the Communist Party of China. What’s so ironic in this is that Trump is campaigning on the promise of strengthenig the US manfuacturing industries, but Tesla’s sales are mostly growing only in China compared to the US. Ultimately, being friends with authoritarian governments helps Muks sell his electric vehicles.
Apart from his newly-found love for authoritarian regimes, Elon Musk seems to have fully embraced most of the worse characteristics of the right-wing grift. He supports fellow right-wingers who are accused of sexual abuse, embraces the revision of history about the Nazis and the Holocaust, and even wants to stop the flow of illegal immigration to the United States despite having been an illegal immigrant himself (by his own admission).
I’m sure I’m missing many pieces and aspects, but what stands out most to me is Elon Musk’s newfound friendship and admiration for authoritarian regimes. This aligns with Donald Trump’s vision of appeasement toward these regimes, and Musk’s use of Twitter (now X.com) seems to help Trump carry out this vision.
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