The Week In Musk: Elon v. the FAA
Faced with its first major airline disaster since 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was leaderless, thanks in part to Elon Musk. Musk accused former FAA Chief Michael Whitaker, who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate in 2023 for a five-year term, of harassment and demanded his removal.
The FAA regulates SpaceX and, under Whitaker, had levied small fines against the company. “He needs to resign,” Musk said in September after Whitaker told Congress that SpaceX must demonstrate the “highest level of safety.” Whitaker stepped down on the day of President Trump’s inauguration.
Initially, the federal response to the Wednesday night accident that killed dozens of people was led by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a former Congressman, Fox News host, and reality TV star. On Thursday, after the deadly crash, Trump finally named an acting FAA administrator, Christopher Rocheleau.
Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings call: More promises, less profits
Dating back to 2014, Musk has repeatedly promised that Tesla is on the verge of deploying its unassisted full self-driving (FSD) technology. Speaking to analysts during Wednesday’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Musk again suggested that Tesla is very close to delivering FSD.
“Right now, there is this perverse situation where people actually go to manual driving to check their text messages so the computer doesn’t yell at them,” Musk said, referring to the alert system that buzzes whenever Tesla drivers remove their hands from the steering wheel while the car is in driver-assisted FSD mode.
Musk added that Tesla plans to launch unsupervised self-driving models in Austin, Texas, by June and will roll out the feature in other cities this year. "These Teslas will be in the wild with no one in them in June," Musk claimed."This is not some far-off mythical situation. It's literally five, six months away." He also said that Tesla owners will be able to rent out their cars as driverless “robo taxis” by 2026.
It’s possible that Musk has a better chance at achieving his goals for FSD given his influence in the Trump administration and plans to slash regulations. On the earnings call Wednesday, Musk did not address his relationship with Trump or answer questions about how he has time to run Tesla amid his growing number of domestic and international political projects.
Tesla’s fourth-quarter financial results wrapped up a lackluster year. "Tesla on Wednesday reported a sharp drop in profit for 2024 as rivals in China, Europe and the United States chipped away at its lead in the market for electric cars," the New York Times wrote. "For the full year, profit was $7.1 billion, Tesla said, down from $15 billion a year earlier."
Elon’s plan to “save” NASA astronauts
On Tuesday, Trump said that Musk was working to retrieve two NASA astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been on the International Space Station (ISS) since June for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission. Trump and Musk have suggested that an urgent rescue is needed. “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,” Musk said.
According to NASA, however, Williams and Wilmore are not stranded. A SpaceX craft with room to bring them back to Earth is currently docked on the ISS. But doing so now would risk leaving the other NASA astronauts on the ISS without an emergency escape vessel. Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to return when a replacement crew arrives. That mission, which was supposed to occur in December, was delayed after NASA announced that a SpaceX capsule would require additional testing before launch. The mission is now scheduled for late March, and it’s unclear whether Trump will expedite its timeline.
The Elon Index (1/24-1/30)
X posts this week: 276
X posts per day: 40
Most discussed topic: Federal workforce reduction plan
Post of the week:
Follow of the week:
Current net worth: $419.2 billion (+$6.3 billion YTD)
Tesla Stock Price: 400.28 (+5.54% YTD)
"An insult to the victims of Nazism"
Musk is continuing to face backlash for his Nazi-like salutes during Trump’s post-inaugural celebration last week. Last Sunday, Musk urged supporters of the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) to “move past” guilt stemming from the country’s fascist history. "Contrary to [Musk's] advice, the remembrance and acknowledgment of the dark past of the country and its people should be central in shaping the German society," said Dani Dayan, the chair of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. "Failing to do so is an insult to the victims of Nazism and a clear danger to the democratic future of Germany."
Musk’s recent behavior has caused headaches for Tesla’s European operations. Poland’s sports minister has urged Poles to boycott Tesla products. Tesla sales within the European Union already fell by 13% last year, according to new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). Meanwhile, the Dutch news program EenVandaag conducted a survey of Tesla owners in the Netherlands last week and found that nearly 30% of respondents are considering selling their vehicles.
Public figures who are following Musk's lead are not faring well. On Wednesday, the Anglican Catholic Church announced it had defrocked Father Calvin Robinson after the priest repeated Musk’s salute while addressing the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C. In Pennsylvania, Laura Smith, an elected member of the Towamencin Board of Supervisors, resigned this week after she was recorded on video mimicking Musk.
Musk, however, is not backing down. He threatened to sue Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) on Wednesday for saying that Musk had “of course” used a Nazi salute.
Musk urges federal workers to quit
Musk appeared to deploy the same playbook he used to downsize Twitter on the entire federal government this week. An email sent to more than 2 million federal employees urged them to resign unless they were willing to be “reliable, loyal, trustworthy.” The email, sent from the Office of Personnel Management, told recipients that if they replied “resign” by February 6, they would receive full pay through the end of September. This week’s email to federal employees and Musk’s 2022 email to Twitter employees had the same subject line: “A fork in the road.”
The email warned that those who choose not to resign will run the risk of being furloughed or losing employment protections afforded to some civil servants. Musk and the White House described the offer as a "buyout." But the fine print revealed that federal workers who agreed to resign could be required to keep working.
Musk Minutes
The Department of Government Efficiency now has a job site for the recruitment of “full-time, salaried positions for software engineers, InfoSec engineers, and other technology professionals.” (Bloomberg)
Musk’s intrusions in European politics appear to have stunned Microsoft founder Bill Gates. "I thought the rules of the game were you picked a finite number of things to spout about that you cared for, focused on a few critical things, rather than telling people who they should vote for.” He added: “You want to promote the right wing but say Nigel Farage is not right wing enough. I mean, this is insane shit. You are for the AfD.” (The Sunday Times)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told CNN Tuesday that Musk “intervening in favor of right-wing politicians all over Europe… is really disgusting, and it is not good for the democratic development in all the European Union.” (CNN)
A number of Wall Street banks are looking to offload billions of dollars of loans that Musk took out to finance his purchase of X. (Wall Street Journal)
To live up to its “everything app” moniker, X is working on a deal with Visa to add a digital, peer-to-peer payment feature to the app that would operate like Venmo. (CNBC)
Musk is working to dismiss a proposed class action suit that claims his pro-Trump political action committee used a $1 million-a-day giveaway to manipulate voters into signing a petition ahead of the presidential election. Musk has argued that the scheme was not an illegal election-related lottery. (Reuters)
Musk’s crusade against the UK’s ruling Labour Party, which he accused of allowing an anti-white “rape genocide” to occur at the hands of Pakistani “grooming gangs,” has caused a stir in Islamabad and could hamper the launch of Starlink access in Pakistan. (TRT World)
In conversations with friends, Musk has said he has been sleeping at the Department of Government Efficiency headquarters within the White House complex. (Wired)
A week after Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos exchanged pleasantries at Trump’s inauguration, Amazon has opted to increase its ad spending on X. The platform has struggled to retain top corporate advertisers since Musk acquired it in 2022. Apple is also considering resuming its ad spending on X. (Wall Street Journal)
Two questions come to mind. 1) Who is paying the salaries of the people Musk hires for DOGE? I don't recall any appropriation bill passing to fund this nonsense. 2) How long until both Musk and X are banned in Germany? I can't imagine the Germans are going to put up with his bullshit for that much longer.
The world is turning on musk and tesla. His money can't insulate him from the loathing and contempt he engenders. Like trump, he gets more vile and unhinged by the day.