The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Now that Elon has been forced to buy twitter, he seems to be making the most of it by using it as a bully pulpit, so to speak.  First, he offered a poll for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine that was decidedly skewed toward Russia.  Then, he tossed out a path for Taiwan that was clearly bent toward China.  This has led many observers to ask whose side is he on?

I suppose he is trying to protect his interests.  His Chinese gigafactory has been a boon for him. He is producing a vast amount of cars in China and wants to tap into the ever growing market for high-end electric cars.  Obviously, he has no qualms with the forced labour used at his plant, and thinks Taiwan would benefit from a closer relationship to China, oblivious to the events that have occurred in Hong Kong over the last two years.  

He has been buying his aluminum from Russia since 2020, which he uses across the board in his industries.  The war has complicated matters for him, as he is unable to supply this aluminum to Germany and the United States.  I suppose he can use a back door in China, although he has come under fire for his operations there as well.

Little wonder we find him pitching himself as a peacemaker on two fronts, hoping to get his production running smoothly again.  The only problem is that his peace poll blew up in his face, much like the Kerch bridge to Crimea blew up in Putin's face.  Nobody wants to hear of a peace deal that so heavily favors Russia at a time its forces are losing ground in Ukraine.  President Zelenskyy sarcastically conducted his own twitter poll as to which Elon Musk you like best, the one who supports Ukraine or the one who supports Russia?

As for Taiwan, this really did come out of left field.  Maybe he was trolling Biden and Pelosi, who have offered unconditional support to the country, but his unsolicited "solution" gained virtually no traction on twitter, and only served to further endear him to Chinese authorities.

Of course, Elon isn't one to back down, as we saw four years ago when he got into a row with British divers over his tiny submarines to pull the kids out of the flooded cave in Thailand.  It took him years to settle a lawsuit with the British diver he called a "pedo" over the incident.  One hopes he won't go so far with Zelenskyy.

However, it doesn't bode well for twitter if he is going to turn it into his $44 billion bully pulpit to sound off on whatever comes into his head in the morning.  This is no better than Donald Trump's Truth Social, which is ironic as he called it nothing more than a "right-wing echo chamber."  Should we start calling Twitter Musket?

Sadly, this is what happens when someone wants to be the center of attention and has the means to do so.   Just like Trump and Putin, Elon can afford to constantly inject himself into the news.  I suppose he is less dangerous than the other two as he doesn't have a country to control.  He could never be elected in South Africa, and could never run for President of the United States.  

His often conflicting positions put him at odds with the very people he claims to support.  After all, he did provide Ukraine access to his Starlink satellite system, which its military forces have used effectively during the war.  However, Elon seems to be toying with Ukraine now, as Dr. Evil would in an Austin Powers movie, resulting in power outages at key moments in this counteroffensive.  So maybe he is not so harmless after all?

It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to play both sides of a war.  We saw this in the build up to World War II where wealthy American industrialists furthered Hitler's regime by providing capital and resources to his various industries.  And of course many industrialists profit off war, which makes you wonder when Musk will start manufacturing military drones of his own, which have proven incredibly effective in this war.  In addition to taking out the Crimean bridge, Ukrainian forces used Turkish drones to take out two massive Russian bombers recently, making it even more difficult for Russia to supply its front lines.  Meanwhile, Russia takes out apartment blocks with Iranian drones in response to the bombing of Kerch bridge.

  

The problem with any industrialist is that he is only in it for himself.  As much as he may purport that his products are for the common good, he is principally looking at the profit line.  Musk has amassed an enormous fortune in an incredibly short amount of time.  It wasn't that long ago that he was getting subsidies from the federal and state governments to get Tesla off the ground.  In 2012 he was worth less than $2 billion. Today he is worth upward of $300 billion and may very well become the world's first trillionaire within the next few years.  He can pay himself $7 billion for a successful rocket lunch.

It seems that Elon wants to be King of the World.  This would be the main reason for investing so heavily in a social media site and turning it into his own propaganda channel.  The only question is how many other persons will be interested in hearing him sound off on the latest crisis or his ongoing Mission to Mars?  He's already made a caricature of himself in social media with some pretty vicious memes.  Remember this is a guy who challenged Putin to "single combat" back in March.  I'm sure Vlad must have gotten a good laugh out of that.

I probably shouldn't spend so much time on Elon.  His polls are inconsequential and his ambitions seem that of a 12-year old.  The world eats up guys like this and spits them out everyday.  For now he is the King of Twitter.