The End of the Elon Experiment

Earlier this February, at CPAC’s annual gathering, Elon Musk walked onstage to a cheering throng of young admirers and was presented with a chainsaw by Argentine president Javier Milei for his efforts with DOGE. I wrote about the moment with a tone that, in retrospect, reads like a man realizing too late he had downed the wrong cup of “water” at a Grateful Dead concert and was now embarking on an unplanned trip:

Back then Elon was riding high on more than just ketamine, celebrating his “bro-crush” on Donald Trump, attending cabinet meetings, unleashing political pronunciamentos from atop his perch at Twitter/X (which still guides news cycles even in the present era), pondering policy like the disbursement of DOGE “savings checks” to all Americans, and generally basking in the pleasures of being both the richest and second-most important man on planet Earth. It was easy enough to see at the time that Musk was both drunk on his own power and unable to curb his worst public instincts. It seemed rather clear to me that hubris was on the verge of breeding nemesis, and that he was cruising for a fall.

About the Author

Jeffrey Blehar

Jeffrey Blehar is a National Review staff writer living in Chicago. He is also the co-host of National Review’s Political Beats podcast, which explores the great music of the modern era with guests from the political world happy to find something non-political to talk about.

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Earlier this February, at CPAC’s annual gathering, Elon Musk walked onstage to a cheering throng of young admirers and was presented with a chainsaw by Argentine president Javier Milei for his efforts with DOGE. I wrote about the moment with a tone that, in retrospect, reads like a man realizing too late he had downed the wrong cup of “water” at a Grateful Dead concert and was now embarking on an unplanned trip:

Back then Elon was riding high on more than just ketamine, celebrating his “bro-crush” on Donald Trump, attending cabinet meetings, unleashing political pronunciamentos from atop his perch at Twitter/X (which still guides news cycles even in the present era), pondering policy like the disbursement of DOGE “savings checks” to all Americans, and generally basking in the pleasures of being both the richest and second-most important man on planet Earth. It was easy enough to see at the time that Musk was both drunk on his own power and unable to curb his worst public instincts. It seemed rather clear to me that hubris was on the verge of breeding nemesis, and that he was cruising for a fall.

About the Author

Jeffrey Blehar

Jeffrey Blehar is a National Review staff writer living in Chicago. He is also the co-host of National Review’s Political Beats podcast, which explores the great music of the modern era with guests from the political world happy to find something non-political to talk about.