Elon leaves with reputation in tatters

As Musk's time in the White House comes to an end, let's be clear about his legacy.

I’m not particularly interested in Elon Musk’s latest scandal involving his ketamine use, although I’m not particularly surprised, either. What I am interested in is the legacy he leaves behind now that he’s reached the 130-day limit as a Special Government Employee.

Musk’s legacy is that he spent his time in the White House using his influence to destroy the lives of millions of people while raking in rewards for himself. He pretended that he was working in pursuit of rooting out a staggering $2 trillion worth of waste, fraud, and abuse. And yet what did he do? He immediately attacked USAID, which accounts for all of one half of one percent of the budget, and is tasked with providing the impoverished with food and water and services like HIV prevention. But USAID was investigating Starlink, and so it was gutted. He went after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which exists only to protect consumers from predatory financial institutions and has returned $21 billion to those who’ve been defrauded. But the CFPB was fielding over 300 complains about Tesla and would’ve had oversight into X’s payment processing, and so it was gutted. In fact, every single agency that Elon went after - USAID, CFPB, DOL, NLRB, EPA, DOT, USDA - just so happened to be performing oversight into him or SpaceX or Starlink or Tesla. And all of those agencies paid the price.

And yet, conspicuously spared from Elon’s crusade against waste, fraud, and abuse? The department that’s failed seven audits in a row: the Pentagon. In fact, the Pentagon got a raise; the agency’s budget will soon top $1 trillion. The only agency that hasn’t passed an audit in the better part of a decade got rewarded, while every other agency got gutted— all under the pretense of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. And it’s no surprise why: those agencies all regulate Elon, while the Pentagon’s raise means more money for Elon’s companies. Like, for example, the $22 billion in Pentagon contracts that he’s already been rewarded. Let’s not pretend that Musk isn’t acutely aware of who butters his bread.

So while Musk wallows in self-pity that most Americans don’t seem adequately grateful for his service, the reality is that he was uniquely responsible for gutting essential agencies that ensure people can survive around the world, firing thousands of veterans, and cutting funding for research that will help kids with cancer, all so that he could eliminate any obstacles to his consolidation of even more wealth. People the world over will die so that Elon can get richer. He doesn’t deserve praise, he deserves to be viewed as a ghoul who represents the worst of humanity. He is a greedy kleptocrat whose life’s work boils down to stealing from the poor to pad his own bottom line. That’s his legacy. He could’ve changed the world for the better; he had every resource available to him. Instead, he made it markedly worse. And we should never forget that.