THE WEEK MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘MASTERMIND’ – How Musk is using his power to sway wars and elections….
Musk: Does he have too much power?
Elon Musk is trying to “make himself more powerful than the government,” said Michael A. Cohen in MS.now. The SpaceX founder and world’s wealthiest man announced last week that he was behind the decision to temporarily throttle Ukraine’s access to a crucial battlefield technology, claiming Kyiv had violated the “terms of service” of his commercial Starlink satellite network by using it for offensive operations against Russia. Kyiv said that explanation didn’t make sense, because the slowdown hit Starlink’s Pentagon-controlled military equivalent Starshield, which Ukraine uses to guide attack drones and defensive drone interceptors. Most likely, Musk was “working in concert” with President Trump, trying to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into accepting Russia’s terms for ending the war. Either way, it’s outrageous that Musk, “unelected and unaccountable,” should hold such sway over U.S. foreign policy—or domestic policy. The trillionaire has spent over $442 million helping Republicans in next week’s midterms. That’s more than any individual has ever spent on a congressional election cycle and “dwarfs” the $250 million he spent returning Trump to the White House in 2024. If Democrats can overcome Musk’s money and win at least the House next week, they need to find ways to stop this “menace” wielding “such influence in American elections and on American statecraft.”
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