Elon, Inc.

All eyes were on Washington, DC, this past weekend, when Elon Musk joined Donald Trump’s inauguration events bigly, as our once and current president would say. The news was flowing throughout, including changes to the nascent DOGE project and a very controversial hand gesture. Also controversial? Musk’s ongoing video game scandal, in which influential gamers have accused Musk of not actually getting to the upper echelon of a few games by himself. To discuss DC, host David Papadopoulos is joined by series regulars Max Chafkin and Dana Hull, and Bloomberg video game reporter Cecilia D’Anastasio later joins to talk about her new story on the affair.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday, Bloomberg News broke the story that Chinese officials were considering allowing Elon Musk to buy TikTok—something that, if it happened, would be earth-shaking for a whole host of reasons (though Elon, Inc. listeners heard us discuss the possibility months ago). Host Max Chafkin talks to Bloomberg social media reporter Kurt Wagner about what a Musk-owned TikTok could mean for the US (and China). Then Bloomberg political writer Joshua Green joins Chafkin and Musk reporter Dana Hull to unpack the ongoing MAGA feud between two of America’s most famous far-right figures: Musk and Steve Bannon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For those who haven’t been following Elon Musk’s voluminous and combative X posts about the UK—good for you. It’s a confusing situation where Musk backed and then renounced fellow right-winger Nigel Farage, and then tried to taint Prime Minister Keir Starmer with a “scandal” tied to when he was a prosecutor. Starmer, for his part, said “a line has been crossed” with Musk’s messaging. Musk then made an X poll asking people, essentially, if it was time for a coup in the UK. David discusses this with Bloomberg Opinion columnist Marc Champion, Musk reporter Dana Hull and UK government reporter Alex Wickham. Then, Kurt Wagner and Max Chafkin join Hull to talk about changes at X. Musk seems to have changed the platform’s policy to privilege posts that are “positive” in nature. The timing of this has the panel wondering if he plans on boosting people who are saying nice things about, say, how his new boss is doing come Jan. 20. Finally, “Adrian Dittman.” It’s been a longstanding rumor that this person is actually Musk—his voice sounds like Musk’s in various recordings and he posts often about Musk in glowing terms. A recent story seemed to debunk that rumor, but the internet doesn’t seem ready to let go.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the holiday break, Elon Musk was busy making news on X, furiously posting his way into a multipronged fight with ultra-right wing MAGA luminaries Laura Loomer and Steve Bannon about immigration visas. But over the past 24 hours, two other stories arguably overshadowed the civil war in Trumpland: a deadly Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas and some surprisingly bad sales numbers from Tesla. David Papadopoulos is joined by Max Chafkin and Dana Hull to break down the news. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.