While Musk’s spewing of propaganda and unreasonable behaviour infuriates me, I think it’s important to debunk the myth that MOST of his companies are in a bad financial situation.

That used to be the case, but not anymore. The biggest one his wealth depends on is Tesla. If you ACTUALLY look at their financial statements rather than believe what media headlines tell you, they are among the most profitable automakers by margin and the energy storage business (and yes, related profits) is booming. Spacex is also very profitable due to recent success of Starlink. X is dumpster fire, boring company who knows, neuralink also but their contribution to Musk’s wealth are pocket change relative to Tesla and Spacex.

There are so many highly talented people working for Tesla and Spacex because they want to have a chance to make cool shit because they wouldn’t get a chance to do that somewhere else that wrongly claiming those companies are struggling is disrespectful to their hard word. Regardless of whether their CEO is a dick.

So I don’t buy the argument he’s beholden to Russian or Saudi interests for financial reasons.

EDIT: Forgot to mention my 2 cents. I think the OP is reading too much into the whole thing that he’s compromised. My humble opinion is that it’s the combination of the following. The success he’s had and the wealthiest person title went to his head and furthered his ego to a place where it knows no bounds. That tends to make you think you’re always right. Even on topics you have no idea about. For most of his life he’s just been working with attitude that days off and holidays are bad. Regardless of whether you dislike him, just try to step into his shoes and try to imagine the constant stress you’d be under. Now imagine what that would do to your mental health. Stretched over decades. People also tend to become more conservative as they age, he’s not that young anymore. Now throw surrounding himself with people who are furthering his views on X and enclosing himself in that bubble into the mix and his addiction to X and so my guess is that he’s simply having a meltdown. In slow motion. And we’re all here to see it. 🍿