Alle elsket Elon Musk

Elon Musk's political journey has been as exotic and varied as the actual voyage described in Jules Verne's classic novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. The image of Musk as the embodiment of the good, climate-friendly capitalist disappeared long ago. Even in 2022, he visited Stavanger and ONS (formerly the oil exhibition), greeted party leader Kari Nessa Nordtun, met Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, dined with Crown Prince Haakon, and shared a beer with environmental entrepreneur Frederic Hauge and journalist Erling Kagge.

Norway welcomed him with open arms. Everyone - at least many - agreed that Musk was a fine fellow. He had transformed the electric car into a runaway success through Tesla, a testament to the trendy idea that business and the climate movement went hand in hand. Musk remains a brilliant entrepreneur, a visionary, unconventional, and disruptive figure.

He sells colonies on Mars and data centers in outer space through SpaceX, recently launching a car model that looks so futuristic it almost made me shout "the future is here" when I watched the video. The Roadster is a Tesla that literally flies, using technology from SpaceX. Musk is one of the richest men in the world, and it's not hard to understand why.

However, unlike his 2022 visit, this time Musk is appearing on screen to support Alternative for Germany (AfD), a nationalist party so radical that neither the Swedish Democrats nor Italy's Brothers (the party of Prime Minister Meloni) would be in the same grouping at the European Parliament. He does not support Nigel Farage's Reform UK, but he does endorse the far-right activist Tommy Robinson and a far-right party that thinks Farage and his gang are too tame.

Musk is the man who regularly calls politicians "traitors," speaks out for massive resettle, and comes dangerously close to advocating for outright violence and revolt. I have long wondered how the entrepreneur and far-right activist can coexist peacefully. For the moment, they seem to be keeping their distance. However, it's not quite that simple.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal, a decidedly right-leaning publication, reported that Musk himself had limited Starlink's capacity for Ukraine, a significant setback for the country's defense. Starlink is SpaceX's satellite-based internet service. Just last week, the same outlet reported that Donald Trump had asked him to lift the restrictions.

The fact remains: the world's richest man is a radical activist who actively supports radical right-wing environments, but also has the personal power to weaken Ukraine's defense. And he uses this power. It's no longer possible to distinguish between the radical activist and the brilliant entrepreneur Elon Musk.