Writes Ronan Farrow, in "Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule/How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in" (The New Yorker).
August 26, 2023
"Musk has become a hyper-exposed pop-culture figure, and his sharp turns from altruistic to vainglorious, strategic to impulsive, have been the subject of innumerable articles..."
"... and at least seven major books.... But the nature and the scope of his power are less widely understood.
More than thirty of Musk’s current and former colleagues in various industries and a dozen individuals in his personal life spoke to me about their experiences with him. Sam Altman, the C.E.O. of OpenAI, with whom Musk has both worked and sparred, told me, 'Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.'"
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Musk has been clickbait for at least 5 years.
Like Trump, the experts pretend to understand him.
Ronan’s me too hit piece.
"Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it."
Funny. You could say the very same thing about every purple-haired pierced-septum adolescent at the New Yorker, New York Times, and j-school in this country.
As if Farrow is credible.
Freedom means the job of government isn’t to rein people in.
I understand Elon Musk. He has an overideing curiosity. He want's to know. And he has the drive to find out.
Lefties like Farrow will never understand entrepreneurs like Musk, and Trump.
It's Ronan who's only interested in saving the world if he can be in the vanguard. Musk's savior moves seem to me to be based upon his recognition that the world deserves to be saved, and he's uniquely positioned to help.
Musk isn't stopping anyone else from engaging in his kind of flamboyant, longshot philanthropy. It's Farrow trying to block Musk.
"How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in" (The New Yorker)."
Since when is reining in folks a function of the federal government?
Will they be reining him in the same way they're reining in Trump -- with lawfare?
Will they be reining him in the same way they're reining in Thomas -- with propaganda?
Or will they be reining him in the same way they reined in JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcom X?
Has Musk now become public enemy number 2?
Writes Ronan Farrow, in "Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule/How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in"
I think it is the reverse. Musk is struggling to rein in the US government from spying on its citizens.
But only if he can be the one to save it.
[Sniff] What’s that I smell? Oh, yes. I remember from that time back when t was a teenager and my father took the family to visit my aunt and uncle’s farm. It’s the odor of … bullshit.
What happens to you if you dare to question the progressive narrative.
Is it the U.S. government’s job to “rein people in”? Apparently The New Yorker thinks so.
A pathetic attempt at character assassination. And these people wonder why they are distrusted by ~85% of the population and reviled by at least 50% of it.
Battlefield preparation.
Doesn't take much to crank up the ire machine.
All he did was buy Twitter and loosen its left-wing grip.
He's Thomas Edison with less larceny and more humor.
Steve Jobs used to get a bad press. He solved some of his media problems by dying young. That's an extreme remedy. A better plan is to be supportive of Democrats and their causes. Musk should start a foundation to cut off the sexual organs of needy third world body dysmorphics.....The left and their friends in the media seem to have an instinctive dislike for successful businessmen. The last few centuries have left mountains of corpses. Most of those corpses were not a by product of entrepreneurial schemes but of utopian dreams.....Can anyone here identify who first thought up the idea of collective farms? There's an idea that killed tens of million people. Whoever he was probably wasn't as greedy or vainglorious as Musk. He deserves to be properly celebrated.
"SpaceX had recently given the Pentagon an ultimatum: if it didn’t assume the cost of providing service in Ukraine, which the company calculated at some four hundred million dollars annually, it would cut off access. “We started to get a little panicked,” the senior defense official, one of four who described the standoff to me, recalled. Musk “could turn it off at any given moment. And that would have real operational impact for the Ukrainians."
Well, if the government is that worried about it how about F*ing paying him for it! Is Raytheon giving away HMARS rocket systems? Can't they get a bunch of tech billionaires to help Musk out with the money? (No, they want that money to go to the DNC.) Unfortunately, the current administration is an asshole.
"Sam Altman, the C.E.O. of OpenAI, with whom Musk has both worked and sparred, told me, 'Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.'"
Sounds to me like Progressive Projection.
"Musk has become a hyper-exposed pop-culture figure"
I.e., more liked by the right than he has any right to be.
"his sharp turns from altruistic to vainglorious, strategic to impulsive"
I.e., occasionally straying from the prog plantation.
Of course, he has to be "reined in." Of course, it's a struggle. Progs tolerate no competitors for power. Submit, or else.
Nothing suprising there. I am surprised, though, that they make the hiring of "refugees" their line of attack. I guess the sheer petty absurdity of the charge is meant to send a message.
"Some people who know Musk well still struggle to make sense of his political shift."
Being manhandled by government bullies will do that to you.
"hyper-exposed pop-culture figure..."
Apparently, at some point you've got too much fame...or money...or children...or freedom.
"Covid denialism", oh noes, Musk didn't support the official narrative. Of course, as an intelligent man who hires competence, he is also "hard right". It is no surprise that he is on the spectrum, most high achievers are.
It isn't a terrible bit of writing for people unfamiliar with Musk, but there is too much Ronan in it.
"Musk now has at least nine children with three different women, and has said that he is doing his part to address one of his pet issues, the risk of population collapse; demographers are skeptical about the matter.". (emphasis added)
Ridiculous. What demographers are skeptical of the obvious result of the collapse of birth rates? None without an agenda. They need the specter of a burgeoning human population to justify their programs of societal control.
>"Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule/How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in"<
It's simple, just have the DOJ start investigating him and suing SpaceX. Oh wait...they already thought of that? OK, well then, sic Jack Smith on him and try to throw him in jail. A no-brainer...
Why do you need to reign in Musk? If your ideas are great you have nothing to worry about…
Sounds like Ronan had a mancrush on Elon and now feels like his lover jilted him since Musk refused to stomp on conservatives the way Ronan had hoped he would.
The notion that the proper role of the US government is to "rein in" the man who has done more to advance spaceflight and communications (oh yes, and electric vehicles and so on and so forth...) is presented as reasonable and unquestionable. Obviously, they need to rein him in. He seems to be acting outside the control of Washington's unquestionable assumptions. Right? But we live in a free society, not a fascist authoritarian state? Sure we do, provided you keep your head down and cause no trouble. I suppose it has long been this way and I just hadn't realized it. Glen Greenwald and Matt Taibbi have done a lot to open my eyes. Even Robert Cook was well ahead of me in many respects. Shame about some of his other notions. But we needn't agree about everything.
His ketamine use is starting to show.
This is not a unique case for the left. The LA Times had a story about "white saviors" when reporting on that retired football player trying to shake down the family that supported him. They conclude that "white saviors" are bad. I will take that under consideration.
Wenn ich <> höre, entsichere ich mein Browning.
Musk the contrarian?
I formed my opinion of Musk following the Thai Cave Rescue.
Anyone who accuses someone who disagrees with one of his "beautiful" ideas of child sex abuse has no moral compass.
And seeing the actual conditions that the rescuers faced — where a submarine would have been totally impractical — pours scorn on his apparent genius.
And his actions at Twitter reinforce that view — closing down accounts that disagree with him while proclaiming to be a free speech absolutist?
When Musk proclaims free speech he means his speech.
Musk's antics remind me daily of the importance of humility.
Saving from what?
So, the progressive Democrats of the USA are really insisting on following China's footsteps.
China cut Jack Ma down to size.
Now they want to cut Elon Musk down to size.
China censors the internet.
they want to censor the internet, too.
China has one party rule, and arrests opposition leaders...
They want to do that, too.
Where in the Constitution lies the power of the Executive Branch to rein in particular American citizens?
Rowan Farrow desperately wants to be the journalist with uncanny insight to read people's mind like no other, but he struggles.
Farrow reviews Die Hard:
“John McClane desperately wants the Nakatomi Building to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.”
Elon is too smart to be successfully slandered by the likes of Ronan Farrow. That’s why he bought TwitterX and became our Free Speech savior. Ronan should find some real slanders…like maybe the Biden Family crimes.
You will be reined in and reigned over for Our Democracy. You will also be pissed on and told it's raining.
Lefties like Farrow will never understand entrepreneurs like Musk, and Trump.
Donald Trump is not an entrepreneur. He inherited (through various tax avoidance schemes) up to $200 million from his father (who was a real estate developer who made his fortune building homes for WWII veterans who benefitted from the GI bill). He then just followed in his father's footsteps. Building office buildings, casinos, and high end apartments and condos is hardly "entrepreneurial". and actually, considering how many sub-contractors he fucked over and his numerous bankruptcies, he really wasn't all that good at that.
A journalist wrote about how the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT is struggling to reign in a private citizen and actually agrees that it should be done. Can Glenn Greenwald be any more correct about how corrupt the democrat propaganda machine is. It is mind blowing and the guy actually considers himself “liberal”. Fascist Nazi is more like it.
Ronan Farrow, of the Julie Swetnick rape-party fame? He's not qualified to clean Elon Musk's toilets, let alone write any believable stories. The only thing he's qualified to do is dig holes, then immediately fill them in. One of the best nincompoops, a rival with Mark Dones, King County's ex-homeless agency czar (Mark managed to accomplish absolutely nothing after two-years of work as head). Hank Johnson looks like a genius when compared to Ronan Farrow, and ol' Hank sets the standard for stupidity.
"Donald Trump is not an entrepreneur. He inherited (through various tax avoidance schemes) up to $200 million from his father (who was a real estate developer who made his fortune building homes for WWII veterans who benefitted from the GI bill).
His father sounds rather entrepreneurial.
"He then just followed in his father's footsteps."
You do the math.
Dipshit Freder says that building hotels and casinos over decades is not entrepreneurialism. Talk about yer dumb ass commies.
leftist orthodoxy includes the use of the word "shadow" or "shadowy figure"
Blogger Freder Frederson said...
Lefties like Farrow will never understand entrepreneurs like Musk, and Trump.
Donald Trump is not an entrepreneur. He inherited (through various tax avoidance schemes) up to $200 million from his father (who was a real estate developer who made his fortune building homes for WWII veterans who benefitted from the GI bill). He then just followed in his father's footsteps. Building office buildings, casinos, and high end apartments and condos is hardly "entrepreneurial".
Freder has a very bad case of TDS. Also stupidity. I suppose you think he got his $9 billion the way Joe Biden got his $50 million.
Ah Ronan, the super smart genius unlike Elon (sarcasm) that can read Elon's mind and motives and as a leftist fob of NYC privilege could make any coherent comment regarding probably the world's most brilliant human being is just, well, f'ing laughable.
Field Marshall Freder: "Building office buildings, casinos, and high end apartments and condos is hardly "entrepreneurial"."
LOLxForever
Read Freder and the rest of the Lefty Little Brains (like Dumb Lefty Mark and Rich) and feel the stupidity wash over you as if you were standing under a waterfall of pure Dunning-Kruger infused water.
Here's a correction for The Atlantic:
"Sam Altman, the thief who took a non-profit foundation founded with a lot of Elon Musk's money and turned it into a for-profit company, slandered the character of man he robbed by telling me,'Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.'
Who cares why he wants to save the world? Why did Henry Ford build cars? Why did Edison run a research lab? Why did Michaelangelo paint? Why does anybody run for president?
'Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.'
Your terms are acceptable.
Field Marshal Freder was our esteemed military expert nad now he has become an expert on entrepreneurs. The Biden Crime Family is a little more in Freder's wheelhouse. He does not understand people who build things, like hotels and rockets.
He then just followed in his father's footsteps. Building office buildings, casinos, and high end apartments and condos is hardly "entrepreneurial"
"en·tre·pre·neur·i·al
/ˌäntrəprəˈnərēəl/
adjective
adjective: entrepreneurial
characterized by the taking of financial risks in the hope of profit"
Seems to fit. Even if what he did does not meet your definition of entrepreneurial, I can guarantee that it was not an easy task. Construction, property development on the scale he did is complicated and time consuming. It's not just him being a boss, telling people what to do and they do it. He had to deal with the previous landowners, the neighbors, the government (multiple entities within the city/state/federal governments - along with building regulations, they're checking the area wildlife and possible historic artifacts - with further studies if there's trees or a stream or a cave or anything other than straight, flat land), architects, subcontractors, bankers, lawyers, unions, utility companies - and that's before the first hole is dug - and he will have to keep them all happy, or at least satisfied until project completion. He has to hope that the subs will get the supplies they need and be able to keep their labor.
It's a big financial risk to be paying all of those people, plus his own employees while waiting for the day the project can begin leasing/selling.
If you think it's simple, it's because you lack either information or imagination.
“Freder has a very bad case of TDS. Also stupidity. I suppose you think he got his $9 billion the way Joe Biden got his $50 million.”
Trump wears his luck on his sleeve like a badge of honor. Joe Biden doesn’t want you to know how wealthy he is because when you get down to it, Joe Biden should be a humble public servant instead someone who got rich through pure graft.
Frank Sinatra's boy doesn't have a cold.
Farrow lost me when he couldn’t get anyone to corroborate charges against BretKavanaugh in wanglegate, but published the story anyway.
Pay attention to what the democratical Lawfare commies at the Dept of The Interior are up to.
Rumors swirling they are looking for new ways to gin up complaints/lawsuits against SpaceX ops in Texas.
This would be completely in line with the dems giving the ChiComs everything they want since the ChiComs own the Bidens outright.
There's a scene in Atlas Shrugged where one of the bureaucrats explains to the industrialist who is similarly caught in conflicting laws that it's done intentionally to control people. The book is way too long for me to go look for it though.
"Rusty said...
I understand Elon Musk. He has an overideing curiosity. He want's to know. And he has the drive to find out."
Yes, this is my best read on Musk too. Though admittedly I am going off of publicly available info. But Musk comes off as a genuine (if flawed) genius, motivator, AND HE IS CURIOUS. Compare and contrast with our media's curiosity about, oh, say, the doings of the president of the United States and his son.
Give me a guy who makes cool cars, provides global internet service and literally shoots rocket ships into outer space (with a stated long-term goal of interplanetizing our species, and shows plausible signs of being able to make that happen.
Next to politicians, media, "experts", etc Musk looks like, well, if not a literal rocket scientist, at least the same kind of guy as me in at least one respect. As a kid, I begged my parents for a rocket kit and a bunch of Estes(tm) rocket engines, took them over to the field behind the school on the next block and shot them to hell. Think the dreaming of October Sky, but lighter on the motivation and brilliance.
Rich said:
"Musk's antics remind me daily of the importance of humility."
**
Perhaps you have much to be humble about.
Freder has a very bad case of TDS.
It's not just TDS. He's been a snarling, leftist POS since the early aughts at John Hawkins' old place at Right Wing News.
I'm wary of assigning Musk savior status, or of assuming his motives are altruistic, but as long as his actions and results take us in a direction I agree with, I'm absolutely on his team.
But even if I weren't, the "government is having trouble reining in this businessperson who is not breaking any laws" would be chilling as hell.
Trump: 500+ companies/businesses started. 5 bankruptcies.
Freder: ?
Welp, I sure know who I'd take business advice from.
Building office buildings, casinos, and high end apartments and condos is hardly "entrepreneurial"
Freder [she said gently], I think you're confusing "entrepreneurial" with "innovative."
One of the strongest impulses of folks on the Left is the anti-corporate impulse.
They actually harbor skepticism, cynicism and terroristic impulses for Musk-types.
When you ask someone on the Left who should replace such a person…it’s usually just themselves or a vanguard of themselves and it usually just ends up being a tyrant.
Here’s the Atlas Shrugged passage you were thinking of, Leora:
“Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.”
Jason said...
"Wenn ich <> höre, entsichere ich mein Browning."
Wenn ich <> höre, lege ich neue Batterien ein.
Dan. It is people like Musk who have been advancing civilization since the Greeks invented western civilization. Musk is the definition of true progress. Meanwhile the "Progressives" can't abide someone taking THEIR society in a direction they don't approve of. There's a Heinlien quote to that effect, but I don't recall it just now.
Jamie.
Our Freder is confused about a lot of things. Not to worry though. He has secure public sector employment so that he can screw up other peoples live and never worry over consequences.
I NEVER read anything in The New Yorker---I'm waiting for Tina Brown's successor to change things back. Have I missed anything? (Probably not.)
Leland said...
"Rowan Farrow desperately wants to be the journalist with uncanny insight to read people's mind like no other, but he struggles."
Many people struggle to have uncanny insight and read people's minds. Some of them aren't in government. Some even try to do it off of pictures.
not just TDS. He's been a snarling, fascist
FIFY
We should all be trying to get out of the habit of using the word "left" when what we really mean is fascist. (although fascism and/or Fascism is a left ideology)
Consider mussolini's definition of the ideology
"Everything Within the state, nothing outside of the state, nothing against the State "
Does that fit the commenter being discussed? If so, use the correct word.
John Henry
Frank must be rolling over in shame in his grave…
I'm so old I can remember when Musk (and Trump for that matter) was a hero to the Left.
Ronan Farrow made his name with the Weinstein story. Since then, all of his big stories seem to be targeting enemies of the state. Makes me wonder who Weinstein crossed.
John Henry quoted Mussilin:
"Everything Within the state, nothing outside of the state, nothing against the State "
Shorter version:
"Shut up and obey!"
I saw this post in a link at Instapundit!
"Pat said...
Here’s the Atlas Shrugged passage you were thinking of, Leora:"
Thank you.
"Joe Biden should be a humble public servant instead someone who got rich through pure graft."
If, by "humble public servant", you mean "cleaning toilets in a mental hospital", well- yes.
"One of the strongest impulses of folks on the Left is the anti-corporate impulse.
They actually harbor skepticism, cynicism and terroristic impulses for Musk-types."
They don't seem to harbor any of those impulses for the owners of Facebook or Google. I'm sure there's a good reason, though...
"There's a Heinlien quote to that effect, but I don't recall it just now."
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
― Robert Heinlein
Musk has said the following about his childhood, father, and inheritance: [quoting…]
I grew up in a lower, transitioning to upper, middle income situation, but did not have a happy childhood. Haven’t inherited anything ever from anyone, nor has anyone given me a large financial gift.
My father created a small electrical/mechanical engineering company that was successful for 20 to 30 years, but it fell on hard times. He has been essentially bankrupt for about 25 years, requiring financial support from my brother and me.
That said, he does deserve credit for teaching me the fundamentals of physics, engineering and construction, which is more valuable than money, but did not support me financially after high school in any meaningful way.
Our condition of providing him financial support was that he not engage in bad behavior. Unfortunately, he nonetheless did. There are young children involved, so we continued to provide financial support for their well-being.
Regarding the so-called “emerald mine”, there is no objective evidence whatsoever that this mine ever existed. He told me that he owned a share in a mine in Zambia, and I believed him for a while, but nobody has ever seen the mine, nor are there any records of its existence.
If this mine was real, he would not require financial support from my brother and me.
@elonmusk
[/unQuote]
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