How SpaceX turned the MyPillow of presidency contractors

It actually has been one thing to observe Elon Musk flip SpaceX into the MyPillow of rocket corporations, hasn’t it?

Christ, I assume I’ve to checklist off all of the miserable stuff from the previous few months: the Trump rally, the creepy assassination feedback, the even creepier feedback about impregnating Taylor Swift, spreading hurricane misinformation on X (and thus hindering reduction efforts), claiming his personal youngster was “killed” by the “woke thoughts virus,” that type of factor. I’ve seen lots of people counsel that is political radicalization, and positive, perhaps it’s. However I can’t assist noticing a sick enterprise logic, too.

I’ve by no means accused Musk of being something apart from self-interested. As I see it, his solely actual politics are: Elon Musk ought to get to do no matter he needs, eternally. And his newest political outbursts strike me as being clearly linked to his cash. He’s come to the identical conclusion as Donald Trump, which is that it’s significantly simple to grift Republican voters, and there are many rewards and only a few penalties for doing so. Donny, these males are nihilists. 

On the face of it, it would look silly for a businessman to alienate one of many main US political events. Musk has an extended historical past of taking subsidies from native, state, and federal governments. His enterprise SpaceX is constructed basically on company contracts within the closely regulated aerospace trade. However I’m guessing Musk has discovered he can leverage the tradition wars to his benefit.

These of you accustomed to SpaceX might recall its litany of lawsuits in opposition to the federal government. For example, in 2005, the corporate alleged that Boeing and Lockheed Martin had engaged in anticompetitive habits meant to maintain SpaceX from letting its Falcon 9 compete in authorities contracts. (The Falcon 9 didn’t have its first launch till 2010.)  

And in 2014, Musk sued the US Air Pressure over a $11 billion sole-source contract awarded to the United Launch Alliance. (The Falcon Heavy wouldn’t have its first launch till 2018.) SpaceX received concessions, dropping the swimsuit after the Air Pressure agreed to hurry up its efforts to certify SpaceX to launch navy satellites — and making extra launches accessible for SpaceX to compete on.

Now I personally, as a lady accustomed to the linear idea of time, discover these fits odd. How may SpaceX compete utilizing a rocket it hadn’t but launched? Certain, the “indefinite supply / indeterminate amount” contracts existed for the Falcon I, however that wasn’t what SpaceX was suing over. And but, these fits received Musk what he needed: extra potential authorities contracts. Actually, such fits have been as a lot a trademark of SpaceX as its rockets.

In case you are the type of one that makes use of lawsuits to get what you need, you will have made observe of the truth that Donald Trump appointed 200 federal judges, together with “almost as many highly effective federal appeals court docket judges in 4 years as Barack Obama appointed in eight,” as Pew Analysis places it. In 2021, greater than 1 / 4 of lively federal judges have been Trump appointees. Let’s not faux that’s insignificant; if it have been, the Federalist Society wouldn’t exist. If Musk helps Republicans, they’ll hold appointing judges who imagine issues that favor Musk — and he may even get fortunate and get some blatantly partisan judges, who’d assist him due to his affiliation.

Take into account Texas, which has taken an actual curiosity in Musk’s affairs. Throughout Musk’s Twitter acquisition, Texas Legal professional Normal Ken Paxton introduced an investigation of Twitter bot numbers — an investigation that neatly aligned with the argument Musk was making to attempt to get out of shopping for the social media firm. In fact, there’s additionally the Texas choose who owned Tesla inventory and greenlit a Musk-backed lawsuit in opposition to Media Issues for America. (The choose in query is understood for his politically conservative rulings.)

However wait! There’s extra. In 2020, SpaceX was awarded virtually $900 million in rural broadband subsidies from the FCC beneath Trump. However in 2022, the Biden-era FCC rescinded that funding since “the applicant had failed to satisfy its burden.” Two Republican FCC commissioners objected, and now a Republican Home Oversight Committee chair is probing the FCC’s resolution.

Tradition conflict points are supposed to encourage a largely apathetic voter base that doesn’t particularly give a shit about authorities appropriations. They’ve been used traditionally by Republicans, beginning with Barry Goldwater, as a way to enact particular monetary insurance policies which have largely harm lower-class People. It appears Musk has paid sufficient consideration to this explicit historic quirk to resolve the tradition conflict might help him, too.

Does this sound cynical? I suppose. Honest, coherent political views are largely the province of the bourgeoisie and nerds who paid consideration in authorities class. The Elon Musks of the world are occupied with energy. Not every part Musk says is essentially calculated or politically helpful — his partisan allegiances have additionally prolonged to having pleasant conversations with mask-off white nationalists and reposting theories that ladies are incapable of thought. Crucially, nevertheless, there are not any damaging penalties for these actions — solely extra consideration, which appears to be his private heroin.

Take into account the rocket scenario. For NASA, Musk is the one sport on the town moreover Boeing, and he is aware of it. He additionally is aware of that even when he publicly misbehaves — smokes weed, as an illustration — NASA will do nothing punitive. And I do blame the mind geniuses at NASA. As a substitute of getting in-house rockets for launching our spy satellites, we’re now depending on Boeing (lol, lmao), the United Launch Alliance (a three way partnership that features… Boeing), and SpaceX. (Certain, Jeff Bezos’ also-ran Blue Origin exists, I assume, however come on.) By outsourcing its engineering, NASA put the nationwide safety equipment on the whims of contractors gone wild.

And Musk’s gamble seems to be that being a visual Republican will profit him greater than being impartial, presumably as a result of he assumes, most likely appropriately, that Democrats gained’t punish him for this. So relating to, let’s say, SpaceX’s environmental injury, the security document of Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving,” and working situations for his workers, aligning with Republicans lets him counsel any examination of his habits is politically motivated. Handy, isn’t it?

You possibly can see the ambition even with the social media platform previously referred to as Twitter. By courting the precise, as he has unquestionably carried out, he has tried to create a worth proposition for an organization he has largely destroyed. The skew additionally offers him an excuse: if X dies, Musk can declare it wasn’t as a result of it was mismanaged however destroyed by the novel left or no matter. Because of his pleasant judges, he may even take these “radical left” critics to the cleaners in court docket!

Look, Musk’s look on the Trump rally launched a thousand assume items and the goofy photograph that launched a thousand memes. However to speak about Musk’s political convictions, it’s a must to speak about the one factor he actually believes in: cash.