Elon Musk is no stranger to news headlines. His purchase of Twitter and subsequent decision to rebrand the platform as X has seen it called “a true black mirror of the most worrying parts of human nature”. Tesla’s incredibly flawed Cybertruck remains an ongoing source of Internet jokes and memes. It has even been suggested that Musk might buy the US arm of social media giant TikTok, after TikTok lost its appeal to overturn an impending ban in the United States.
Musk has also been a major player in US politics. His unpopular decision to reverse X’s ban on President-elect Donald Trump was just the start. Musk endorsed Trump in the lead-up to the US elections, and spearheaded part of Trump’s re-election campaign. He is now co-lead of the incoming administration’s so-called “department of government efficiency”, which is dedicated to slashing “wasteful” spending.
And Musk hasn’t stopped his interventions at the US border. He has inflamed tensions in the United Kingdom by reviving a decades-old sex scandal and criticising Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
