The handiwork of Elon Musk is back in the news over the past week. An expose last week in the New York Times showed how Musk and his team tore apart USAID in the early days of the second Trump administration. The dismissals and funding cuts will continue to be adjudicated over the next few years. But it is clear that Musk and his cronies cut an agency that did immense good in the world for the savings of a few pennies on the dollar compared to the rest of the federal government’s spending.
Musk’s time in government had been seen as a failure even before this recent expose. He was turned out acrimoniously from his position back in late May. Trump and Musk then engaged in a personal, days-long feud that has continued to simmer ever since. Musk most recently tried to politically advocate against Trump “Big Beautiful Bill”.
It is tempting to believe that Musk’s implosion will dissuade those like Jeff Bezos and Bill Ackman from taking on another high-profile role. But the previous month makes it clear that Musk’s governmental intervention will likely persuade other billionaires over the years to take on similar positions.
Musk didn’t accomplish much
It is indeed true that Elon Musk’s time in the federal government was an overall failure. He was unable to accomplish what he set out to do. His efforts did almost nothing to balance the federal budget or reduce the deficit. The billionaire’s team cut popular programs and angered the public without improving efficiency in government. Many of his employees saw that government agencies were actually being run as efficiently as could be expected.
Furthermore, Musk took a personal hit to his popularity and his wallet. He became incredibly unpopular among people who were not Republican partisans. His companies lost money and their boards began to contemplate removing him from their leadership teams. All of these efforts would seem to be a cautionary tale for the next billionaire who believes they should have a position in the government.
There will be more Musks
But the clearest reason there will likely be another Elon Musk is what has happened in the media over the past three weeks. After six months of covering Musk every single day, sometimes with multiple stories, the media has practically moved on from talking about the world’s richest man. Profiles have dropped substantially. General interest has cratered. Musk’s pronouncements sometimes make news, but they then disappear soon afterwards. The businessman has clearly lost his absolute control of media attention which defined his time in government.
Other billionaires likely want the same attention that Musk had during his few short months in government. These are men and women who have everything materially they could want. In the social media age, attention has become an incredibly precious commodity that they could not always achieve. The prospect of being covered every single day and dominating every newspaper, television story, and podcast is certainly alluring to the nation’s moneyed elites. This single benefit may be even more important than implementing a pet project into the federal government, like Musk tried to do with his approach to tech-driven efficiency.
Billionaires have shown time and again that they are willing to burn money for a cause they believe in. At the centibillionaire stage, simply hitting their wallets will not help dissuade them from intervening in our politics and ruining government. There will need to be a shift in regulations as well as our attention economy to diminish their influence and dissuade them from flights of political fancy. In our current political climate, the prospects of either are existent but slim.
