That is the richest man in the world. Which I think maybe tells you something about the state of the world in 2024. Or at least, I suppose, the state of Twitter.
The richest man in the world didn’t used to look like this. For instance, here’s J.P. Morgan, at right. He was Mr. Moneybags in his day, and he wielded political power of the sort that I suppose Elon Musk is hoping to obtain by this ridiculous display of his joy at the possibility of electing the most dangerous man in the world. Even Teddy Roosevelt had to consider Morgan in making major policy considerations. He was a force, rather than a mere goofy distraction.
You’ll see that there’s a different quality on display. Some of you younger folks may not recognize it. It was called “dignity.” (OK, so there’s also a kind of grumpy “I am the Walrus” vibe there, too, but I’m calling it “dignity” because that speaks better to my point.)
Let’s not mock uninhibited joy, though. People should be allowed to let the world know when they’re happy. I suppose it should make us all smile.
And maybe it would, if he weren’t leaping for joy at the prospect of doing to America and the whole world what he did to Twitter, only way worse.
And also… maybe if it didn’t smack of artifice.
Jump up like that once with a blissed-out look on your face, and maybe it’s believable. Weird, but believable.
But twice, on different occasions? Seeing the second one, below, made me think, Does Musk practice this “jump up and show my belly” maneuver in his spare time? How else could more than one such photo exist? (The one above is from The New York Times, and I found the one below in The Washington Post, and I hope they don’t mind my showing them to you, because that’s kind of necessary to making my point.)
In fact, having all that money to throw away, has he hired a professional “jumping with joyful abandon coach” to supervise his practice sessions? Does he do this, over and over, in front of a mirror? Have they practiced with tee shirts made from different fabrics, to ensure exactly the right amount of exposure of his belly?
Seeing the second image kind of makes me think so. And it makes me think something else: If this is the richest man in the world today, maybe our economic system is rewarding the wrong characteristics. Maybe something is a bit off at the moment…
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He’s clearly on the autistic spectrum so he’s very odd socially. His personal life is a total mess and has been for decades (at least one of his children has “disowned” him).
I heard someone on a podcast say recently that Musk use to never care at all about politics- like it wasn’t even on his radar- but he had dived headfirst into Trumpism.
It will be interesting to see how he reacts when Republicans really go after Electric cars and put up barriers for electric chargers.
Simple solution, really… don’t use Twitter, don’t buy Teslas, don’t buy Starlink, let Jeff Bezos help NASA do the things they can’t do as well. I’m sure there are plenty of people capable of starting multiple billion dollar businesses across various industries in the span of a two decades..
Try googling Steve Ballmer ($125B net worth) from last night’s LA Clippers game.. Makes Musk look positively stoic.
I’m not following you. Are you talking to me? I assure you I won’t buy a Tesla. I don’t see why I wouldn’t use Twitter, even though I was there long before he started trying to ruin it. He’s made it less useful, but I can occasionally find a situation in which it works for me. Kind of like Facebook — I don’t like it, but occasionally need to use it.
I know you love rich people who create things — just as Bud (where’s Bud?) despises them. Me, I’m indifferent.
But you do realize that Musk didn’t create Twitter, don’t you? He’s just this loony guy who came along and threw a bunch of money at it, and ever since then has been running it into the ground…
As someone who had been using Twitter as long or longer than you, I don’t see any difference. I’m fact, I use it more than any other app it’s the best way to get unfiltered information and real time sports content. It’s the tweets from Glen greenwals, Matt Taibbi, and Michael Tracey that give me an unbiased view of political news.
I appreciate excellence in whatever form it takes. Business, sports, arts, whatever. There are people who are far better, far smarter than you and I and I appreciate that excellence rather than despise it.Musk can do whatever he wants with his money and can dance the macarena for all I care. Thank him for creating tens of thousands of jobs and paying billions in taxes to hand out to those who lack the ambition or intelligence to do the same.
“It’s the tweets from Glen greenwals, Matt Taibbi, and Michael Tracey that give me an unbiased view ”
I actually did laugh when I saw read Hank’s comment. It’s amazing what people consider “unbiased.” Greenwald can’t keep from defending Putin or agreeing with Tucker Carlson.
To the larger point, I don’t read or look at X (twitter) and almost never use social meda. The echo chambers are ludicrously silly.
It’s amazing to read about all the censoring Musk does, especially how he has bowed to China’s demands and censors speech like the other social media sites do while claiming he’s above it all.
Musk is a heck of a liar.
If by “running it into the ground”, you mean generating more user interaction than ever and replacing traditional media as the primary source of information for hundreds of millions of users worldwide (with a staff 20% of what it was previously), then yes, he is running it into the ground.
Oh, and doing that in his spare time between running an auto manufacturer, a space exploration company, a satellite internet provider…
Some people do things, other people comment on what they do.
X is now valued at under $10 billion dollars by Fidelty Investments.
Musk paid over $40 billion for it.
People who use X, really use it a lot. The greater public, not so much.
“Analysts say Fidelity’s plunging price tag for X likely reflects its shrinking ad revenue at the company, which no longer publicly releases quarterly financial metrics.”
“A recent global survey by Kantar found that a net 26% of marketers plan to decrease their spending on X next year, the steepest pullback from any major global ad platform. Just 4% of advertisers said they think X ads provide “brand safety” (certainty that their ads won’t appear near extreme content), compared with 39% at Google.”
“X had 73.5 million monthly active users on iOS and Android combined in the United States in August, according to Similarweb data shared with CNN. That represents a drop of nearly 11% year over year and a 20% decline from October 2022.”
What connects these two — Trump and Musk?
They are both American oligarchs, who believe society should operate according to the rules of oligarchy. Not the rule of law or the public interest, but the rule of them and their interests.
Trump is nothing like Musk. Trump is a real estate mogul / media personality who bullied, bargained, and bamboozled his way to billions. He thrives on the attention he gets. Musk is a creator, a multi-dimensional thinker, who could not care less about what people think of him. People like Musk, Bezos, Ellison, Gates, Buffett are different than the rest of us. Trump is just a run of the mill con man more like Bill Clinton or Oprah.
Yeah, I dunno. I think I know what Doug is driving at here, and agree with it, although his comparisons to Bill Clinton and Oprah kind of derail his point. I’m also thrown by his apparent admiration of Musk.
Clinton is a very talented politician, which I see as a good thing when used for good. Like the two Roosevelts, and up to a point, LBJ. But of course, Doug considers being a talented politician a BAD thing. So we have a barrier there. I have no particular opinion of Oprah, having never observed her closely, beyond saying that I’ve seen nothing to indicate she is a slimeball like Trump.
At the same time, I’d shy away from Ken’s characterization of Trump and Musk as fellow “oligarchs.” The term seems to have too much, I don’t know, dignity for either. As Doug points out, Trump is a particularly smelly grifter. Musk is a whack job. I think of “oligarch” as being more like John D. Rockefeller. You wouldn’t see him jumping like an idiot in front of a crowd.
Basically, their commonality is that they are both grossly immature, maladjusted people. Neither would have risen to prominence in an earlier era. As Doug says, Musk may have his talents, but in another time he”d have put them to work in an obscure room working for a larger organization. He would never have been the front man. Trump would have been a barker in a particularly seedy carnival, or perhaps a pimp, if he saw more money in that.
Society on the whole didn’t accept their kind of behavior. Which reminds me of a recent column in the NYT harking back to one of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s better-known phrases, defining deviance down…. I need to write about that…
I don’t admire Musk.
His personal life is a disaster. He’s an awful human being.
He has a lot of money. To some people, that’s all that matters. That’s always been the case though in the United States. Having a lot of money is the #1 attraction for him.
He’s socially awkward as hell. He’s been accused numerous times of sexual misconduct, including in the workplace including sex with interns in his office (same reason Bill Clinton was a scumbag but it’s ok for Musk to do it because- well- it’s Elon). He’s regularly fired people for making allegations against him
He’s a really awful human being who happens to have a lot of money, which is all that matters to many people.