Musk's Combined Companies Give Him Almost State-Like Power
His campaign gifts cost him little, while pensions, launches, and remote internet make punishment costly for everyone else.
The Ezra Klein Show · Elon Musk’s EndgameOne person controls the rockets that lift satellites to orbit, the satellite network that sells internet service, a car company held in many retirement accounts, and a social platform where political debate plays out.
That combination is the focus of Ezra Klein, a New York Times columnist, and Quinn Slobodian, who teaches international history at Boston University. Klein said Musk holds "power over wealth, attention, and critical infrastructure" on a scale no private person has matched, making him almost state-like.
The money part starts with about $450 million for Republican campaign groups, the largest single-person total in an election cycle and about a quarter of donations to Republican campaign groups. Klein's comparison: for a man worth around $1 trillion, giving $300 million or $400 million is "like the median American household giving like $100 bucks."
Slobodian said Musk wants to entrench dependence on his infrastructure. SpaceX has become the dominant way to launch into low Earth orbit, while Starlink has become a default connection for military use and for people in remote areas without other good options.
The financial tie spreads further. Tesla and SpaceX sit inside stock indexes and pension funds that many Americans own through direct holdings and passive funds. Slobodian's rough estimate is that 20 to 30 percent of Americans indirectly have a stake in the health of those businesses.
In their view, attacking Musk can look like attacking a pillar of the economy. Klein's phrase for the setup was "the Vatican of technology," a private operation with state-sized capacity.
Questions people ask
What is Starlink, exactly?
Starlink is a network of thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit that beam internet to ground antennas. It is useful in rural areas, ships, and war zones because it does not need local cables or cell towers, only a view of the sky.
Why is SpaceX so dominant in rocket launches?
SpaceX lowered costs by building much of its rockets in house and by reusing boosters that land and fly again. That let it launch more often and more cheaply than older rivals, leaving few practical alternatives for many customers.
How do ordinary retirement funds end up tied to Musk's companies?
Most Americans who own stocks do so through 401(k)s, pensions, or index funds that automatically hold the market's largest companies. When Tesla and related tech firms are large parts of those indexes, their performance affects ordinary retirement balances.