Elon Musk’s Wild Week Raises Fears Over His Empire’s Future

It's been quite the week for Elon Musk.

It started with conflicting reports that he was - or was not - donating $47m a month to Donald Trump’s campaign. It continued with Tesla's disappointing second quarter earnings which revealed a 45 percent drop in profits compared to 2023—sending his net worth plummeting by $16bn. He then announced he was stalling investment in a Mexican plant until he sees if Trump, if elected, levies tariffs on Mexico.

On Tuesday he accused a ‘woke mind virus’ of killing his (estranged) transgender daughter. That same day Democrats accused him of restricting access to KamalaHQ on X, while a former Trump aide claimed his endorsement for Trump was a ‘kiss of death.’

By midweek the Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla’s profits crash would restrict Musk’s plans to pursue his AI dreams, and a former Clinton labor secretary called for consumers to boycott Musk companies in light of his (maybe) $47m campaign donation to Trump. And then he was spotted at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, the two having previously shared conversations about antisemitism (a topic that has proved enormously contentious for Musk since his X takeover) in a face-to-face meeting last year. While at the Capitol for the serious occasion he took time out to say, “I’ll fight [Mark] Zuckerberg any place, anytime, anywhere.” Then he posted a crying-with-laughter emoji on X below the video.

It was only Wednesday.

Any discussion of difficult weeks for Musk, or challenging times for his companies, should bear in mind that Tesla awarded him a 10-year pay package, worth $44.9 billion, in April. With Musk, nothing is straightforward.

But, increasingly, he is getting in his own way.

Over the last two years, especially since his takeover of X and his growing radicalization during the COVID pandemic, he has emerged as one of the country’s most divisive public figures. His transformation from erratic entrepreneurial nerd to far-right activist was characterized in a single tweet on X (then Twitter) in December 2022, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.”

As writer Charlie Warzel pointed out in The Atlantic, “In five words, Musk manages to mock transgender and nonbinary people, signal his disdain for public-health officials, and send up a flare to far-right shitposters and trolls.”

Musk now divides opinion much as Trump does. (Even as their relationship strengthens one wonders if this affair between two of the country’s most combustible public personalities—and largest egos—will endure. It likely won’t.)

Musk supporters, of whom there are many, point out that SpaceX has helped revolutionize, and revive, America's space industry. Starlink, his satellite internet service, now reaches 2 million customers in 60 countries, often in the most remote parts. And Tesla has helped pioneer investment in electric vehicles and forced legacy auto companies to follow suit.

But he hasn’t achieved this on his own. The Los Angeles Times calculated that his companies—Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and SolarCity—had received billions of dollars from government loans, contracts, tax credits, and subsidies: $4.9 billion in government support by 2015 alone.

With Musk, nothing is straightforward.

When he purchased Twitter he cast himself as a champion of free speech but earlier this year a PBS Frontline documentary revealed how he was happy to curtail speech in order to placate and woo advertisers back on to the platform—only to then abandon that position when they stayed away.

After being accused of promoting antisemitism on X, and of being an antisemite himself, Musk went to Poland earlier this year to visit the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. A laudable attempt to school himself—or an empty “apology tour” designed to woo back advertisers who had exited in droves after he endorsed an antisemitic post on X?

In the immediate aftermath of the exodus Musk addressed a New York Times business summit, and declared, “I don't want them to advertise. If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising money, go fuck yourself. Go. Fuck. Yourself.” Then he added, in a reference to Disney CEO Bob Iger, “Hey Bob.”

But, money talks. And he did want them to advertise. Cue “penitence tour,” during which, Musk said, “it hits you much more in the heart when you see it in person.”

But only after it hits you in the pocket.

Musk has always got in his own way. It’s just happening with greater frequency. The problems this creates for someone worth billions are relative, but problems nonetheless. The New York Times reported this month that his politics may be pushing some buyers away from Tesla, quoting Ben Rose, president of Battle Road Research: “Musk is a true lightning rod. There are people who swear by him and people who swear at him. Some of his comments are a real turnoff for some people.”

At a time when America’s public discourse has rarely been this toxic, Musk’s forays into the public square—and how he manages X—will likely do nothing to defuse tensions. Zachary Elwood, author of Defusing American Anger, writing in The Hill, said, “Musk’s contemptuous behavior amplifies the toxicity of our divides. It’s not about the polarization of his beliefs, but about his affective polarization—his disdain for the ‘other side.’”

America's caustic, violent—and often childish—public rhetoric is not on Musk alone, but his outsized voice, influence, and power means he could do more than most to help dial it down. Especially if it hits his vast pocket book.

But don’t hold your breath.