After Texas' blue wave, what happens to Elon Musk and SpaceX?
"Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now."
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, made a costly mistake by pouring $446 million into his America PAC during the 2022 midterm elections. This sum was primarily used to oppose James Talarico, a Democrat who defeated Ken Paxton, a preferred Senate candidate from Musk. Talarico's campaign heavily emphasized the slogan, "Texas is not for sale."
Musk's poor judgment can be attributed to his deep immersion in the X platform, which predominantly caters to AI enthusiasts and is disconnected from the common people's sentiments. Notably, a bipartisan position in the United States is to oppose data centers, reflecting widespread disapproval of tech industry practices and regulatory threats, particularly those from AI companies.
Musk's algorithm on X is designed to gratify him, making it difficult for users to perceive the opposition against data centers. Consequently, Musk has made a list of potential investments that could have yielded a better return on his $446 million, ranging from buying Larry Ellison's private island to acquiring expensive watches and even purchasing gift cards for every Texan.
Unfortunately, Musk's social media presence has left him in the crosshairs of investigations and criticisms from newly elected politicians, including the governor and attorney general of Texas. The simplest way to mend his relationship with his constituents might be to hire a team of lawyers experienced in the Twitter takeover suit to defend him.
Written by urgent.news from The Verge's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- 17 better ways Elon Musk could have wasted $446 million theverge.com
- Elon Musk spent nearly $500 million on the midterms and lost big-time engadget.com
- After Texas' blue wave, what happens to Elon Musk and SpaceX? arstechnica.com
- Elon Musk's preferred US midterm candidates, including Ken Paxton and Vivek Ramaswamy, lost almost everywhere; Musk spent $446M, a record for a non-candidate (Calder Mchugh/Politico) politico.eu
- Analysis: Elon Musk contributed a record $474M to political groups for the 2026 midterms, including $216M to America PAC, the highest non-candidate spend ever (Theodore Schleifer/New York Times) nytimes.com