Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, recently told the State Investment Council that he was strongly opposed to investing New Mexico public funds in “entities associated with Russia and companies controlled by Elon Musk” because of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and “troubling reports concerning the restriction of Starlink satellite communications used by Ukrainian forces.”
Steinborn pointed to the suffering, loss and displacement Ukrainians have suffered. “The people of Ukraine have demonstrated remarkable courage in defending their country and their right to self-determination,” he wrote. He was also deeply troubled by reports that Elon Musk had throttled access to his Starlink satellite communications system that Ukrainians have relied on in their defense.
Steinborn has asked the SIC to review the state’s holdings and divest accordingly. I couldn’t agree more. The Ukrainians have been tough and resourceful, Americans support them, and we shouldn’t be bankrolling dictators and their henchmen.
A new documentary, “Musk,” adds fuel to that proposal. Veteran filmmaker Alex Gibney informs us that the world’s richest man hasn’t just spun a public persona that Musk and a cult-like following believe is infallible, he unmasks a guy often hailed as a genius and visionary to reveal what one reviewer calls “the world’s most dangerous man.”
I’m a news junkie, so the film’s revelations weren’t entirely new, but Gibney and his researchers have stitched together a portrait that’s both riveting and, as reviewers have written, frightening. Given Musk’s impact in business and politics and lately in warfare and national policy, we should all be paying better attention.
Musk has called the film a “hit piece,” but Gibney objectively shows us the young Musk growing up in apartheid South Africa with a wealthy businessman father who wasn’t always very fatherly. We see a bright guy ablaze with ideas start SpaceX in 2002 and flourish in the space industry with partly reusable rockets and a satellite internet service, Starlink. Musk made his fortune as a NASA contractor during the Obama administration and had a surprisingly friendly relationship with Obama. SpaceX this year bought Musk’s AI company, along with X, the former Twitter social media platform.
Musk is also well known for Tesla, the electric carmaker, claiming to be a co-founder. That’s a title he wrestled away from the real co-founders in a 2009 legal settlement. Musk’s Tesla told drivers they could easily replace their half-ton car batteries. They couldn’t but it was good for more than $100 million in environmental credits from the state of California. The company also misrepresented the vehicle’s performance and faces a storm of wrongful-death lawsuits over its claims about self-driving.
One of the stranger things for a businessman is that Musk’s business failures have been painless. Pushed out of two companies, including PayPal, Musk reaped $272 million to go away. Even losing was winning. Wrote an Austin reviewer: “(H)is most valuable asset has always been that cocky self-assurance Silicon Valley so often mistakes for actual ability.”
In his personal life Musk strives to plant his seed in as many women as possible, within and without marital vows. (He regards the women in his life as “breeders.”) He’s up to 14 “known” children. The ornamental little boy that Musk often wears in public he simply took from the boy’s mother, singer-songwriter Grimes, according to another of his baby mamas, Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer. Grimes’ custody battles with Musk became tabloid fodder. The reality is he’s not that interested in his kids, say St. Clair and first wife Justine Musk.
After unraveling the legend, Gibney turns to Musk’s data gathering operations. The man who got rich off government contracts became the enemy of government as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. His young techies accessed data about every one of us, and he fired watchdogs who might curb AI or investigate his companies. Meanwhile Starlink gives him internet access from space.
In Ukraine, Musk has shown the world that he can and will turn Starlink access on and off like a light switch, kneecapping Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. Russia took deadly advantage. Musk showed no regret – he never does – but the president took political heat from both parties. Then we saw the president of the United States having to ask an executive of private industry to butt out of foreign policy.
The documentary asks how we combat power like that. Steinborn answers: With money.
Sherry Robinson is a longtime New Mexico reporter and editor. She has worked in Grants, Gallup, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Business Weekly and Albuquerque Tribune. She is the author of four books. Her columns won first place in 2024 from New Mexico Press Women.
