The key facts

  • On September 28, Starship reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 Starlink satellites
  • Musk spent at least $276 million on Republican campaigns ahead of the midterm elections
  • Trump awarded Musk the nation's top science medal, calling him 'a modern Thomas Edison'

Technological achievements without the former admiration

Elon Musk is back in the news thanks to technological achievements, but his immersion in politics and his closeness with President Donald Trump have cost him the unqualified admiration of past years, AFP notes. Professor Andrew Selepak of the University of Florida observed that Musk is delivering what was promised since the 1950s — space travel and flying cars — yet the world does not give it due attention. In recent weeks Musk 'seemed to be everywhere': on September 28, SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket reached orbit for the first time, deployed 26 Starlink satellites, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean — an important milestone for Musk's Mars ambitions. His role in geopolitics surfaced in Ukraine's complaints about disruptions to the Starshield satellite communications its army relies on. X, formerly Twitter, is experiencing a revival as Silicon Valley's main venue for discussing artificial intelligence.

Politics and DOGE

Musk's commitment to right-wing politics has its price. A symbol of the changes was the February 2025 episode, when Musk took the stage with a chainsaw — a gift from Argentine President Javier Milei — symbolizing the downsizing of the US government led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the first months of Trump's second term. Musk's allies at DOGE carried out cuts that effectively dismantled USAID and resulted in a net loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. On Musk's X, hard-line anti-immigration views and right-wing conspiracy theories sit alongside posts about rockets and Tesla robotaxis. After leaving DOGE in May 2025 and a high-profile falling-out, Musk returned to Trump's good graces: last week the president awarded him the nation's top science medal, calling him 'a national treasure' and 'our modern Thomas Edison'.

Election money and a documentary film

Musk spent at least $276 million on Republican campaigns ahead of next month's midterm elections, in which the president's party is expected to face difficulties. Of that, $158 million is going to a large-scale advertising campaign in Texas, Musk's home state, where the Republican candidate is trailing in the polls. For left-leaning commentators, Musk increasingly looks like an agent of Trump and tech billionaires rather than a technical genius working for the good of humanity. In American cinemas, a four-hour documentary, 'Musk,' by Oscar winner Alex Gibney is showing. Musk's first wife, Justine Musk, who is featured prominently in the film, told podcaster Kara Swisher: 'I once described him as a man who could jump off a cliff and invent a parachute on the way down. He seems to thrive in chaos,' adding that she 'always assume there is method to his madness,' and that many of his high-profile actions may be distractions.

Dependence on the state

Few entrepreneurs depend on the federal government as heavily as Musk. SpaceX, which held the largest IPO in history in June, earns billions of dollars a year from NASA and Pentagon contracts, while Tesla's bet on robotaxis depends on how quickly regulators allow driverless cars on US roads. In this light, Musk's millions to Republicans may be less a political conversion than an investment, AFP concludes.