Submitted by Dan Quigley, Greenwich
Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and their film adaptations have been an enduring form of escapism since the early 1960’s. Even JFK was said to have enjoyed reading them during his presidency. Almost as much as Bond himself, Fleming’s villains have their own mystique. For me, one of the most memorable of these was “Moonraker’s” Hugo Drax, portrayed as the richest man in the world and head of Drax Industries which manufactured satellites and space craft. A 2021 Vanity Fair piece referred to Drax and the other Bond villains as “megalomaniacal rogues” whose goal was “nothing short of total world domination.” The fantastical world of 007 served-up numerous unforgettable and outlandishly wealthy villains like Hugo Drax, each of whom had the intent and wherewithal to topple and control governments.
Fantastical indeed………until now. Enter Elon Musk.
Mr. Musk, a recent arrival in Washington DC with an office in the West Wing of the White House, is purported to be the world’s wealthiest individual. His portfolio of companies includes “X”, one of the largest social media platforms; Tesla, possibly the world’s most valuable automaker; Starlink, a satellite constellation company; Space Ex, a space technology company and Neurolink, a company that is developing brain-computer interfaces. But with all his wealth, Mr. Musk possesses something that makes him exponentially more powerful, the trust and confidence of Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States.
Mr. Musk is a singular messenger with over 215 million followers on his X platform (formerly Twitter) giving him an unmatched podium from which to control narratives and shape debate. By comparison President Trump has 100 million followers. Mr. Musk referred his $44 billion dollar purchase of Twitter in 2023 as “a poor financial decision” but perhaps his motivation to buy Twitter was not financial to begin with. What if he simply wanted to own a major social media platform that would provide him with a global pulpit from which he could shape domestic and foreign public opinion? Ignoring financial prudence when it comes to massive allocation of one’s wealth is a hallmark of the classic Bond villain.
Of equal concern are the potential conflicts of interest between Mr. Musk’s various business enterprises and the federal government agencies he now aims to dismantle. Tesla has received billions of dollars in federal subsidies since its founding, including an initial $465 million loan to build its first manufacturing facility in California. Since 2008, SpaceX has been the recipient of more than $20 billion from the Departments of Energy and Defense. In 2024 alone, it received $3.8 billion in US government contracts as well as additional agreements with the governments of Germany, Turkey and Great Britain. When questioned about these conflicts of interest, President Trump simply said that “they won’t be allowed.” This provides little reassurance.
Now, Mr. Musk has transformed himself into a crusader for fiscal discipline, as the President’s anointed head of the nebulous Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In this role as a private citizen, Mr. Musk seemingly wields Presidentially designated power to fundamentally change our governmental institutions and programs in ways the United States has rarely, if ever seen before. Most would agree that our federal government is long overdue for a rigorous evaluation of programs and costs. The unimpeded growth of the federal bureaucracy and programs over the last few decades lays bare the failures of both major political parties to reign in the spending and address deficits that have ballooned out of control. However, there is great danger in trusting Mr. Musk to lead this effort. Unlike cabinet secretaries with comparable or more executive authority, he underwent no confirmation process and is not subject to any of the customary governance or internal controls that usually accompany such a position of responsibility.
It is also widely reported that Mr. Musk and President Trump had no relationship prior to 2024. But by election day, he had donated $250 million to Mr. Trump’s election efforts and used X as a marketing mouthpiece to Trump’s benefit. Mr. Musk was once a MAGA world antagonist and now he’s its biggest defender. Why? Since the election, Mr. Musk has seen his net worth increase by an estimated $170 billion and now he finds himself in the position of being one of the most powerful, albeit unelected, unvetted and unconfirmed individuals in the US government. This represents an unparalleled accumulation of power and wealth in such a short span of time.
The early results of how Mr. Musk will wield his newfound power have been both jarring and destructive. His abrupt closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and dismissal of thousands of its staff is a blow to US “soft power” and a catastrophe for the millions of people who rely on USAID to help alleviate poverty, prevent diseases, and respond to natural disasters worldwide. Its annual budget of $50 billion dollars is less than 1% of the US federal budget. Mr. Musk has called USAID a “criminal organization” that “needs to die” while President Trump referred to it as a group run by “radical left lunatics” an oft used diatribe of his.
Mr. Musk also played a prominent role in the administration’s messy rollout of a broad freeze of almost all US domestic and foreign grants and loans. He has also demanded access to the US Treasury’s payment system. Despite it having been halted by a federal judge, DOGE’s request for access to this critically important federal government mechanism has set off alarm bells in Washington. None of this has precedent in American history.
Throughout our history, there have been moments where wealthy Americans have had direct influence within the government. In the early 20th Century, JP Morgan is a perfect example. However, no one has been given the carte blanche to the extent Mr. Musk seems to have. Like the fictional Hugo Drax, Elon Musk has all the attributes of Vanity Fair’s “megalomaniacal rogue.” But unlike Hugo Drax, and perhaps most frightening of all, is the idea that this real-life James Bond villain is executing his plan from an office inside the White House, courtesy of the President of the United States.
Dan Quigley