Our cover story this week is on Elon Musk. I contributed to the briefing, specifically looking at Mr Musk's space-related leverage over the Pentagon and intelligence community—considerable, but not necessarily as severe as sometimes assumed. economist.com/briefing/202... - ThreadSky

shashj.bsky.social • 97 days ago

Our cover story this week is on Elon Musk. I contributed to the briefing, specifically looking at Mr Musk's space-related leverage over the Pentagon and intelligence community—considerable, but not necessarily as severe as sometimes assumed.
https://economist.com/briefing/2024/11/21/elon-musk-and-donald-trump-seem-besotted-where-is-their-bromance-headed

Comments

wildebees.bsky.social•97 days ago

Given the positive connotations to the term “disruption” currently, is this a good choice for Musk?

kanlaw.bsky.social•97 days ago

Let’s make #Tesla Great Again!

4u1e.bsky.social•97 days ago

But whose body have you photoshopped his head onto?

mkuzmicki.bsky.social•96 days ago

An excellent and informative piece.

shashj.bsky.social•97 days ago

I quote John Plumb, the recent ASD for space. “In my experience SpaceX has been an excellent partner for the Dept. of Defence. But if SpaceX for some reason decided to take on the full force of the US gov't, that would be...frankly crippling for them” https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/11/21/elon-musk-and-donald-trump-seem-besotted-where-is-their-bromance-headed

etomrad.bsky.social•97 days ago

Musk's emotional profile is a national security risk in itself. Abusive father, his own disfunctional family and the list goes on. Had he applied for a civilian job with the Pentagon he wouldn't have met clearance requirements.

mooseandsquirrel.bsky.social•96 days ago

Plus he does drugs.

upuptothesky.bsky.social•96 days ago

"But if SpaceX for some reason decided to take on the full force of the US gov't, that would be...frankly crippling for them” -- okay, great

fascinatorfun.bsky.social•96 days ago

But if Trump and Musk have similar (bad) ends in sight, what then?

Therein lies the biggest danger

jpaw346.bsky.social•97 days ago

They use a lot of NASA and DoD technology. EM didn’t invent everything from scratch.

mrhappyonbsky.bsky.social•96 days ago

we need a global »block button« for this guy. dude's
*so* annoying

fetchezlavache.mainbastards.online•97 days ago

You got your banner wrong it should read "The Wanker"

porcupunk.bsky.social•97 days ago

Haven't read the article yet but the cover art is really, really bad - it normalizes Elon and obfuscates the threat he is posing.

waxmonkey.bsky.social•96 days ago

the cover art poses elon as a child treating businesses, money and government as his playthings. i dont think it normalizes him, though it could do better to present the threat

shashj.bsky.social•96 days ago

Sorry, I'll ask the illustrators to put horns on next time.

robcolbert.bsky.social•93 days ago

I can't be the only person who sees that Elong Moosks infiltrated the Trump campaign to get as entrenched into government as possible to have his own impact on regulations in benefit to his own companies.

He is fraud.

rebel44cz.bsky.social•96 days ago

Thisa is a really good facts-based article with good sources.

One minor nitpick: "Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, is setting up a rival firm, Blue Origin" - Bezos has started BO even before SpaceX has been founded - they just havent achieved much so far.

rebel44cz.bsky.social•96 days ago

Also, the Starlink service in Iran (provided at the US gov. request) is technically violating international regulations - SpaceX is getting away with it only because Iran is a pariah state and the US has enough influence to stall regulators when nobody likes the party that is complaining.

felixdrost.bsky.social•97 days ago

Thanks. @gideonrachman.bsky.social interview with Sebastian Mallaby in the @financialtimes.com is a must read as well, the power tendency to cast him as either villain or hero doesn't do justice to the complexity and clouds insight into what's about to happen.

https://on.ft.com/3Z0pCAd

miawau.bsky.social•97 days ago

Yeah just normalise him. Doing great here

ossie-ace.bsky.social•96 days ago

Plenty of big personalities pitching their own version of radical reform. I think Palmer Luckey and Anduril, who have clearly backed Trump for much longer, would be expecting a huge increase in their influence on defence and intelligence spend. I wonder what the Elon relationship is like there?

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply