Musking In Silence?

Elon Musk seemed to be omnipresent a year ago. 2025 was swathed in a succession of Musk's political undertakings, his name part of the furniture of the headlines. January saw him salute in a way akin to the Nazis at the inauguration of Donald Trump, February his awkward wielding of a chainsaw at CPAC and the painful declaration that he had, quote, “become meme”. His role as leader of DOGE resulted in immense pitfalls for federal agencies and slashing of government jobs, as well as cutbacks in aid spending.

A dramatic post on X in June 2025, however, seemingly shattered the honeymoon period in his relationship with Trump. In a now-deleted series of tweets, Musk stated that Trump was, in fact, present in the Epstein files – "...the real reason they have not been made public" – and that his endorsements were the sole reason as to why he won the 2024 presidential election. It remains unclear as to why Musk’s dramatic exit from the White House happened – Trump, via Truth Social, claimed that Musk was bitter over disagreements over the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’. Musk was reportedly happy to invest more time and energy into his multiple business ventures – Tesla, SpaceX, the AI startup xAI and X – which have yielded him a net worth of a staggering $700 billion, according to Forbes.

Has it been all quiet on the political front for Musk in 2026? Musk’s technological pitfalls and expansions seem to be hallmarks of most of the coverage that now surrounds him. The days are gone where he publicly rubbed shoulders with Tommy Robinson, Javier Milei, Joe Rogan and Germany’s AfD; instead publications revel in the proliferation of rocket launches in Texas, Florida and California by SpaceX, or his continued dominance over the atmosphere via Starlink satellites.

An insight into the doings of xAI, however, merits the opposite argument. The European Commission launched an investigation against his AI tool Grok in January 2026 regarding its usage to perpetuate CSA and pornographic deepfakes. Grok, formerly known for its ability to regurgitate racist and antisemitic statements for users on X, faces burgeoning lawsuits in the coming year.

The placement of data centres for xAI – named Colossus and Colossus II – in the historically-Black regions of Memphis and Mississippi has resulted in the NAACP filing a lawsuit against Musk on Tuesday on the grounds that it perpetuates environmental racism. Musk has drawn the ire of Boxtown, Memphis, for his placement of data centres within their community. Boxtown’s 90% Black, working class population has been subjected to smog – methane, formaldehyde and nitrogen oxides – which has been linked to the aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. When asked to comment by The Times in December, xAI merely responded that claims about the harmful effects of these centres were lies by the media.

Musk remains prominent on social media, and, as suggested by The New York Times, in geopolitics – as they reported that he joined a call between Trump and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi regarding the Iran War in March. Early January 2026 saw him post a blurry photograph to his 200 million followers on X with Trump and Melania Trump, proclaiming that this year is "going to be amazing!". He continues to tweet and repost content that aligns with his right-wing views. In the past 24 hours that I have been writing this article, Musk has tweeted in line with his pro-natal, pro-Europe views, lambasted the untrustworthy nature of American media outlets and retweeted an unfavourable post about Nigerian immigrants.

It would be exceedingly difficult for a man like Elon Musk to completely remove himself from the political arena. His career, a smorgasbord of technological power, plausible deniability, memeified humour and outright bigotry has all contributed to his title as the world’s richest person and his fingers being in so many pies. His technology, which once drew him comparisons to Marvel's Tony Stark, has inflicted extraordinary harms upon marginalised communities and vulnerable people. It has also simultaneously amplified his public perception (amongst the right) as the savvy, witty billionaire who is attuned to the concerns of the average person.

Musk has not gone quiet; it is the opposite, as his technology provides a welcome vehicle for his inflamed online perspective and its physical manifestation in the real world. He may not be gallivanting around with a chainsaw in the White House, or affixed next to Trump in the Oval Office anymore – and it remains questionable as to whether he is part of the machinations in the Middle East, or has even been in the presence of POTUS or his office since his tweet in January. Despite the lack of his disorderly presence in livestreams, conferences and inaugurations that we had gotten so used to last year, he is still a powerful part of right-wing discourse, albeit online – and a dangerous orchestrator in the aftermath of the AI boom.

Image: Flickr/Gage Skidmore

Licence.

No image changes made.